Preview
  • Think Least of Death

  • Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die
  • By: Steven Nadler
  • Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
  • Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (49 ratings)

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Think Least of Death

By: Steven Nadler
Narrated by: Christopher Douyard
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Publisher's summary

In 1656, after being excommunicated from Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community for "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds", the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his family's import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza's views has long obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to answer one of humanity's most urgent questions: How can we lead a good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential God? In Think Least of Death, Steven Nadler connects Spinoza's ideas with his life and times to offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a guide to living one's best life.

In the Ethics, Spinoza presents his vision of the ideal human being, the "free person" who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is most important-improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in moderation. "The free person thinks least of all of death", Spinoza writes, "and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."

©2020 Princeton University Press (P)2021 Tantor
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What listeners say about Think Least of Death

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Fantastic

Great book. Great reading. A meaningful philosophy that anyone can learn from. It is good.

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Amazing

This book is amazing. I have no criticisms of the book or of the performance.

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A good understanding of Spinoza's views.

It is interesting to be able to look back and get a glimpse of the how he influenced biblical criticism with rationalism.

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Superficial introduction

Nadler thinks he can skip over the metaphysics of parts 1 and 2 of The Ethics. He has emasculated Spinoza's whole vision, made it sound conventional. Hence this overview concludes with a lot of normative moral exhortation -- preaching about being rational, rather than addressing the individual's natural drive to realize his or her unique self. It is also telling that the conclusion makes Spinoza and Kant sound comparable, even similar. That misses the superiority of a shrewd psychologist like Spinoza to a moralist of duty like Kant. Quite misleading, if still edifying for the common reader.
The Ethics astonished profound thinkers like Goethe, Nietzsche, and Jacques Lacan. On Nadler's reading, one cannot imagine how that could have been so.

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