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Spinoza on beings of reason [entia rationis] and the analogical imaginationIn Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.), Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy, Bloomsbury Academic. 2019.
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6Spinoza's “Republican Idea of Freedom”In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (ed.), A Companion to Spinoza, Wiley. 2021.There are two ideas of freedom in Spinoza's work, one stoic, the other republican. The stoic idea is expressed in the themes of individual self‐mastery through knowledge of one's place in the natural order. The republican idea of freedom expresses the necessity and nobility of political engagement in a state that is not fully rational. Spinoza's own theory of republican sovereignty was inspired by Machiavelli and other contemporary Dutch republican thinkers. Though, it originates as a critique o…Read more
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14Spinoza on the Ontology of Justice: The Role of ‘Beings of Reason’ (Entia Rationis)In Jenny Pelletier & Christian Rode (eds.), The Reality of the Social World: Medieval, Early Modern, and Contemporary Perspectives on Social Ontology, Springer Verlag. pp. 117-135. 2023.In this paper I make four claims. First, there is an apparent contradiction in Spinoza’s theory of justice. On the one hand, in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), he argues that justice is entirely conventional and depends on the ruler’s decision. On the other hand, in the later and unpublished Tractatus Politicus (1677), he claims that man really is a social animal and that we can articulate ideal forms of justice on that basis. Second, to address this apparent inconsistency, we need to…Read more
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Spinoza on beings of reason [entia rationis] and the analogical imaginationIn Jack Stetter & Charles Ramond (eds.), Spinoza in Twenty-First-Century American and French Philosophy: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy, Bloomsbury Academic. 2019.
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132. Spinoza on Why the Sovereign Can Command Men’s Tongues but Not Their MindsIn Melissa S. Williams & Jeremy Waldron (eds.), Toleration and its Limits: Nomos Xlviii, New York University Press. pp. 54-77. 2022.
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35A Qualified Defence of Rationalism: On the Role of the Analogical Imagination in SpinozaAustralasian Philosophical Review 4 (3): 243-249. 2020.ABSTRACT This commentary defends an interpretation of Spinoza that preserves some key elements of traditional rationalism, in which reason does have an independent path to the truth. While it agrees with Lloyd’s general view, in which reason, imagination, and emotion are more closely tied than the Cartesian scheme, in which reason is distinct from the world of bodies, the paper disagrees with her central claim that reason is constituted by the imagination. It argues that the imagination is effec…Read more
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15Spinoza's Political Psychology: The Taming of Fortune and Fear by Justin SteinbergJournal of the History of Philosophy 58 (3): 614-615. 2020.In this ambitious and important book, Justin Steinberg attempts to explain the significance of the project for both contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought. He argues that Spinoza offers a much-needed antidote against "ideal theory" in political philosophy. He also wants to expand our horizons concerning the context of Spinoza's political thought, primarily by noting the influence of Renaissance Civic Humanism. He argues for two main theses: the political works are…Read more
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Beyond the Persecuting Society: Religious Toleration Before the Enlightenment. Edited by John Christian Laursen and Cary J. Nederman (review)The European Legacy 7 (1): 143-143. 2002.
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19The Collected Works of Spinoza by Benedictus de SpinozaJournal of the History of Philosophy 55 (3): 545-546. 2017.Edwin Curley published the first volume of his translation of Spinoza's Collected Works more than thirty years ago. It was a landmark that signaled a renewed interest among English-speaking scholars in Spinoza's work. Now, the second volume has appeared, and it too is a monument to scholarship and promises to inspire new research in the field.It contains new translations of the Theological-Political Treatise and the Political Treatise, as well as the rest of the correspondence, letters 29–84. As…Read more
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Spinoza in the Republican Tradition: Virtue and Fortune in the "Ethics" and the Political WorksDissertation, The University of Chicago. 1996.While many writers have emphasized the vital importance of Hobbes and the natural law tradition in the formation of Spinoza's political thought, most have neglected or underestimated the significance of Machiavelli and the republican tradition of civic virtue. I claim that it is worth reexamining Machiavelli's influence on Spinoza for two reasons. First, and perhaps most surprisingly, it sheds light on the structure and content of Spinoza's thought, not only in his political writings, but in the…Read more
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39Two Collective Action Problems in Spinoza's Social Contract TheoryHistory of Philosophy Quarterly 15 (4). 1998.
