Nov 08, 2014 during the twentieth century, spinoza was allotted a minor role in anglophone histories of philosophy. Spinoza in english,i is the first bibliography to document the entire 300year record of books, monographs, dissertations and articles in english on benedict spinoza, as well as all translations of his works into english. Yalom discusses his latest novel, the spinoza problem 2012, perseus books, with his son, victor yalom. And then a note to the reader at the opening of the book, explaining. Conversation with spinoza by goce smilevski, 9780810123762, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. He was educated at the charles university in prague, at central european university in budapest and at ss. The main characters of this philosophy, non fiction story are. The twentyfive articles collected for this anthology display a wide range of interpretations to central themes in spinoza s philosophy. Whereas studies of spinoza in english have emphasized the logic of the ethics, these essays instead focus on the marginal and developmental moments that have had such a profound effect on french thought. Uncorrected paperswallace matson 4 excellent essays on spinoza start there. Spinoza, along with descartes and leibniz, is considered on of the great rationalists of the 16th and 17th centuries. Both descartes and leibniz found a place in their systems for something like the traditional judeochristian god, a personal god, who. Reading his superbly cryptic masterwork, the ethics, i find myself agreeing with strauss that spinoza pragmatically was an.
Psychiatrist and author irvin yalom, md has been a major figure in the field of psychotherapy since he first wrote the theory and practice of group psychotherapy in 1970 now in its 5th edition. Conceiving a novel is a difficult business, so its natural that a writer turns. Spinoza for our time extends and reflects back upon the trilogy of longer, mosaiclike sometimes guernicalike, in their kaleidoscopic ambition. This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the baruch spinoza article. In 2002, conversation with spinoza won the macedonia national novel of the year award. Filip korzenski is an english teacher and professional translator who lives and works in his native skopje, macedonia. Shuka kalantari discusses spinozas harsh excommunication from the jewish community with spinoza expert steven nadler. Yalom explores the mindsets of two men separated by 300 years. May 07, 1989 the latesummer passion of a woman of mind by rebecca goldstein. Baruch spinozas answer is truth, emmanuel levinass is goodness. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Practical philosophy by gilles deleuze, looking for spinoza. Baruch spinoza is sometimes called the father of modernity. Other significant contributions have included existential psychotherapy, and ny times bestseller loves executioner and other tales of psychotherapy.
A haunting portrait of arthur rosenberg, one of nazisms chief architects, and his obsession with one of historys most influential jewish thinkers in the spinoza problem, irvin yalom spins fact and fiction into an unforgettable psychophilosophical drama. Ethics, demonstrated in geometrical order usually known as the ethics, is a philosophical. This is an incisive, deep analysis of two philosophers, offering important critiques of spinoza in particular. The living thoughts of spinoza, by arnold zweig on spinoza, by diane steinberg. The spinoza problem, by irvin yalom washington post.
Smilevskis novel brings the thinker spinoza and his inner life into conversation with the outer, alltooreal facts of his life and his dayfrom his connection to the jewish community of amsterdam, his excommunication in 1656, and the emergence of his philosophical system to his troubling feelings for his fourteenyearold latin teacher clara. The new spinoza articulates that presence, making the influence and significance of spinoza perfectly clear for a new generation of philosophy. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 186 pages and is available in paperback format. The spinoza problem, by irvin yalom the washington post. Mar 28, 2011 according to spinoza, the true order and connection of ideas is known not through experience and habit, but through reason. Although the ethics can be difficult, spinoza himself is not always.
Explores the fundamental confrontations between spinoza and levinas in ethics, politics, science, and religion. Irvin yalom discusses the spinoza problem novel youtube. This brings us back to the deductive, geometrical structure of the ethics. Among the innumerable treasures the nazis stole from europe during world war ii was a collection of books displayed at the spinoza museum in rijnsburg, holland. Spinoza was sensitive to the strangeness of this kind of talk, not to. Click here to start a new topic please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes new to wikipedia. All our modern philosophers, though often perhaps unconsciously, see through the glasses which baruch spinoza ground. The poetry here lies in the overarching vision rather than in fine turns of phrase. Smilevskis portrayal of spinozas philosophy may be opaque at times, but theres surely something we can all take from it. In the secondary scholarship, nadler has been a oneman spinoza industry recently. Heine the multitudes, ever prone to superstition, and caring more for the shreds of antiquity than for eternal truths, pays homage to the books of the bible, rather than to the word of god.
In his writings the crucial issues of metaphysics are exemplified more clearly than in any thinker since plato. In one conversation toward the end of the book, spinoza begs to differ with his friend franco. A cobweb novel goce smilevski, author, filip korzenski, translator, trans. If you can read french, gueroults spinoza is peerless scholarship on the philosopher, but perhaps not the best if youre looking just for an introduction. Smilevski presents this very effectively in part also because he allows or forces spinoza to retell his lifetale and revisit certain episodes. Conversation with spinoza from goce smilevski book info. The family were marranos who had fled from portugal in order to return to judaism the details of spinozas jewish education are still unclear, but he seems to have been taught by rabbi saul morteira, teacher of talmud at the etz hayyim. Popular spinoza books showing 150 of 187 ethics paperback by. Spinoza 163277 was born in amsterdam to mikael and hanna deborah, mikaels second wife who died when spinoza was a little boy of 6. The story of his life is structured as a series of conversations between you, the reader, and spinoza.
