Spinoza's works

Other works by Spinoza

Other abbreviated references

Acknowledgments

1 Spinoza's Life

1.1 Early life in Amsterdam

1.2 The young philosopher: after the cherem

1.3 The mature Spinoza: Voorburg and The Hague

Further reading

Notes

2 Reality as God or Nature

2.1 Substance and mode

2.2 Attribute

2.3 Monism

2.4 Necessitarianism

2.5 Subverting the tradition from within

Further reading

Notes

3 Religion

3.1 Traditional philosophical theology

3.2 Critique of traditional philosophical theology

3.3 The main objectives of the Theological-Political Treatise

3.4 The context of the Theological-Political Treatise

3.5 The argument for the Separation Thesis

Stage one: adopt a minimal method (preface)

Stage two: critique of revelation (chapters 1-6)

Stage three: the interpretative method (chapter 7)

Stage four: the full rejection of Scripture as metaphysics (chapters 8-12)

Stage five: faith and the Separation Thesis (chapters 13-15)

3.6 True religion

Further reading

Notes

4 Knowledge and the Human Mind

4.1 Ontology of cognition

4.2 Mind-body relation

4.3 Sense perception and inadequate knowledge

4.4 Adequate knowledge

4.5 Belief formation

Further reading

Notes

5 Action and Emotion

5.1 The conatus principle and its context

5.2 Main features of finite things as strivers

5.3 Action and teleology

5.4 Architecture of emotions

5.5 Passive and active affects

5.6 Affects and sociality

Further reading

Notes

6 Moral Philosophy

6.1 The critique of intrinsic normativity

6.2 Grounding goodness

6.3 Bondage to the passions

6.4 Human freedom

Altruism and sociality

Cognitive therapy

6.5 Individual eternity and the highest good

Further reading

Notes

7 Political Philosophy

7.1 Political context

7.2 Right, obligation, and power

Naturalizing authority

The significance of Spinoza's critique of natural jurisprudence

7.3 The aim of politics

7.4 Toleration

The anticlerical case for toleration

The secular case for toleration

7.5 Democratism

7.6 Liberation and the state

Further reading

Notes

8 Spinoza's Reception

8.1 The tumultuous first century

8.2 The long nineteenth century: the rise to fame

8.3 Spinoza until today: the silent years and the scholarly renaissance

Further reading

Notes

References

Index