History of Philosophy II Lecture Notes

Phil A212

William Jamison

Lecture 5 Notes:

Spinoza, "Ethics".

See my notes on Spinoza for Introduction to Philosophy. Spinoza has elements of both Descartes and Hobbes. There are also influences from Moses Maimonides.

Spinoza influences Locke. We will examine his overall philosophy with a focus on how that results in the movement for religious toleration that is an important part of the American Deist movement. See English Deism and French Deism.

I argue that Spinoza is successful in his Ethics. Considering the nature of the scholastic definitions he uses it seems he draws the logically necessary conclusions.

Next reading assignment:

Spinoza and Pantheism