Freedom, Action, And Motivation In Spinoza’s Ethics

Description

The present volume posits the themes of freedom, action, and motivation as the central principles that drive Spinoza'sEthicsfrom its first part to its last. It assembles essays by internationally leading scholars who provide different, sometimes opposing interpretations of these fundamental themes as they operate across the five parts of theEthicsand within its manifold domains. The diversity of issues, approaches, and perspectives within this volume, along with the chapters' common focus, open up new ways of understanding not only some of the key concepts and main objectives in theEthicsbut also the threads unifying the entire work. The sequence of essays in the book broadly follows the order of theEthics, providing up-to-date perspectives of Spinoza's views on freedom, action, and motivation in their ontological, cognitive, physical, affective, and ethical facets. This enables readers to engage with a variety of new interpretations of these key themes of theEthicsand to　reconsider their consequences both for other related issues in theEthicsand for the relevance of theEthicsto contemporary trends in philosophy of action and motivation. The essays will contribute to the growing interest in Spinoza'sEthicsand spark further discussion and debate within and outside the vast body of scholarship on this important work. 　 Freedom, Action, and Motivation in Spinoza'sEthics will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working on Spinoza and early modern philosophy, as well as on philosophy of action and motivation.