This title was first published in 2002. This collection of essays aims to present a wide range of interpretations of central themes in Spinoza's philosophy. Philosophical interpretations of Spinoza divide into three general categories. The first sets Spinoza within what is taken to be his historical context. Special emphasis is laid here on aspects of his teaching that seem to bear the influence of Spinoza's own education (and self-education), either through concepts assimilated into his own thinking, or those he undertook to refute and displace. A second interpretative approach uses analytical tools in an attempt to reconstruct Spinozistic issues and theories critically. Finally, there are philosophers who explore Spinoza's texts in their own terms, attempting to present a coherent picture of one or more aspects of Spinoza's teaching. Given the broad span of issues with which Spinoza deals, the latter is often the most difficult track to follow. The 25 articles in this collection exemplify these three attitudes to Spinoza interpretation, though most avail themselves of more than one. In making the selection the editors preferred studies that treat their subject as a viable, endurable philosophical issue, whether the writer accepts Spinoza's presentation or highlights his difficulties. On each issue the articles critically analyze the texts, rather than simply portraying the Spinozistic ideas they express.

    I: Basic Metaphysical Issues; 1: The Identity of Thought and Object in Spinoza; 2: Causation and Spinoza's Claim of Identity; 3: Spinoza's Demonstration of Monism: A New Line of Defense; 4: Spinoza's Causal Likeness Principle 1; 5: On the Problem of Infinite Modes; 6: Spinoza's Temporal Argument for Actualism; II: Knowledge, Truth and Error; 7: Spinoza's Theory of Ideas; 8: Ideas of Ideas and Certainty in the Tractatus de Intellectus Emendatione and in the Ethics; 9: Spinoza on Truth 1; 10: Spinoza on error; 11: The Second Kind of Knowledge and the Removal of Error; 12: Discussions Spinoza's Distinction Between Rational and Intuitive Knowledge; 13: Infinite Understanding, Scientia Intuitiva , and Ethics 1.16; III: Anthropology and Ethics; 14: Spinoza's Denial of Mind-Body Interaction and the Explanation of Human Action; 15: Tanquam Naturae Humanae Exemplar: Spinoza on Human Nature; 16: Spinoza's Individualism Reconsidered; 17: B eyond S ubjectivity : S pinoza's C ognitivism of the E motions; 18: THE MATERIALITY OF MORALS: Mind, body and interests in Spinoza's Ethics ; 19: Spinoza on the Knowledge of Good and Evil; IV: Salvation and the Mind's Eternity; 20: K nowledge , A nthropocentrism and S alvation; 21: Did Spinoza Lie to His Landlady?; 22: Spinoza's Theory of Human Immortality; 23: Spinoza's Theory of the Eternity of the Mind; V: Religion and Politics; 24: Spinoza: The Psychology of the Multitude and the Uses of Language; 25: Why Spinoza Chose the Hebrews: The Exemplary Function of Prophecy in the Theological-Political Treatise *

    Biography

    Gideon Segal, Yirmiahu Yovel