Spinoza

Michael Della Rocca0415283302, 9780415283304, 0415283299, 9780415283298, 9780203894583, 0203894588

Renowned for his metaphysics, Spinoza made significant contributions to understanding the human mind, the emotions, moral philosophy, and political philosophy. Beginning with an overview of Spinoza’s life, Michael Della Rocca carefully unpacks and explains Spinoza’s philosophy: his metaphysics of substance and argument at the center of his whole system that God is the sole independent substance; his account of the human mind and its relation to the body; his theory that human beings tend towards self-preservation and his most famous work, the Ethics, including the problem of free will; and his writings on the state, religion and scripture.

Della Rocca concludes with a chapter on Spinoza’s legacy and how modern philosophers, Hume, Hegel, and Nietzsche, responded to Spinoza’s challenge. Ideal for those coming to Spinoza for the first time as well as those already acquainted with his thought, Spinoza is essential reading for anyone studying philosophy.

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Table of contents :
Book Cover……Page 1
Title……Page 4
Copyright……Page 5
Contents……Page 7
Preface……Page 10
Acknowledgments……Page 11
Editions Used and Abbreviations……Page 12
Chronology……Page 14
One Spinoza’s Understanding and Understanding Spinoza……Page 16
Two The Metaphysics of Substance……Page 48
Three The Human Mind……Page 104
Four Psychology: Striving and self-preservation……Page 152
Five The Ethics of the Ethics……Page 190
Six The State, Religion, and Scripture……Page 221
Seven From PSR to Eternity……Page 269
Eight The Aftermath of Spinoza……Page 290
Glossary……Page 329
Notes……Page 333
Bibliography……Page 342
Index of Passages from the Ethics……Page 348
Index……Page 351