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Spinoza and the philosophy of historyIn Charles Huenemann (ed.), Interpreting Spinoza: Critical Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2008.
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112Tolerance as a Virtue in Spinoza's EthicsJournal of the History of Philosophy 39 (4): 535-557. 2001.
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71Spinoza's theologico-political treatise: Exploring 'the will of God'Journal of the History of Philosophy 45 (2): 334-335. 2007.Michael A. Rosenthal - Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring 'The Will of God' - Journal of the History of Philosophy 45:2 Journal of the History of Philosophy 45.2 334-335 Muse Search Journals This Journal Contents Reviewed by Michael A. Rosenthal University of Washington, Seattle Theo Verbeek. Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring 'The Will of God'. Aldershot, UK-Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003. Pp. 224. Cloth, $99.95. Theo Verbeek, an eminent historian of Dutch Cartesi…Read more
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Michel Meyer, Philosophy and the Passions: Toward a History of Human Nature Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 22 (1): 55-56. 2002.
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Inventions of the Imagination: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Imaginary since Romanticism (edited book)University of Washington Press. 2011.
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72Spinoza’s Dogmas of the Universal Faith and the Problem of ReligionPhilosophy and Theology 13 (1): 53-72. 2001.I argue that in the seven “dogmas of the universal faith,” which are introduced in chapter XIV of the Theological-Political Treatise, Spinoza reinterprets the traditional view of a minimal credo required for salvation. The dogmas are dialectical propositions that are true insofar as they are practically useful. Instead of obtaining salvation for the soul, the dogmas aid in the preservation of the body, particularly through the regulation of religion within the state. I show that reading the dogm…Read more
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37A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza’s Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 51 (1): 129-130. 2013.
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40Miracles, wonder, and the state in Spinoza's Theological-Political TreatiseIn Yitzhak Y. Melamed & Michael A. Rosenthal (eds.), Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press. pp. 231. 2010.
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IntroductionIn Yitzhak Y. Melamed & Michael A. Rosenthal (eds.), Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press. 2010.
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29Why Spinoza chose the Hebrews: The exemplary function of prophecy in the Theological-Political TreatiseHistory of Political Thought 18 (2): 207-241. 1997.In what follows, then, I will make four basic points. First, I will take what Spinoza says in the Ethics about an exemplar of human nature as a clear and basic indication of what the purpose of an exemplar is: to transform value from an individual and subjective utility to a universal and objective standard. Second, I will argue that the function of prophecy in the foundation of the state is essentially to fulfil the role of an exemplar, but on a political level; that is, to persuade the individ…Read more
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Spinoza, history, and Jewish modernityIn Charles Harry Manekin & Robert Eisen (eds.), Philosophers and the Jewish Bible, University Press of Maryland. 2008.
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Baruch SpinozaIn Graham Oppy & Nick Trakakis (eds.), Medieval Philosophy of Religion: The History of Western Philosophy of Religion, Volume 2, Routledge. pp. 3--141. 2009.
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64‘The black, scabby Brazilian’: Some thoughts on race and early modern philosophyPhilosophy and Social Criticism 31 (2): 211-221. 2005.When Spinoza described his dream of a black, scabby Brazilian, was the image indicative of a larger pattern of racial discrimination? Should todays readers regard racist comments and theories in the texts of 17th- and 18th-century philosophers as reflecting the prejudices of their time or as symptomatic of philosophical discourse? This article discusses whether a critical discussion of race is itself a form of racism and whether supposedly minor prejudices are evidence of a deeper social path…Read more
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55Persuasive passions: Rhetoric and the interpretation of spinozas theological-political treatiseArchiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 85 (3): 249-268. 2003.
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104Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2010.Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was published anonymously in 1670 and immediately provoked huge debate. Its main goal was to claim that the freedom of philosophizing can be allowed in a free republic and that it cannot be abolished without also destroying the peace and piety of that republic. Spinoza criticizes the traditional claims of revelation and offers a social contract theory in which he praises democracy as the most natural form of government. This Critical Guide presents essays…Read more
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University of Toronto, St. George CampusDepartment of Philosophy
Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish StudiesGraftstein Professor In Jewish Philosophy
University of Chicago
PhD, 1996
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
History of Western Philosophy |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |
PhilPapers Editorships
Spinoza: Philosophy of Religion |