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couuboy's review against another edition
5.0
Submitted my MA thesis all of 10 minutes ago in which I wrote about Spinoza & Literature. I shan't properly update this review until marking comes back but rest assured I have many opinions about this wonderful little book
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Third read cover to cover wahoo :)
*Caillou voice* Each day I grow some more
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(Review after first read)
The pros and cons of peeking through the curtains:
Pro - At last you'll find out what's outside.
Con - At last you'll find out what's outside.
In Ethics, Spinoza constructs a comprehensive system of reality and reason with the foundation of joy as the most beneficial pursuit (and sadness as the least).
I'm incredibly impressed at Spinoza's cunningness(?) to write a book wherein anyone who reads it in its entirety will probably have a generally positive appraisal given an implicit proposition that runs through much of part 3 onwards "anyone who reads this book is likely very smart and full of the type of joy that is next to godliness".
Regardless of any intellectual ego stroking that may or may not be present in this book, Ethics is an incredibly well put together text that deserves all the endurance it's had and more.
I'd tried to read this book twice in the past but could never make it past 15 odd pages, even now I think part 1 is rather harder to read than 2-5 put together - but there is a distinct bliss that sticks around after grinding through the initial geometric writings of part 1.
There are so many moments in this text where it feels like numerous lightbulbs were going off in succession symbolising the revelations I felt upon comprehending the propositions and this is where the geometric style is integral in maintaining the cohesively sound analysis, it was like Spinoza was saying, "hey by the way, remember that weird proposition I said 40 pages ago? well, here's how that proves why we all feel and know by experience that we are eternal (P.S. You are God).".
There's a Jenny Holzer truism that goes "In a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy." I've always felt that 'dream' could be swapped out for 'book' and it would be more relevant to my personal experience and Spinoza's Ethics has certainly found its place in this category.
------------
Third read cover to cover wahoo :)
*Caillou voice* Each day I grow some more
------------
(Review after first read)
The pros and cons of peeking through the curtains:
Pro - At last you'll find out what's outside.
Con - At last you'll find out what's outside.
In Ethics, Spinoza constructs a comprehensive system of reality and reason with the foundation of joy as the most beneficial pursuit (and sadness as the least).
I'm incredibly impressed at Spinoza's cunningness(?) to write a book wherein anyone who reads it in its entirety will probably have a generally positive appraisal given an implicit proposition that runs through much of part 3 onwards "anyone who reads this book is likely very smart and full of the type of joy that is next to godliness".
Regardless of any intellectual ego stroking that may or may not be present in this book, Ethics is an incredibly well put together text that deserves all the endurance it's had and more.
I'd tried to read this book twice in the past but could never make it past 15 odd pages, even now I think part 1 is rather harder to read than 2-5 put together - but there is a distinct bliss that sticks around after grinding through the initial geometric writings of part 1.
There are so many moments in this text where it feels like numerous lightbulbs were going off in succession symbolising the revelations I felt upon comprehending the propositions and this is where the geometric style is integral in maintaining the cohesively sound analysis, it was like Spinoza was saying, "hey by the way, remember that weird proposition I said 40 pages ago? well, here's how that proves why we all feel and know by experience that we are eternal (P.S. You are God).".
There's a Jenny Holzer truism that goes "In a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy." I've always felt that 'dream' could be swapped out for 'book' and it would be more relevant to my personal experience and Spinoza's Ethics has certainly found its place in this category.
mrbear's review against another edition
4.0
A great read for any atheist or agnostic aspiring philosopher, or angry religious person. Spinoza is the only really logical philosopher I have ever read, which is both impressive and mind-numbingly depressing. He presents some great ideas in a very structured way, but expect quite a bit of trouble actually getting through the book. The appendix to part one is the best part, because it's readable and contains most of his major ideas.
is_book_loring's review against another edition
4.0
One of the most interesting and creative demonstration of the cosmos, the nature of reality, religion, the human mind and emotion I've read so far. The methodical, mechanical take on human psychology is especially intriguing and very thorough. I respect and admire Spinoza who very clearly wanted people to comprehend his philosophy system, his geometrical system with the definitions, axiom, corollary, etc didn't make Ethics inaccessible; his arguments were built in a linear, step-by-step order with total clarity. Great stuffs.
