Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics [Hardcover]

Steven B. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2003

Most readers of Spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the "Ethics", argues Steven Smith in this book. Offering a new reading of Spinoza's masterpiece, Smith asserts that the "Ethics" is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed among the great founding documents of the Enlightenment. Smith's book treats the famous "geometrical method" of the "Ethics" as a form of moral rhetoric, a model for the construction of individuality. It also presents the "Ethics" as a companion to Spinoza's major work of political philosophy, the "Theologico-Political Treatise", each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Affirming Spinoza's centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book should be of value to students of political theory, philosophy and intellectual history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This important book dispels a number of major misunderstandings about Spinoza and shows his importance for an understanding of modernity." David Novak, University of Toronto

From the Back Cover

"This important book dispels a number of major misunderstandings about Spinoza and shows his importance for an understanding of modernity."-David Novak, University of Toronto

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300100191
• ISBN-13: 978-0300100198
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,875,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the way to freedom, May 30, 2005

By 

H. F. Gibbard "Noir Guy" (Dark City, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics (Hardcover)

"Spinoza's Book of Life" leads the reader through the basic teachings of Spinoza's Ethics and his Theological-Political Treatise. It demonstrates that Spinoza's intention was to free people from their unconscious and irrational passions so that they could learn to truly be themselves. Spinoza shows people how to look after their own interests rationally rather than being run aground by uncontrollable emotions like hope, fear and anger. He wanted people to live life fully, by exercising their "active" intelligence rather than being controlled "passively" by events and things around them. This highest form of active freedom also leads people to love God (defined as the whole scheme of nature and the harmonious intelligence behind it) and to be useful to one another. Politically, it encourages the growth of a well-designed commonwealth run by ordered reason. In a world where people increasingly think "freedom" just means letting unreason and passion run riot, Spinoza's way of freedom is needed now more than ever. This book does an excellent job of describing how Spinoza envisioned the operation of that freedom, both individually and in the operation of a political commonwealth.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Clear, Concise Introduction, June 2, 2007

By 

Thomas Llewellyn "bemused metaphysician" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics (Hardcover)

Professor Smith's book is a good general introduction to Spinoza's great work of metaphysics, Ethics Demonstrated in a Geometrical Order. However, the emphasis is on the moral rather than the metaphysical implications of the work. For more traditional treatments on the topic, Lloyd's commentary in the Routledge Guidebook series and the new book by Nadler are to be recommended. Bennett's study of the Ethics is still the best, in my opinion, but it is definitely not for beginners.

The strength of this book is in how it relates Spinoza to other important philosophers. There are excellent discussions of Spinoza vis-a-vis Descartes, Hobbes, Jacobi, Machiavelli, and especially Leo Strauss. I don't know if Smith is a "Straussian," but his book is dedicated to Joseph Cropsey, so I suspect that he is at least a fellow traveler.

I would have preferred more discussion and analysis of Spinoza's metaphysics, but this is not the book Smith chose to write. Freedom is a highly contentious concept in Spinoza's philosophy, and Smith is a lot more sympathetic to Spinoza than I would be. Smith makes a valiant effort to defend Spinoza, but for me Spinoza's avowed hardcore determinism makes the whole idea of real freedom somewhat dubious.

I do side with Smith contra Bennett regarding Spinoza's atheism. It is not intellectually honest to take a common word like "God" and twist the meaning to suit one's purposes. If one is to do this, then it becomes mandatory to give strong reasons for the new definition. Spinoza does not do this. His notion of God is misleading, and he should have used the word "nature" in every instance. I suspect the obvious accusations of atheism from his fellow citizens may have dictated his choice. But this doesn't really explain it, since he knew he would be dead when the Ethics was published. Maybe Spinoza was a mystic. But a "rationalist mystic" is surely an oxymoron! Greater thinkers than I will have to solve this conundrum.