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Book Cover
E-book
Author Smith, Steven B., 1951- author.

Title Spinoza's book of life : freedom and redemption in the ethics / Steven B. Smith
Published New Haven : Yale University Press, [2003]
©2003

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Description 1 online resource (xxvi, 230 pages)
Contents Thinking about the Ethics -- Thinking about God -- Thinking about thinking -- Thinking about desire -- Thinking about politics -- Thinking about love -- The authority of reason
Summary "Most readers of Spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist, or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the Ethics, argues Steven B. Smith in this intriguing book. Offering a new reading of Spinoza's masterpiece, Smith asserts that the Ethics is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed among the great founding documents of the Enlightenment. Two aspects of Smith's book distinguish it from other studies. It treats the famous 'geometrical method' of the Ethics as a form of moral rhetoric, a model for the construction of individuality. And it presents the Ethics as a companion to Spinoza's major work of political philosophy, the Theologico-Political Treatise, each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Affirming Spinoza's centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book will be of value to students of political theory, philosophy, and intellectual history."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-215) and indexes
Notes Steven B. Smith is Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science at Yale University
Print version record
Subject Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.
Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677
Free will and determinism -- History -- 17th century
Ethics, Modern -- 17th century.
Ethics, Modern.
PHILOSOPHY -- Social.
PHILOSOPHY -- Ethics & Moral Philosophy.
Ethics, Modern
Free will and determinism
Ethica (Spinoza)
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780300128499
0300128495
9781281721655
1281721654