Goldstein: The Vindication of Spinoza

Zeitgeist 1 Minute

Rebecca Goldstein has an interesting post on BigThink about Baruch Spinoza and how prescient many of his ideas were.  Spinoza’s conception of God was the one believed in by Einstein.  This conception, often summarized as being equivalent to the laws of nature, is an example of the wide diversity of notions that the word ‘God’ can mean, and only goes to show that everyone is an atheist toward someone’s conception of God.  (Well everyone except perhaps many polytheists who accept every god that is presented to them.)

 

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4 thoughts on “Goldstein: The Vindication of Spinoza”

  1. Thanks for making yesterday’s reading in philosophy relatively pain free. That makes up for my attempt the other night to read the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s page on ‘Consciousness and Intentionality’ – ouch! Every little bit helps though I suppose.

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    1. I know what you mean about the Stanford Encyclopedia. I like philosophy, but I have to admit I like it summarized and in bite sized chunks. Unfortunately, philosophers tend to be long winded.

      I do think philosophy is important for figuring out the important questions. I’ve become increasingly cautious of philosophical conclusions though, if for no other reason than that philosophers agree on very little.
      http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2013/04/29/what-do-philosophers-believe/

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      1. “Yes, some of the descriptions might not mean that much at first glance. Google is your friend!”

        LOL, “some”? – I’ll save that and try going right down the list(or just pick here and there) and at least get an overview of each – maybe one a day or week or something – thanks!

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