Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook507 pages6 hours
Spinoza and the Cunning of Imagination
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Spinoza’s Ethics, and its project of proving ethical truths through the geometric method, have attracted and challenged readers for more than three hundred years. In Spinoza and the Cunning of Imagination, Eugene Garver uses the imagination as a guiding thread to this work. Other readers have looked at the imagination to account for Spinoza’s understanding of politics and religion, but this is the first inquiry to see it as central to the Ethics as a whole—imagination as a quality to be cultivated, and not simply overcome.
Spinoza initially presents imagination as an inadequate and confused way of thinking, always inferior to ideas that adequately represent things as they are. It would seem to follow that one ought to purge the mind of imaginative ideas and replace them with rational ideas as soon as possible, but as Garver shows, the Ethics don’t allow for this ultimate ethical act until one has cultivated a powerful imagination. This is, for Garver, “the cunning of imagination.” The simple plot of progress becomes, because of the imagination, a complex journey full of reversals and discoveries. For Garver, the “cunning” of the imagination resides in our ability to use imagination to rise above it.
Spinoza initially presents imagination as an inadequate and confused way of thinking, always inferior to ideas that adequately represent things as they are. It would seem to follow that one ought to purge the mind of imaginative ideas and replace them with rational ideas as soon as possible, but as Garver shows, the Ethics don’t allow for this ultimate ethical act until one has cultivated a powerful imagination. This is, for Garver, “the cunning of imagination.” The simple plot of progress becomes, because of the imagination, a complex journey full of reversals and discoveries. For Garver, the “cunning” of the imagination resides in our ability to use imagination to rise above it.
Unavailable
Read more from Eugene Garver
Spinoza and the Cunning of Imagination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAristotle's Politics: Living Well and Living Together Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfronting Aristotle's Ethics: Ancient and Modern Morality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassical Rhetoric and Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Spinoza and the Cunning of Imagination
Related ebooks
Protagoras and Logos: A Study in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Philosophy Became Socratic: A Study of Plato's "Protagoras," "Charmides," and "Republic" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stendhal Syndrome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Question: What Famous Thinkers from Plato to Dawkins Have Said About the Divine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHegel: Texts and Commentary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophy as a Way of Life: Ancients and Moderns - Essays in Honor of Pierre Hadot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Philosophical Myths of the Fall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Life in the Academy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUsed Books: Marking Readers in Renaissance England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Distracted Globe: Worldmaking in Early Modern Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTheosemiotic: Religion, Reading, and the Gift of Meaning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAristotle: His Life and School Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eros in Plato, Rousseau, and Nietzsche: The Politics of Infinity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Descartes’ Passive Thought: The Myth of Cartesian Dualism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ambiguity and the Absolute: Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty on the Question of Truth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrainstorming: Views and Interviews on the Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShaped by Stories: The Ethical Power of Narratives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInitiation into Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Knowing--The Social Sciences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWay Toward Wisdom, The: An Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Introduction to Metaphysics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Intimate Universal: The Hidden Porosity Among Religion, Art, Philosophy, and Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Garden Party and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bergson and His Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReading as a Philosophical Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdol Anxiety Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScandal Work: James Joyce, the New Journalism, and the Home Rule Newspaper Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime and Free Will Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApropos of Something: A History of Irrelevance and Relevance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu–Christian Conversation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Philosophy For You
The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Western Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Spinoza and the Cunning of Imagination
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews