Ethics

By: Benedict de Spinoza

Narrated by: Antony Ferguson

Benedict de Spinoza's Ethics, first published in 1677, constitutes a major systematic critique of the traditional and religious foundations of philosophical thought. In it, Spinoza follows a logical step-by-step format consisting of definitions, axioms, propositions, proofs, and corollaries to create a comprehensive inquiry into the truth about God, nature, and humans' place within the universe. From these broad metaphysical themes, Spinoza derives what he considered to be the highest principles of religion and society and lays out an ethical system in which reason is the supreme value. A seminal contribution to 17th-century rationalism, Spinoza's Ethics refutes the dualism of René Descartes and provides a bridge between religion and modern-day psychology. This edition is the translation by R. H. M. Elwes.

Public Domain (P)2011 Tantor

Very little about "ethics"

I thought "Ethics" was about ethics. I am 4 hours in, and Spinoza has so far spent most on logical puzzles and philosophy of science.

The Great independant Spinoza

I love his fearlessness.
I love his love of life.
I love his love for his family and humanity.
I love his opening of my mind.

Too much not, self evident

Interesting but fraught with all kinds of problems. I wasn't at all sure what his source for his understanding of the nature of God. It seemed overall that the system worked within itself, but on what premise was the whole thing based? On the nature of Man, well, so much has been contradicted by research on the brain, that it was hard to tell, of the remainder, what was actually useful. The structure was based on Euclid, which is great for a subject like Geometry which has so little room for doubt and error, but man is not as clear a subject. I was also quite frustrated that so many things were "self evident" or any other possibility could be written off as ridiculous. In those moments, it felt like a real discussion of why he considered it self evident was required even more. Wouldn't bother taking this on again. Once was enough.

powerful.

i love the entire concept of this book. the author was ahead of his time; very much relevant to modern times and beyond.

Interesting

Loved it. Going to listen again…and again etc …deep. So if you like deep…