God, Man, and Well-Being: Spinoza's Modern Humanism 1st Edition

by Douglas Den Uyl (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0820444628

ISBN-10: 0820444626

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This book explores the seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza’s modernist humanism. There is little doubt that Spinoza was one of the principle founders of modernity, but his modernism is often thought to come at the expense of a humanism. Drawing attention to Spinoza’s humanism, this book concentrates on politics, ethics, and psychology in order to understand Spinoza’s conception of the human being, and why that conception endures into our own time with particular relevance. This introduction to Spinoza’s thought proceeds in a reverse order from the usual treatment: rather than beginning with a consideration of Spinoza’s metaphysics, the discussion culminates in an exploration of those concepts. In this way, this book is a deeper examination of what Spinoza himself thought, and allows the reader to consider more fully Spinoza’s wider philosophy.

Review

«Douglas J. Den Uyl’s ‘God, Man, and Well-Being’ has the uncommon merit of combining the sophistication to be of real interest to students of Spinoza with the clarity and accessibility to draw new readers into the study of Spinoza’s philosophy. The connections Den Uyl elaborates between politics, ethics, and metaphysics keep those aspects of Spinoza’s thought in balance in an especially illuminating way. ‘God, Man, and Well-Being’ helps the reader appreciate the intricacy of Spinoza’s thought and his role in the formulation of distinctively modern understandings of the issues indicated in the title. This book is a welcome addition to the scholarship on Spinoza and will helpfully guide readers through Spinoza’s thought in a way that is also alert to contemporary concerns.» (Jonathan Jacobs, Richard J. and Jean Head Professor of Philosophy, Director, Center for the Arts and Humanities, Colgate University)
«Commencing with Spinoza’s politics and focusing upon the human dimension of his thought, Douglas J. Den Uyl renews Spinoza’s significance not only for modernity but for our world today. In lucid and at times almost startling ways Den Uyl leads us to appreciate that politics for Spinoza is not in fact instrumental to human flourishing and that central to his thought is reflection on a deeply anti-political individual perfection. Den Uyl’s unusually thoughtful study offers convincing arguments such as the view that though free will is denied in Spinoza and little ethics is on display in any normal sense, it is nonetheless freedom that is the core notion and foundational pursuit at the heart of Spinoza’s undertaking.» (Stephen A. Erickson, Professor of Philosophy and E. Wilson Lyon Professor of Humanities, Pomona College)

About the Author

The Author: Douglas J. Den Uyl is Vice President of Educational Programs at Liberty Fund Inc. Before joining Liberty Fund, he was Full Professor and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Bellarmine University. He has written numerous articles and books in the areas of political and ethical philosophy and the history of ideas, and is especially interested in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century political and social philosophy.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peter Lang; 1st edition (August 6, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 145 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0820444626
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0820444628
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,776,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,045 in Medieval Thought Philosophy
- #1,210 in Metaphysics (Books)
- #5,374 in History of Philosophy

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Mike Mertens

Spinoza, Successful Living and thinking for the Modern World

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2014

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This is a very good short introduction to Spinoza and his relevance in the modern world. This work by Douglas J. Den Uyl does a great job covering Spinoza’s thought and its continuing relevance today.

There is a lot of very good material packed into this book. Here are just a few of topics that I found of particular interest:
• Spinoza’s role in the development of modern social science and his development of a perfectionist ethics and non-perfectionist politics
• Spinoza’s three levels of goodness and its similarity to “positive psychology”, the concept of “flow”, and the work of Antonio Damasio
• The entire chapter on “The Ethics of Activity” is excellent. He calls Spinoza’s ethics an “ethics of Immanence.” This is defined as “one whose object is essentially the self-perfection or self-empowerment of the individual.”
• The need for intellectual integration. As Den Uyl explains it: “We seek to understand how what we do fits into a larger whole – not just be part of something larger than ourselves. The active mind is always struggling to see connections, and the active life to find a role within them.”
• The problem of insignificance (as modern science continued to demonstrate that man was not at the center of the universe) versus the ethics of immanence and how these are reconciled within Spinoza’s thought.

The book stresses Spinoza’s focus on taking an active role in life versus passively letting things happen. Spinoza is quoted frequently throughout and key ideas and concepts within his thought are clearly explained. Douglas J. Den Uyl has presented Spinoza’s thought in an understandable way while making it clear how these ideas remain relevant today.

I highly recommend this book to those interested in Spinoza, human flourishing and self-perfection. I now plan to do some further reading of Spinoza and I know that I will be returning to this book as I continue to think about how to live a better and more fulfilling life.

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