Summary of The Ethics
The Complete Work Plus an Overview, Chapter by Chapter Summary and Author Biography!
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Narrated by:
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Joe Bianco
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By:
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Israel Bouseman
About this listen
Ethics is one of the most unique works in Western philosophy, an attempt to handle metaphysics, theology, anthropology, and ontology through the lens of geometric proofs. Spinoza felt that the path to happiness is through reason, in the use of the mind to demystify our existence and liberate us from passions and superstitions.
Benedict de Spinoza is a key figure in Western philosophy and had a significant influence on philosophers such as Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Ethics is Spinoza's masterpiece, the most comprehensive summary of his thought and perspective.
The full narration of the work is preceded by a summary, which includes an overview and synopsis of the work, a biography of the author, and the historical context of the piece.
This presentation of Ethics is ideal for the sincere philosophy scholar and for anyone interested in history or metaphysics.
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'The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.' Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th century because his humanistic, atheistic, if pessimistic views chimed with a new secularism that was emerging from a Western society dominated by religion. Despite his rather forbidding image (and a few outdated views), he is one of the most approachable German philosophers, and this is certainly evident in these two key works, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims.
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depressingly hopeful
- By Sebastian huerta on 06-22-17
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The Varieties of Religious Experience
- By: William James
- Narrated by: Jim Killavey
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The Varieties of Religious Experience is considered to be the classic work in the field. To quote Wikipedia, "James was most interested in understanding personal religious experience. The importance of James to the psychology of religion - and to psychology more generally - is difficult to overstate. He discussed many essential issues that remain of vital concern today. What makes James writing so special is that he could take a very complex subject and, without watering it down, make it understandable to 'the rest of us.'"
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Profound stuff
- By Empowerment on 09-05-09
By: William James
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On the Genealogy of Morals
- A Polemic
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In On the Genealogy of Morals, subtitled "A Polemic", Nietzsche furthers his pursuit of a clarity that is less tainted by imposed prejudices. He looks at the way attitudes towards 'morality' evolved and the way congenital ideas of morality were heavily colored by the Judaic and Christian traditions.
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Be strong, not weak.
- By Wayne on 06-24-13
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Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
- By: Marcus Aurelius
- Narrated by: Alan Munro
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Meditations is former U.S. President Bill Clinton's favorite book. This audio consists of a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161-180 AD, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy.
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The reading made it impossible to focus on content
- By Mark Grebner on 09-02-12
By: Marcus Aurelius
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The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom)
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Michael Lunts
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The Gay Science (The Joyful Wisdom) is one of Nietzsche's greatest books. His wonderfully fertile mind roams over mankind, his thoughts, his emotions, his behaviour and his weaknesses with remarkable clarity, with insight - but also with humour!In this work are 383 separate paragraphs, some short, some long, but all singular observations - the epitome of his famous aphoristic style. 'Morality is the herd instinct in the individual.'
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I am now a full-fledged fan of Nietzsche
- By RS on 02-24-18
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The Problems of Philosophy
- By: Bertrand Russell
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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The Problems of Philosophy discusses Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy and the problems that arise in the field. Russell's views focus on knowledge rather than the metaphysical realm of philosophy. The Problems with Philosophy revolves around the central question that Russell asks in his opening line of Chapter 1 - Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?
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Either be smart or be not smart
- By Gary on 01-18-18
By: Bertrand Russell
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The Great Gatsby
- By: F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Jake Gyllenhaal
- Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby....
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Simple, Beautiful, and Exquisitely Textured
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-13
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A Short History of Ethics
- By: Alasdair MacIntyre
- Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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A Short History of Ethics is a significant contribution written by one of the most important living philosophers. It remains an important work, ideal for all students interested in ethics and morality.
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Great philosopher made ridiculous by accents
- By Olivia Walling on 10-04-17
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On the Soul & Parva Naturalia
- By: Aristotle
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Two contrasting reflections by Aristotle which cover very particular ground. In 'On the Soul', Aristotle presents his view of the 'life essence' which, he argues, is possessed by living things whether plants, animals or humans. Not a 'soul' in the generally accepted Western use of the term, this 'soul', he says, is a life force that is indivisible from the organism that possesses it.
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DeAnima. Aristotle on the soul.
- By Reader on 07-28-18
By: Aristotle
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The Law and the Word
- By: Thomas Troward
- Narrated by: Tony Cousins
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Written in 1917, The Law and the Word is a hard-to-find work by Judge Thomas Troward, a pioneer in mental science. Troward's writings and lectures greatly influenced Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science and writer of The Science of Mind.
This book was one of the first to combine thought energy, scientific reasoning and testing, and creative power, and to see the interconnection of the three.
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Fingernails on a blackboard....
- By Tammy on 07-27-13
By: Thomas Troward
What listeners say about Summary of The Ethics
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- Philosopher King
- 01-23-17
A Geometrical Proof of Divinity!
