•  69
    Nietzsche, Spinoza, and Etiology (On the Example of Free Will)
    European Journal of Philosophy 29 (2): 459-474. 2021.
    In this paper I clarify a major affinity between Nietzsche and Spinoza that has been neglected in the literature—but that Nietzsche was aware of—namely a tendency to what I call etiology. Etiologies provide second- order explanations of some opponents’ first-order views, but not in order to decide first-order matters. The example I take up here is Nietzsche’s and Spinoza’s rejections of free will—and especially their etiologies concerning how we wrongly come to think that we may boast of such a …Read more
  •  36
    Salomon Maimon, “On the First Grounds of Natural Right”
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29 (1): 157-172. 2020.
    In an essay, I have established a new formula of the moral principle, different from the Kantian, and more convenient to use. It grounds itself in a new deduction,...
  •  35
    Introduction to Salomon Maimon’s “On the First Grounds of Natural Right”
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29 (1): 146-156. 2020.
    In what follows we introduce and present a translation of Salomon Maimon’s “On the First Grounds of Natural Right”. To begin, we briefly discuss textual issues surrounding the essay. We then...
  •  29
    The idea of a “first principle” looms large in Fichte’s thought, and its first real appearance is in his “Aphorisms on Religion and Deism” (1790), which has received little attention. I begin this paper by providing some context on that piece, and then developing a reconstruction of the position presented within it. Next, I establish that Fichte’s views at the time of writing, and for some years prior, are those of the “deist,” and clarify why he sensed he had to leave this stance represented in…Read more
  •  22
    The relationship between Goethe and Salomon Maimon has only been touched on once in the literature, and further clarification of the link between them remains a desideratum. Below I propose that the way to grasp their seeing eye to eye is through Spinoza, and specifically Spinoza's notion of scientia intuitiva. Initially I provide some context in order to illustrate what makes Maimon's role here rather unique. Then I sketch the relationship Maimon and Goethe had both to Spinoza and each other wh…Read more
  •  4
    Nietzsche and Spinoza
    In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (ed.), A Companion to Spinoza, Wiley. 2021.
    This chapter considers Nietzsche's and Spinoza's views on freedom – a theme of central interest to both thinkers. It draws from Yonover in order to provide an outline of their rejections of one conception of freedom: freedom of the will. The chapter also considers their positive visions of a very different kind of freedom, which rather consists in self‐determination. Nietzsche's naturalism surely plays a major role in his rejection of freedom of the will, too. Nietzsche and Spinoza praise a comp…Read more
  •  1
    This collection of fifteen newly commissioned essays has a dual purpose. Through an emphasis on the reception of Spinoza in German nineteenth-century thought, the volume seeks to shed new light on his work. Likewise, the focus on Spinoza’s influence in the long nineteenth century illuminates novel aspects of the philosophical lineage from idealism to Marxism, psychoanalysis, and beyond. The contributions are at the cutting edge of research on modern German thought, not only when it comes to cano…Read more
  • In this chapter I explore, in some cases for the first time, the significance of the ethical, liberatory dimension of Spinoza’s thought among a number of women philosophers across the long nineteenth century’s German tradition. I begin with brief discussions of Elise Reimarus and Charlotte von Stein. I then proceed to more in-depth treatments of Caroline Michaelis- Böhmer-Schlegel-Schelling and Karoline von Günderrode, stressing not only that we may learn about both in drawing out a link to Spin…Read more
  • Spinoza and Jewish Philosophy
    In Yitzhak Melamed & Paul Franks (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Philosophy, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.