Spinoza

Regarding Bertrand Russell (Nobel Laureate, 1950) in "The Problems of Philosophy" (1912), Bibliographical Note: The student who wishes to acquire an elementary knowledge of philosophy will find it both easier and more profitable to read some of the works of the great philosophers than to attempt to derive an all-round view from handbooks. The following are specially recommended: Plato: Republic, especially Books VI and VII. Descartes: Meditations. Spinoza: Ethics. Leibniz: The Monadology. Berkeley: Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Hume: Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Kant: Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics. About the Series "Elementary Knowledge of Philosophy": Volume 1: PLATO: THE REPUBLIC / THE MEDITATIONS OF DESCARTES. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell. Chapter I. APPEARANCE AND REALITY Chapter II. THE EXISTENCE OR MATTER Chapter III. THE NATURE OF MATTER Chapter IV. IDEALISM Chapter V. KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE BY DESCRIPTION Volume 2: SPINOZA: ETHICS / LEIBNIZ: THE MONADOLOGY. / BERKELEY: THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell. Chapter VI. ON INDUCTION Chapter VII. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES Chapter VIII. HOW A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IS POSSIBLE Chapter IX. THE WORLD OF UNIVERSALS Chapter X. ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSALS Volume. 3: HUME: ENQUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING./ KANT: PROLEGOMENA TO ANY FUTURE METAPHYSICS. Annotated by: THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY by Bertrand Russell. Chapter XI. ON INTUITIVE KNOWLEDGE Chapter XII. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD Chapter XIII. KNOWLEDGE, ERROR, AND PROBABLE OPINION Chapter XIV. THE LIMITS OF PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE Chapter XV. THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY" Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order" (Latin: Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata), usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical treatise written in Latin by Benedict de Spinoza. It was written between 1664 and 1665 and was first published posthumously in 1677. The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the method of Euclid in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and axioms from which he attempts to derive hundreds of propositions and corollaries, such as "When the Mind imagines its own lack of power, it is saddened by it," "A free man thinks of nothing less than of death," and "The human Mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the Body, but something of it remains which is eternal." The Monadology" is one of Gottfried Leibniz's best known works representing his later philosophy. It is a short text which sketches in some 90 paragraphs a metaphysics of simple substances, or monads. The monad, the word and the idea, belongs to the Western philosophical tradition and has been used by various authors. Leibniz, who was exceptionally well read, could not have ignored this, but he did not use it himself until mid-1696 when he was sending for print his New System. Apparently he found with it a convenient way to expose his own philosophy as it was elaborated in this period. What he proposed can be seen as a modification of occasionalism developed by latter-day Cartesians. Leibniz surmised that there are indefinitely many substances individually 'programmed' to act in a predetermined way, each substance being coordinated with all the others. This is the pre-established harmony which solved the mind-body problem, but at the cost of declaring any interaction between substances a mere appearance."Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous," or simply Three Dialogues, is a 1713 book on metaphysics and idealism written by George Berkeley. Taking the form of a dialogue, the book was written as a response to the criticism Berkeley experienced after publishing A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.