Online Seminar Series: Epistemology of Spinoza
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Date & Time
Thu, May 09 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Address (map)
1129 Maricopa Highway #156
Venue (website)
Online/Virtual/Zoom
Online Seminar Series
Epistemology of Spinoza
8 Thursday Afternoons, January 25 – June 13, 2024
What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How does knowledge differ from belief? Can an exploration of basic philosophical questions, such as How do we know what we know? and What are the limits of our understanding? inform our thinking not just on intellectual issues, but on broader cultural challenges as well?
Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order, usually known as the Ethics, is a philosophical treatise written in Latin by Baruch Spinoza. It was written between 1661 and 1675 and was first published posthumously in 1677. The book is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to apply the method of Euclid in philosophy. Spinoza puts forward a small number of definitions and axioms from which he attempts to derive hundreds of propositions and
corollaries, such as “When the Mind imagines its own lack of power, it is saddened by it”, “A free man thinks of nothing less than of death”, and “The human Mind cannot be absolutely destroyed with the Body, but something of it remains which is eternal.” Over eight afternoon online seminars, the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month, the series will cover:
January 25: Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (pp. 233 to 262)
February 8: Ethics, Part I, Propositions 1-15 (pp. 31-43)
February 22: Ethics, Part I, Propositions 1-15 (pp. 31-43) continued
April 11: Ethics, Part I, Propositions 16-36 and Appendix (pp. 43-62)
April 25: Ethics, Part II (pp. 63-101)
May 9: Ethics, Part III (pp. 102-151)
May 23: Ethics, Part IV (pp. 152-200)
June 13: Ethics, Part V (pp. 201-223)
Join us as we discuss these foundational works from Spinoza. This series continues a broader series on epistemology. All are welcome. Please join us even if this will be your first seminar in the series.
Click here to visit the Epistemology Page.
April 25 Reading:
Ethics, Part II (pp. 63-101)
Ethics: with The Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and Selected Letters
Hackett Publishing Company (November 1992)
ISBN 978-0872201309
(This is the text for all seven seminars in the series)
Schedule:
Thursdays, 12:00-1:30PM PDT
Tutor:
Carol Seferi
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.