Tuesday 9 January 2018

My Blog ebook: Research Thoughts on...Spinoza-Volume 1




Research Thoughts on… Spinoza – 
Volume 1

Liba Kaucky






Research Thoughts on...


Spinoza - Volume 1



Religion, Politics and Science




Liba Kaucky

Series: Research Thoughts on…

Spinoza - Volume 1

Sole author: Liba Kaucky

Copyright ©
Liba (Libuse) Kaucky 2014-2018


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First published 2018 by Liba (Libuse) Kaucky as a blog ebook on blogger.com at My Spinoza Research Diary, available at:
http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.co.uk/


Liba Kaucky ResearcherID: P-2484-2016




Liba Kaucky URL: ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1598-0833 

Academia Profile:: https://independent.academia.edu/LibaKaucky


 First edition.

Editor: Liba Kaucky

Cover photo: Copyright © Liba (Libuse) Kaucky (photographer) 2017

All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission from Liba Kaucky. No part of this blog ebook may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented including printing, photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from Liba Kaucky. You must not circulate this ebook in any way other than by referring people to read it on this site http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.co.uk/.

Notices:

Practitioners and researchers must rely on themselves in evaluating and using any information and methods described herein and do so at their own risk.

To the fullest extent of the law, the publisher, author, editor does not assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, including negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein.



Forthcoming titles:

Research Thoughts on… Spinoza - Volume 2

Research Thoughts on… Lady Mary Shepherd - Volume 1 and 2




I would like to dedicate this book to my mother, Jana, without whose endless love, continual encouragement and support this book would not have been possible. I want to take this opportunity to thank her for always being there for me throughout life’s ups and downs and for always having total belief in me and giving me the confidence to follow my dreams. I love you!



Contents

AUTHOR’S NOTE  

PREFACE

PART 1: WHO WAS SPINOZA? MY ANALYTIC-JEWISH INTERPRETATION    

INTRODUCTION     


http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-part-1-who-was.html


CHAPTER 1: THE ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHICAL METHODOLOGY IN MY ANALYTIC-JEWISH INTERPRETATION

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-1-analytic.html
     
CHAPTER 2: THE JEWISH ORTHODOX INTERPRETATION WITHIN MY ANALYTIC-JEWISH INTERPRETATION            

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-2-jewish.html

CHAPTER 3: MY ANALYTIC-JEWISH APPROACH IN PRACTICE: SPINOZA ON IMAGES, IDOLATRY AND WORSHIP

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-3-my.html

CHAPTER 4: SPINOZA THE NON-HERETICAL SEPHARDI ORTHODOX JEW    

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-4-spinoza.html
PART 2: THE ROLE OF TRUE WORSHIP: TRUE RELIGION AND POLITICAL STABILITY

  INTRODUCTION

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-part-2-role-of-true.html    

CHAPTER 5: A POSSIBLE DEFINITION OF TRUE WORSHIP AND WHAT THE NOTION CONTAINS

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-5-possible.html     

CHAPTER 6: WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: ETHICS, POLITICS AND STABILITY IN A STATE

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-6-wisdom.html      
CHAPTER 7: CATEGORIES OF WORSHIP AND SOVEREIGNTY          

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-7.html

 CHAPTER 8: INTERNAL GUIDANCE FROM GOD AND EMOTIONAL STABILITY AS ASPECTS OF TRUE WORSHIP       

 http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-8-internal-guidance.html

PART 3: WAS SPINOZA A ‘FORERUNNER’ TO DARWIN?

CHAPTER 10: THE CONCEPTS OF STRIVING, TELEOLOGY, FINAL CAUSES AND GOD  

http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-10-concepts.html

CHAPTER 12: HOW SPINOZA’S CONATUS FARES AGAINST DARWIN’S THEORY, THE PIZZLY BEAR EXAMPLE

http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.com/2018/01/spinoza-vol-1-ebook-chapter-12-how.html

CONCLUDING REMARKS     

BIBLIOGRAPHY     


Author’s Note:





The purpose of writing this ebook and publishing it on my blog is to encourage wider access and participation in philosophy and philosophical research, not just within but also outside of academic institutions regardless of educational background. This is one of the reasons I have included open access sources for Spinoza’s texts and translations of them and cited them alongside printed copies.

I can be contacted at:

Message me via: http://independentscholar.academia.edu/LibaKaucky 

 or message me via my contact form on my academia website:
https://libakaucky.academia.edu/contact    
Send me a message via my contact page at: https://mysketchbookofthoughts.wordpress.com/contact/

Leave a comment on my Spinoza blog: http://myspinozaresearchdiary.blogspot.co.uk/


Preface

This blog ebook has been based on academic papers I’ve written and presented as an independent scholar over the past 3 years and these papers have been re-written with this ebook in mind. I have also drawn on my blog about my Spinoza research while writing this ebook. I’ve been reading, studying and thinking about Spinoza since being introduced to him in 2010 on my university BA Philosophy course (University of London) by Professor Susan James. I have also undertaken various extra study through classes and courses in Judaism and Biblical Hebrew as well as completing fascinating and enriching scientific and research online courses, namely, on the Genome with St George’s, University of London[i] which informed my interpretation of Spinoza in my third paper ‘Was Spinoza a Forerunner to Darwin?’ which forms the basis of part 3 of this blog ebook; on Biochemistry: the Molecules of Life[ii]; on Academic Integrity[iii] and on Developing your Research Project[iv].