The twentyfive articles collected for this anthology display a wide range of interpretations to central themes in spinozas philosophy. By imagining the unexpected intersection of spinoza s life with rosenbergs, internationally bestselling novelist irvin d. Yalom is the author of several professional works and a novelist who has introduced three different philosophers into his fictionfirst nietzsche, then schopenhauer and now spinoza. The dutch philosopher baruch spinoza 16321677 ranks as a major thinker in the rationalist tradition, and his ethics is a classic of western philosophy. Conversation with spinoza razgovor so spinoza by goce smilevski, translated from the macedonian by filip korzenski northwestern university press, 2006 the rest of the world poll is now open. Spinoza thought that one could only understand the nature of conatus and human nature by the scientific study of psychology. Mar 18, 2012 in one conversation toward the end of the book, spinoza begs to differ with his friend franco. Betraying spinoza, by rebecca goldstein the new york.
Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. At this period in philosophical history, philosophers were extremely impressed both with geometry and the physics of newton and leibniz. A very short introduction very short introductions rev. Spinoza may have circulated unor thodox views about god or established an unsanctioned theological discussion group. Mar 14, 2011 spinoza regards joy and sadness as the two basic emotions, and he suggests that all other emotional states are variations of these, combined with ideas of particular objects that cause them. Conversation with spinoza contains the original narrative. An indication of this is given in an account by an augustinian friar of a theological discussion group attended by spinoza in. The threads of this novel are spun out of conversations between you and spinoza.
In this final instalment, how the ethics is not just a philosophical treatise, but also a training manual for a philosophical way of life. Portions of the text are interspersed between the three povs. A very short introduction very short introductions. Baruch spinozas philosophy encompasses nearly every area of philosophical discourse, including metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethics. Spinoza s ethics is one of the most difficult books in philosophy. I found andrew boyles translatio n acceptable, but i also consulted edwin curleys often used version, available in a spinoza reader an inexpensive collection that includes many of spinozas other key works. A life, an introduction to spinoza s ethics spinoza s ethics. The book displays a panoramic picture of spinoza scholarship.
After the end of superstitious religion, what is the meaning of the world. Entertainingly written, more like a historical novel than a serious biography, with a short preface by einstein. For spinoza, emotion is a change in the state of our physical organism to a greater or lesser degree of vitality, along with an idea, or mental representation, of that change in state. The german and english romantics shelley aside got spinoza wrong.
This book is about baruch spinoza, the 17th c dutch jewish philosopher. Both descartes and leibniz found a place in their systems for something like the traditional judeochristian god, a personal god, who created. We personally assess every books quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. Spinoza has long intrigued me, and for years ive wanted to write about this valiant seventeenthcentury thinker, so alone in the worldwithout a family, without a communitywho authored books that truly changed the world. Dwarfed by descartes, hobbes, locke and leibniz, he was widely regarded as an eccentric loner. Spinoza, by roger scruton spinoza a life, by steven nadler. Nov 23, 2012 smilevskis portrayal of spinozas philosophy may be opaque at times, but theres surely something we can all take from it. Seligman, author of flourish in the spinoza problem, irvin yalom has given us a suspenseful and meaningful novel spanning nearly three centuries and depicting how philosophy and wisdom can spur evil counterresponses that can continue for centuries. I will stop reading books about quantum mechanics and relativity and just read spinoza instead. The latesummer passion of a woman of mind by rebecca goldstein. During the twentieth century, spinoza was allotted a minor role in anglophone histories of philosophy.
He weaves an intimate conversation in which we hear from ultrarationalist spinoza, one obsessed with his teachings, one who leads a life of the mind and on the other hand, in second part of the book, we hear from more humane spinoza, spinoza filled with fears, passions, regrets and loneliness. Of the four books i consulted about spinoza, three associated his ideas with pantheism the other one said that his views were more strictly monism. He is the author of the novels conversation with spinoza and sigmund freuds sister. Of the three of them, spinoza was philosophically the most radical. Spinoza is the only thinker to both espouse and explicate the existence and operation of the human mind. This is not a forum for general discussion of the articles subject put new text under old text. Meaningless peacock verbiage is banned in wikipedia. The reader is presented with a living debate engaged by firstrate scholars, who come to grips with the ideas of a philosopher seen as one of the few founders of the modern mind.
Baruch spinoza shelved 24 times as spinoza avg rating 4. Ways into reading spinoza philosophical bibliotherapy. The spinoza of the book is the historic spinoza, and conversation with spinoza is essentially a reflection of and on his life and philosophy. Jun 18, 2006 the german and english romantics shelley aside got spinoza wrong. This sounds like it would be a hard slog, but the book is actually quite engaging. Yalom imaginative and erudite sums up the spinoza problem a therapist and a professor of psychiatry at stanfords school of medicine, irvin d. Spinoza for our time extends and reflects back upon the trilogy of longer, mosaiclike sometimes guernicalike, in their kaleidoscopic ambition books that negri wrote with hardt. To this day, he still remains excommunicated, in spite of efforts by. Using his skills as a psychiatrist, he explores the inner lives of spinoza, the saintly secular philosopher, and of rosenberg, the godless mass murderer. John then shifts the conversation to the influence spinoza has had on modern scientists, including einstein.
A cobweb novel writings from an unbound europe goce smilevski. Spinozas ethics is one of the most difficult books in philosophy. Going back to the classic scholarship of the previous generation, consider bennetts a study of spinozas ethics. The first edition of the novel was published in 1677, and was written by baruch spinoza. By imagining the unexpected intersection of spinozas life with rosenbergs, internationally bestselling novelist irvin d. Spinoza regards joy and sadness as the two basic emotions, and he suggests that all other emotional states are variations of these, combined with ideas of. It is, therefore, a psychophysical event, but one in which the change in physical vitality has precedence over the registration of that change in ones mind. Among philosophers, spinoza is best known for his ethics, a monumental work that presents an ethical vision. Pdf ethics book by baruch spinoza free download 186 pages. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. It is notoriously obscure, as spinoza invents a variety of new terms and attempts to layout the book like a geometric proof.