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Against the background of religious wars and in full knowledge of the relevance of the new exact sciences of the the seventeenth-century, Spinoza developed one of the most ambitious projects in the history of philosophy: his Ethics written in geometrical style. It is a book that deals with ontology, epistemology, human emotions, as well as with freedom and bondage of individuals and societies, in one continuous line of argument. At the same time, the book combines the highest standards of conceptual and argumentative clarity with a wisdom that is saturated with the experience of life. Even today it sets a standard for enlightened theoretical and practical reasoning. This collective commentary discusses all five parts of Spinoza's Ethics . In the introduction, historical consequences of the Ethics are elucidated, as well as its continued philosophical relevance.
List of contents
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction, Michael Hampe, Ursula Renz, Robert Schnepf
PART ONE OF THE ETHICS: DE DEO
Explaining Explanation and the Multiplicity of Attributes in Spinoza, Michael Della Rocca
The One Substance and Finite Things (1p16-28), Robert Schnepf
The Problem of Necessitarianism (1p28-36), Dominik Perler
PART TWO OF THE ETHICS: DE NATURA ET ORIGINE MENTIS
Spinoza and the Theory of Identity (2p1-13), Michael Pauen
The Definition of the Human Mind and the Numerical Difference between Subjects (2p11-2p13s), Ursula Renz
Spinoza's Physics (Lemmata Following 2p13), Stephen Gaukroger
The Types of Knowledge (2p38-47), Christof Ellsiepen
PART THREE OF THE ETHICS: DE ORIGINE ET NATURA AFFECTUUM
Conatus: A Pivotal Doctrine at the Center of the Ethics, Thomas Cook
Imitation of the Affects and Interhuman Relations, Pierre-François Moreau
What Freedom Means, Jens Kulenkampff
PART 4 OF THE ETHICS: DE SERVITUTE HUMANA
Human Non-Freedom and Disillusionment (4praef-4p18), Jean-Claude Wolf
Elementary Features of Spinoza's Political Philosophy (4p37s2), Manfred Walther
The Theory of the Good in Part 4 of the Ethics, Wolfgang Bartuschat
The Life of Free Persons Guided by Reason, Michael Hampe
PART 5 OF THE ETHICS: DE POTENTIA INTELLECTUS SEU DE LIBERTATE HUMANA
Ethics as Medicine for the Mind (5p1-20), Herman de Dijn
The Third Category of Knowledge and the Rational Love of God, Thomas Kisser
Remarks on the Immortality of the Soul in Spinoza, Alexandre Matheron
CONTEXT AND RECEPTION
Spinoza and the Idea of a Scientific Moral Philosophy, Wiep van Bunge
The Pantheismusstreit - Milestone or Stumbling Block in the German Spinoza Reception?, Ursula Goldenbaum
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