Any additional comments?
I’ve read and listened to a number of philosophical works. It’s a bit of a passion for me. And yet, I found this one really difficult to digest. It is arranged exactly as Spinoza intended – as a series of geometry-style proofs to describe the nature of God, existence, and the relation between the two. Or the one, as Spinoza asserts in the text, claiming that all of the manifestations in existence are just modes of the singular substance of God. It is a unique perspective, and one that stands apart from other philosophical views, both during Spinoza’s time and in the centuries that follow. For this reason above any other, Spinoza’s Ethics is worth a thorough examination. If you can give it the time and focus it requires, then it will offer a fascinating new way of looking at the world.
Spinoza structures the text in five parts, looking at the nature of God, the qualities of human beings, motivation, emotion, and free will. Each of the sections begins with a list of definitions. Spinoza reviews the terms specific to the section, defining them in unique ways. At first I glossed over this section, but once I began looking at the later bits, the axioms and propositions, I realized that I had to go back and explore what Spinoza meant by his terms. Words like substance and mode, for example, are used to define the nature of God and various aspects of the manifest world.
The definitions are, in the next section, put together in the form of axioms, statements taken as necessary truths. Some of them are pretty obvious like, “All bodies are either in motion or at rest.” Kind of covers all the bases. The ones that are obviously true are also the least valuable, because they are pretty much common sense. Others take a bit of wading through in order to extract sense, like “Modes of thinking, such as love, desire, or any other of the passions, do not take place unless there be in the same individual an idea of the thing loved, desired, and etc. But the idea can exist without any other mode of thinking.” There, Spinoza is essentially saying that feelings and motivations don’t arise out of context. They must be inspired by a specific cause, a person, thing, or idea. This may be true, but I’m really not so certain about it. Desire may require a focus, a something that we desire. But can happiness come in for no specific reason?
After the axiom sections, Spinoza moves into postulates and propositions. He takes these general rules, and combines them, arriving at the conclusions that shape his philosophy. It’s a very left-brained approach, one that takes certain logical ideas and builds them into philosophical constructs. One of these propositions, the first in the second section, is that “God is a thinking thing.” He follows the proposition with a proof that supports the conclusion. Now, this is a pretty big statement, and one that many philosophers might take hard to swallow. It does follow from his definitions, however. The language in which these conclusions are expressed suggests that the proof is incontrovertible, and this to me makes it a bit suspect. Philosophy is a striving into the unknown, and to say that the unknown is fully apprehended through a series of definitions and proofs might simply mean that the definitions themselves are limited.
One of the main virtues of the piece is that Spinoza used these proofs to challenge the prevailing view of God and the universe. In one instance, he addresses the tendency to view the power of God as similar to the power of kings. He instead posits that all the manifestations, or all things in existence, are necessary and inevitable reflections of God as the primary substance. This is a bit complicated, but Spinoza’s work helped to expand theological and philosophical understanding past the dogmatic approach that dominated medieval Europe. Another deviation from the prevailing perspective was that Spinoza identified God with the manifest world. Previous perspectives took the Deity as a creator that stood apart from creation, something outside of the physical universe. Spinoza portrayed an immanent God, a substance that composed the whole in all its infinite variety.
It may be that the geometric style of the argument has its flaws, but the conclusions the Spinoza came to through his method definitely merit a bit of consideration. Another feature that he touches upon is human motivation, and the tendency of all things to seek self-preservation. We act towards self-preservation by moving towards things that we desire, and away from things that cause pain. This perspective is further developed by Hume, who created the foundation of human psychology. It’s fascinating to see in this work the roots of Hume’s perspective, as well as of the modern conception of self. Spinoza used this logical, scientific approach to clear away some of the dogmatic assumptions that had hindered the growth of philosophy and progress for a millennium. He may have overreached a bit in some of his definitions, but broke new ground and set the stage for the Enlightenment period in the years to follow.
Philosophy can be seen as a dialogue stretched out over years, with each point explained at length and following from the perspectives that came before. This, for me, is what makes Ethics such a worthwhile listen. Spinoza is the transition point between the theological philosophers, like Thomas Aquinas, the founding fathers of modern philosophy, such as Descartes and Hobbes, and those later in the field such as Hegel and Schopenhauer. Though the work is dense and a bit dry, it deepened my understanding of the growth of philosophy through this era. It has the hallmarks of a great philosophical work in that it shows the implications of a number of thoughts that we consider to be self-evident. Spinoza takes a number of common-sense style thoughts and builds them into an edifice of philosophical and psychological understanding.
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14 people found this helpful
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- M.Biblioswine
- 09-10-19
Excellent
I have no complaints of this excellent performance of this important book in Western philosophy. I liked the added introductory materials that provides a history of and overview of the book.
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