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True Freedom
Spinoza's Practical Philosophy
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2009
Summary
True Freedom: Spinoza's Practical Philosophy is a straightforward presentation of Spinoza's philosophy focused on the issue of how one might live. The book is unique among recent Spinoza scholarship in the way in which it centers on the ethical component in Spinoza's work. In order to bring Spinoza's ethics to the fore, Brent Adkins begin with what he considers to be Spinoza's fundamental ethical insight: namely, that emotions are controlled by understanding them. Adkins reveals how the process of unfolding Spinoza's philosophy is always anchored in the very practical issue of living well. The significance of True Freedom lies in its understanding of Spinoza's ethics as an 'experimentalism' and its accessibility to a very wide audience. Despite the fact that Spinoza died over 300 years ago, his writings remain remarkably prescient for a wide variety of disciplines, from religion to neuroscience. The source of this prescience, however, comes from Spinoza's recasting ethical theory in terms of how we might live rather than in terms of how we should live. Freedom in every aspect of life from the personal to the political to the religious is dependent on a particular way of engaging with the world. This engagement takes the form of an experiment to see if what we engage with results in an increase or a decrease in our capacity to affect and be affected by the world. True freedom, for Spinoza, lies in increasing our capacities.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2009
ISBN-Print
978-0-7391-3940-0
ISBN-Online
978-0-7391-3941-7
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
103
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Table of Contents No access
Acknowledgments No access
Introduction: Spinoza: A User's Guide No access Pages 1 - 4
1. The Curious Incident of the Rude Driver in the SUV No access Pages 5 - 12
2. What's Love Got to Do with It? No access Pages 13 - 20
3. On Not being Oneself, Or the Shmoopy Effect No access Pages 21 - 28
4. The Big Picture No access Pages 29 - 36
5. What is Mind? No matter. What is Matter? Never mind. No access Pages 37 - 44
6. True Freedom No access Pages 45 - 54
7. Bodies in Motion No access Pages 55 - 62
8. The Body Politic No access Pages 63 - 72
9. Religion No access Pages 73 - 82
10. The Environment No access Pages 83 - 90
Conclusion: How to become a Spinozist in Three Easy Steps No access Pages 91 - 98