"God acts from the law of his nature alone, and is compelled by no one."
"In nature there is nothing contingent, but all things have determined from the necessity of the divine nature to exist and produce an effect in a certain way."
"Falsity consists in the privation of knowledge which inadequate, mutilated and confused."
"In the mind there is no absolute, or free will, but the mind is determined to will this or that by a cause which is also determined by another, and this again by another, and so to infinity."
"The striving by which each thing strives to persevere in its being is nothing but the actual essence of the thing."
"The mind as far as it can, strives to imagine those things that increase the body's power of acting."
"The knowledge of good and evil is nothing but an affect of joy or sadness in so far as we are conscious of it."
"A free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation on life, not on death."
"An affect which is a passion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it."
"Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; nor do we enjoy it because we restrain our lusts; on the contrary, because we enjoy it, we are able to restrain them."
"God acts from the law of his nature alone, and is compelled by no one."
"In nature there is nothing contingent, but all things have determined from the necessity of the divine nature to exist and produce an effect in a certain way."
"Falsity consists in the privation of knowledge which inadequate, mutilated and confused."
"In the mind there is no absolute, or free will, but the mind is determined to will this or that by a cause which is also determined by another, and this again by another, and so to infinity."
"The striving by which each thing strives to persevere in its being is nothing but the actual essence of the thing."
"The mind as far as it can, strives to imagine those things that increase the body's power of acting."
"The knowledge of good and evil is nothing but an affect of joy or sadness in so far as we are conscious of it."
"A free man thinks of nothing less than of death, and his wisdom is a meditation on life, not on death."
"An affect which is a passion ceases to be a passion as soon as we form a clear and distinct idea of it."
"Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself; nor do we enjoy it because we restrain our lusts; on the contrary, because we enjoy it, we are able to restrain them."
mattinthebooks's review against another edition
3.0
This dude made theology into math and still made it interesting to read
sullapelle's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
casparb's review against another edition
Reread This saucy piece !! a beauty a bastard I love it I could reread it many a time. It's one to keep rereading. It's a lifetime in 180 pages. the picture I'm building is so ! exciting I adore this. One to slowly slowly into I don't think it's unreasonable to spend two or three hours on the thirty pages of Book one - this was probably my fifth read of that Bk? Wonderful stuff. Two and three were ! Hitting ! so perfectly this read gosh I need to come back there
Also odd to be reading this the same time as Plath because earlier times I would annotate them both into margins as 'SP' so good luck guessing which is which. Baruch tends to get the Spz treatment these days
Spzzz
februrary 2021
A complicated text - speaks more of 'pure' philosophy if there is such a thing, borrowing Euclid's forms, in a way that is felt strongly (P37 cf P12, from D16 etc etc). This means that reading the Ethics is a very mathematical process, something I'm sure many of us have a visceral aversion to. It's difficult, and wasn't always enjoyable for my poor wordy brain, but here we are.
Also odd to be reading this the same time as Plath because earlier times I would annotate them both into margins as 'SP' so good luck guessing which is which. Baruch tends to get the Spz treatment these days
Spzzz
februrary 2021
A complicated text - speaks more of 'pure' philosophy if there is such a thing, borrowing Euclid's forms, in a way that is felt strongly (P37 cf P12, from D16 etc etc). This means that reading the Ethics is a very mathematical process, something I'm sure many of us have a visceral aversion to. It's difficult, and wasn't always enjoyable for my poor wordy brain, but here we are.
maddamn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
My favorite piece of philosophy. I’ve read it every year since I was 19 and I think it genuinely has helped the way I hold myself, the way I communicate, and the way I live my life.