Spinoza and the Stoics - Power, Politics and the Passions

This important book examines Spinoza''s moral and political philosophy. Specifically it considers Spinoza''s engagement with the themes of Stoicism and his significant contribution to the origins of the European Enlightenment. Firmin DeBrabander explores the problematic view of the relationship between ethics and politics that Spinoza apparently inherited from the Stoics and in so doing asks some important questions that contribute to a crucial contemporary debate. Does ethics provide any foundation for political theory and if so in what way? Likewise, does politics contribute anything essential to the life of virtue? And what is the political place and public role of the philosopher as a practitioner of ethics? In examining Spinoza''s Ethics, his most important and widely-read work, and exploringthe ways in which this work echoes Stoic themes regarding the public behaviour of the philosopher, the author seeks to answer these key questions and thus makes a fascinating contribution to the study of moral and political philosophy.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Abbreviations

Introduction                                                     

Chapter 1. The Foundation of Perfectionism    

            A. Pantheism and determinism                              

            B. Vital endeavor and the ground of virtue                

            C. The diagnosis of the passions                       

            D. A this-worldly salvation                                   Chapter 2. Psychotherapy and Virtue

            A. "What is in my power to do"                            

            B. Agreeing with nature                                       Chapter 3. The Sociality of Virtue

            A. Spinoza's critique of perfectionism     

            B. "Nothing is more advantageous to man than     
                man"  

            C. Sociality and the diffusion of 
                enlightenment                

Chapter 4. Stoic Political Reason

            A. Cosmopolis and political duty                  

            B. The predicament of politics              

            C. The apotheosis of the free man      

Chapter 5. Reason of State

            A. State of nature, nature of state                           

            B. Political right and the most natur

Über den Autor / die Autorin

Firmin DeBrabander is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art, USA.

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Firmin Debrabander, DeBrabander Firmin
• Verlag: Bloomsbury Academic
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 15.04.2010
• EAN: 9780826421814
• ISBN: 978-0-8264-2181-4
• Seiten: 160
• Serien: Continuum Studies in Philosoph; Continuum Studies in Philosoph; Continuum Studies in Philosophy
• Themen: Geisteswissenschaften, Kunst, Musik > Philosophie; Sachbuch > Philosophie, Religion > Philosophie: Allgemeines, Nachschlagewerke; PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, PHILOSOPHY / History & Surveys / General, Social & political philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900, Philosophical traditions and schools of thought