Salvation from Despair: A Reappraisal of Spinoza's Philosophy

ISBN-13: 9789401024976 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 270 str.

E. E. Harris

Opis

My purpose in this book is to re-interpret the philosophy of Spinoza to a new generation. I make no attempt to compete with the historical scholar ship of A. H. Wolfson in tracing back Spinoza's ideas to his Ancient, Hebrew and Mediaeval forerunners, or the meticulous philosophical scrutiny of Harold Joachim, which I could wish to emulate but cannot hope to rival. I have simply relied upon the text of Spinoza's own writings in an effort to grasp and to make intelligible to others the precise meaning of his doctrine, and to decide whether, in spite of numerous apparent and serious internal conflicts, it can be understood as a consistent whole. In so doing I have found it necessary to correct what seem to me t0' be mis conceptions frequently entertained by commentators. Whether or not I am right in my re-interpretation, it will, I hope, contribute something fresh, if not to the knowledge of Spinoza, at least to the discussion of what he really meant to say. The limits within which I am constrained to write prevent me from drawing fully upon the great mass of scholarly writings on Spinoza, his life and times, his works and his philosophical ideas. I can only try to make amends for omissions by listing the most important works in the Spinoza bibliography, for reference by those who would seek to know more about his philosophy. This list I have added as an appendix."

Spis treści

I Introduction.- I. Contemporary Despair and its Antidote.- 1. Forebodings.- 2. Reactions against the Past.- 3. Groundspring of Philosophy.- 4. Spinoza’s Scientific Attitude.- II. Geometrical Method.- 1. The Primacy of Knowledge.- 2. Critics of Spinoza’s Method.- 3. Deduction.- 4. Geometry and Metaphysics.- II God.- III. The Absurdity of Atheism.- 1. Is Spinoza an Atheist?.- 2. The Conception of God.- 3. The Existence of God.- 4. Dismissal of the Indictment.- IV. God’s Creativity.- 1. Natura Naturans and Natura Naturata.- 2. Attributes and Modes.- 3. Modes, Infinite and Finite.- 4. The Causality of God.- 5. Interpretations, Comment and Criticism.- 6. Solution of the Problem.- 7. Residual Difficulties.- III Man.- V. Body and Mind.- 1. The Material World.- 2. Mind as Felt Body.- 3. Substantial Identity.- 4. Rejection of Parallelism.- 5. Alleged Ambiguity of ’Idea’.- 6. Idea Ideae.- 7. Passivity and Activity.- 8. Imaginatio.- 9. The Common Order of Nature — Time, Measure and Number.- 10. Adequate Knowledge.- VI. Passion and Action.- 1. Affects.- 2. Conatus.- 3. Primary and Secondary Affects.- 4. Active Emotions.- 5. ‘Human Nature’.- 6. Freedom.- 7. Teleology.- 8. The Will and Human Responsibility.- IV Human Welfare.- VII. Good and Evil.- 1. Aids to the Imagination.- 2. True Good and Supreme Good.- 3. Perfection.- 4. One coherent Doctrine.- 5. Spinoza and Plato on the Good and the Expedient.- 6. Moral Weakness.- 7. The Reality of Evil.- VIII. The Mastery of Fate.- 1. Of Human Bondage.- 2. The Mastery over the Passions.- 3. The Dictates of Reason.- 4. Selfishness and Self-sacrifice.- 5. Vice and Virtue.- IX. The State and Politics.- 1. Ethics, Politics and History.- 2. Philosophical Roots.- 3. Natural Law, Natural Rights and the State of Nature.- 4. Sovereignty and Law.- 5. The Rights and Powers of the Sovereign.- 6. Limitations on the Power and Action of the State.- 7. Political Freedom.- 8. Practical Considerations.- X. Religion.- 1. Philosophy and Religion.- 2. The Intellectual Love of God.- 3. The Tractatus Theologico-Politicus.- 4. Revealed Religion and Superstition.- 5. Biblical Criticism.- 6. Prophecy.- 7. The Election of the Jews.- 8. Miracles.- 9. The True and Universal Religion.- 10. Spinoza’s Attitude to Christianity.- XI. Human Immortality.- 1. The final Problem.- 2. Traditional Ideas of Immortality.- 3. A Common Interpretation of Spinoza.- 4. Difficulties and Criticisms.- 5. Idea as Transcendent.- 6. Time and Eternity.- 7. Mind as Idea of Body.- 8. Misinterpretations and Misconceptions.- 9. Blessedness.- Epilogue.- XII Spinoza in Retrospect.- Bibliographical Appendix.