Description

Garrett argues for the interconnection between Spinoza's method and the content of his philosophy. This controversial book examines the geometrical method employed by Spinoza in his masterpiece the Ethics, and suggests that its purpose, in Spinoza's view, was not just to present claims and propositions but also to allow the readers to look at themselves and the world in a different way. This controversial book examines the geometrical method employed by Spinoza in his masterpiece the Ethics, and suggests that its purpose, in Spinoza's view, was not just to present claims and propositions but also to allow the readers to look at themselves and the world in a different way. Readers of Spinoza's philosophy have often been daunted, and sometimes been enchanted, by the geometrical method which he employs in his philosophical masterpiece the Ethics. In Meaning in Spinoza's Method Aaron Garrett examines this method and suggests that its purpose, in Spinoza's view, was not just to present claims and propositions but also in some sense to change the readers and allow them to look at themselves and the world in a different way. His discussion draws not only on Spinoza's works but also on those of the philosophers who influenced Spinoza most strongly, including Hobbes, Descartes, Maimonides and Gersonides. This controversial book will be of interest to historians of philosophy and to anyone interested in the relation between form and content in philosophical works. Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Texts and editions; Introduction; 1. A worm in the blood: some central themes in Spinoza's Ethics; 2. A few further basic concepts; 3. Emendative therapy and the Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione; 4. Method: analysis and synthesis; 5. Maimonides and Gersonides; 6. Definitions in Spinoza's Ethics: where they come from and what they are for; 7. The third kind of knowledge and 'our' eternity; Bibliography; Index of passages referred to and cited; General index. '… there are some very illuminating aspects of this book.' British Journal for the History of Philosophy 'In his book, Meaning in Spinoza's Method, Aaron Garrett's guiding aim is to investigate the connections between method and content in Spinoza's philosophy, and the results are stimulating and often surprising. … I would say that this book is the most sustained and historically illuminating treatment of Spinoza's method of which I am aware. The range and depth of Garrett's survey of philosophers who influenced or may have influenced Spinoza on method is very impressive. … [an] illuminating and fertile account of Spinoza's method.' Mind 'For many readers, the most admirable thing about this admirable book will be its successful depiction of Spinozism as a brilliant synthesis of competing pressures in early modern thought.' Journal of the History of Philosophy