I’d firstly like to thank Susan James to whom I am deeply indebted for her inspiring lectures and talks on Spinoza and in the History of Early Modern Philosophy in general which have given me the impetus to go on to do research (as an independent scholar) in philosophy post-graduation. My knowledge of Spinoza scholarship is continually being enhanced by the many excellent talks and discussions at her London Spinoza Circle which she began in October 2015. I appreciate being part of this vibrant community she has created where enthusiasts and scholars of Spinoza regularly come together to enjoy exchanging ideas about him.

I’d like to thank Eric Schliesser for his positive comments on an earlier draft of my first paper on my interpretation of Spinoza, entitled ‘To what extent did Spinoza remain an orthodox Jew?’, which I found very encouraging and motivated me to pursue my thesis still further. I am grateful to the University of Groningen for giving me the opportunity to present my second Spinoza paper at the workshop: ‘A Day with Spinoza: Bodies, Cognition and Society’ which took place on 20th April 2016 at the University of Groningen. I am appreciative of the constructive comments I received there at question time and my many thanks also go to Michael Rosenthal for his further positive comments and challenging questions during our discussion over the workshop dinner which gave me the opportunity to further refine and defend my thesis. I am also thankful to the University of Groningen for the chance to present my third Spinoza paper, ‘Was Spinoza a Forerunner to Darwin?’ at their 2016 Philosophy Summer School: ‘The Challenge of Natural Teleology: Final Causes from Aristotle to Darwin’ which took place on the 28th June 2016 during the thought-provoking week-long event where I not only benefitted from receiving helpful questions at my question time, but also had the space and time for further discussion on the topic of teleology throughout the event. Last but not least, thanks to the organisers of the two events at Groningen University, Dr Andrea Sangiacomo, Dr Han Thomas Adriaenssen and the philosophy department chair, Professor Martin Lenz. 

My overarching philosophical aim is to open up the debate that Spinoza was and remained throughout his life a religiously devout Jew and that evidence of this can be found in his texts. This is seen as a highly controversial stance and one that is not taken up by even those who think Spinoza was not an atheist and that Jewish ideas are present in his text. However, I wish to press this further, and present the idea that Spinoza’s texts are based on his Jewish faith, which, in my opinion, he never wandered away from, and that by having a better appreciation of Judaism, especially that practised in  17th century Netherlands, we come closer to understanding this complex philosopher. In order to achieve my aim I shall closely analyse his texts not only in translation but also in Latin, which was the language he chose to write in to reach a wide audience, as well as some of his Hebrew additions to the Latin. I hope by doing this, I can understand Spinoza’s thoughts, ideas and arguments in a rational, unprejudiced way, unprejudiced as in not pre-judging the layers of meaning within his writings.

This ebook is volume 1 of a series on Spinoza and deals with three main subject areas: religion, politics and science.

In part 1, I shall put forward my interpretation of Spinoza and my reasons behind it. Over the course of the 4 chapters in this section, I shall discuss my approach to Spinoza, my philosophical methodology, test my hypothesis by showing how my interpretation works when applied to a specific passage of Spinoza’s TTP on idolatry and false worship and then conclude with my thoughts on why I think Spinoza was a non-heretical Orthodox Jew. In part 2, I broaden out my focus within Spinoza’s TTP and examine whether worship in general is a broader concept than it is often taken to be in his philosophy and explore the political implications of true and false worship, including how they impact on the stability of a state, and how we could apply Spinoza’s political philosophy to current political situations. In part 3, I analyse the topic of natural and divine teleology and its implications for religion and science. I elaborate on my methodological approach to the history of philosophy before going on to situate and examine Spinoza on teleology within the context of on-going debates about it, ranging from the pre-Socratics to Darwin and contemporary genome theory. I address the hotly-debated question of whether Spinoza was a pantheist by analysing textual evidence from his Ethics and correspondence. I conclude this section by comparing a variety of views through the example of the pizzly bear and attempt to show the theoretical benefits of adopting Spinoza’s outlook.


[i] “The Genomics Era: The Future of Genetics in Medicine,” educational, FutureLearn, 2016, https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/the-genomics-era?lr=55.
[ii] “Biochemistry: The Molecules of Life,” educational, FutureLearn, 2016, https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/biochemistry/1.
[iii] “Academic Integrity: Values, Skills, Action,” educational, FutureLearn, 2016, https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/academic-integrity/8.
[iv] “Developing Your Research Project,” educational, FutureLearn, 2016, https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/research-project/6.












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