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Spinoza and Spinozism
Stuart Hampshire, one of the most eminent British philosophers of the twentieth century, will be perhaps best remembered for his work on the seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza, all of which is gathered now in this volume. Among the great thinkers of modern times, only Spinoza created a complete system of philosophy that rivals Plato's, with crucial contributions to every major philosophical topic.
Hampshire's classic 1951 book Spinoza remains the best introduction to this thinker, and it is reprinted here. But what gives particular interest to this new volume is the first publication of Hampshire's last work "Spinoza and Spinozism," an extended presentation of a Spinozist philosophical worldview. Hampshire's influential 1962 essay "Spinoza and the Idea of Freedom" is also included.
Spinoza and Spinozism is thus an ideal companion to the study and interpretation of this great philosopher.
Hampshire's classic 1951 book Spinoza remains the best introduction to this thinker, and it is reprinted here. But what gives particular interest to this new volume is the first publication of Hampshire's last work "Spinoza and Spinozism," an extended presentation of a Spinozist philosophical worldview. Hampshire's influential 1962 essay "Spinoza and the Idea of Freedom" is also included.
Spinoza and Spinozism is thus an ideal companion to the study and interpretation of this great philosopher.
- GenresPhilosophy
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 20, 2022
Excellent introductory work to the philosophy of Spinoza. Hampshire's understanding of materialism is weak, a crude and static interpretation that refuses to acknowledge the existence of a more dynamic and flexible thought in the form of dialectical materialism. This leaves him unable to address or rebut what he sees as misinterpretations of Spinoza as a deterministic materialist by Marxists and others, as he doesn't really grasp their understandings of Spinoza.
to-keep-reference
September 19, 2018Stuart Hampshire, una autoridad eminente en Spinoza...
Religión sin dios Pág.34
Religión sin dios Pág.34
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January 14, 2024Recommended in Spinoza article INTERNET ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY
March 27, 2025
Hampshire, considered the top philosopher of Britain in the 20th Century, outlines this systematic philosopher whose efforts outweighed those of Plato's (sometimes this latter thought only of as a writer: when did we begin awarding the title of "philosopher" to such thinking writers! Alas, some writers do not really "think" in this context).
The book addresses cogently perhaps Spinoza's greatest achievement as a systematic thinker: freedom vs. bondage in a world replete with it. He does this in his Ethics, and in his On the Improvement Of the Understanding. Naturalism is his forte, studied systematically. But that he showed axioms and corollaries arguing for and demonstrating systematic philosophical proofs of what is normally held as a moral point (slavery) shows the input most likely of sacred Hebraic philosophy not accessible to the mass of men.
Benedictus (or Baruch, even Bernard) de Spinoza was a sephardic Jew whose own had fled a non-Christian sanitizing Roman Catholic Inquisition. Holland created and allowed for the biggest Jewish community in Europe, proper, in proper Protestant style in the middle of Amsterdam, inviting the sephardic Jewish to live there. These political tete a' tetes worsening relations vs. Spain and the Netherlands (Holland) were in vogue around the times of the Succession and of course, influenced Portugal. Taken up by Cartesianism, this savant set upon the path of correcting aspects of the great Frenchman Descartes' background thinking regarding duality of body and spirit. Baruch proclaimed via proofs that there was none, and he had the spiritual philosophical wherewithal as to why. However, being perhaps one of the highest ranking amid the temple - maybe in line to head it up - his own secular activities may've proven too much for his enclave. He was ex communicated from it and awarded the scorning title of apostate to the Jewish faith. One of the reasons why was his transferring sacred Judaic philosophical understanding and publishing it, with useful contexts for a practical people, in Dutch, a.k.a., the vernacular. Some of those contexts involved the study of Nature in a friendly, systematic way and so, lead to the framework of what we now mundanely call research science.
Needless to say he didn't last long in a community that self supported within a sea of Christians. Being labeled an apostate, he was treated by them as if he was already dead and buried. However, his Dutch friends gave him a small pension before he died shortly thereafter, and a grateful world in the form of the British Royal Society, notoriety.
Heroes in superficie rerum non semper videntur.
The book addresses cogently perhaps Spinoza's greatest achievement as a systematic thinker: freedom vs. bondage in a world replete with it. He does this in his Ethics, and in his On the Improvement Of the Understanding. Naturalism is his forte, studied systematically. But that he showed axioms and corollaries arguing for and demonstrating systematic philosophical proofs of what is normally held as a moral point (slavery) shows the input most likely of sacred Hebraic philosophy not accessible to the mass of men.
Benedictus (or Baruch, even Bernard) de Spinoza was a sephardic Jew whose own had fled a non-Christian sanitizing Roman Catholic Inquisition. Holland created and allowed for the biggest Jewish community in Europe, proper, in proper Protestant style in the middle of Amsterdam, inviting the sephardic Jewish to live there. These political tete a' tetes worsening relations vs. Spain and the Netherlands (Holland) were in vogue around the times of the Succession and of course, influenced Portugal. Taken up by Cartesianism, this savant set upon the path of correcting aspects of the great Frenchman Descartes' background thinking regarding duality of body and spirit. Baruch proclaimed via proofs that there was none, and he had the spiritual philosophical wherewithal as to why. However, being perhaps one of the highest ranking amid the temple - maybe in line to head it up - his own secular activities may've proven too much for his enclave. He was ex communicated from it and awarded the scorning title of apostate to the Jewish faith. One of the reasons why was his transferring sacred Judaic philosophical understanding and publishing it, with useful contexts for a practical people, in Dutch, a.k.a., the vernacular. Some of those contexts involved the study of Nature in a friendly, systematic way and so, lead to the framework of what we now mundanely call research science.
Needless to say he didn't last long in a community that self supported within a sea of Christians. Being labeled an apostate, he was treated by them as if he was already dead and buried. However, his Dutch friends gave him a small pension before he died shortly thereafter, and a grateful world in the form of the British Royal Society, notoriety.
Heroes in superficie rerum non semper videntur.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews