Benedictus de Spinoza – författare

An authoritative edition of George Eliot''s elegant translation of Spinoza''s greatest philosophical workIn 1856, Marian Evans completed her translation of Benedict de Spinoza''s Ethics while living in Berlin with the philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes. This would have become the first edition of Spinoza''s controversial masterpiece in English, but the translation remained unpublished because of a disagreement between Lewes and the publisher. Later that year, Evans turned to fiction writing, and by 1859 she had published her first novel under the pseudonym George Eliot. This splendid edition makes Eliot''s translation of the Ethics available to today''s readers while also tracing Eliot''s deep engagement with Spinoza both before and after she wrote the novels that established her as one of English literature''s greatest writers.Clare Carlisle''s introduction places the Ethics in its seventeenth-century context and explains its key philosophical claims. She discusses George Eliot''s intellectual formation, her interest in Spinoza, the circumstances of her translation of the Ethics, and the influence of Spinoza''s ideas on her literary work. Carlisle shows how Eliot drew on Spinoza''s radical insights on religion, ethics, and human emotions, and brings to light surprising affinities between Spinoza''s austere philosophy and the rich fictional worlds of Eliot''s novels.This authoritative edition demonstrates why George Eliot''s translation remains one of the most compelling and philosophically astute renderings of Spinoza''s Latin text. It includes notes that indicate Eliot''s amendments to her manuscript and that discuss her translation decisions alongside more recent English editions.

This anthology of the work of Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677) presents the text of Spinoza''s masterwork, the Ethics, in what is now the standard translation by Edwin Curley. Also included are selections from other works by Spinoza, chosen by Curley to make the Ethics easier to understand, and a substantial introduction that gives an overview of Spinoza''s life and the main themes of his philosophy. Perfect for course use, the Spinoza Reader is a practical tool with which to approach one of the world''s greatest but most difficult thinkers, a passionate seeker of the truth who has been viewed by some as an atheist and by others as a religious mystic. The anthology begins with the opening section of the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, which has always moved readers by its description of the young Spinoza''s spiritual quest, his dissatisfaction with the things people ordinarily strive for--wealth, honor, and sensual pleasure--and his hope that the pursuit of knowledge would lead him to discover the true good. The emphasis throughout these selections is on metaphysical, epistemological, and religious issues: the existence and nature of God, his relation to the world, the nature of the human mind and its relation to the body, and the theory of demonstration, axioms, and definitions. For each of these topics, the editor supplements the rigorous discussions in the Ethics with informal treatments from Spinoza''s other works.