Top reviews from the United States

• 

  John S. Ryan

  5 out of 5 stars

  A garden of Spinozistic delights

  Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2002

  Format: Paperback

  Verified Purchase

  Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

  Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

  Genevieve Lloyd's introduction and commentary to Spinoza's _Ethics_ has become one of my favorites. If you want a general introduction to Spinoza, I recommend starting with Roger Scruton or (second choice) Diane Steinberg. But if you're going to try to read the _Ethics_, you can't ask for a better companion than Lloyd.

  It's wonderful to see how much she gets right. For example, in just a few short paragraphs, she not only adopts Martial Gueroult's suggestion to regard Spinoza as a panentheist (correctly, in my opinion), but _also_ explains the main hazard of this view (that we may forget Spinoza's God is fully expressed in each of his attributes). It's nice to see such excellent philosophical sense compressed into two pages of text.

  She also takes Jonathan Bennett to task, quite rightly, for his reading in _A Study of Spinoza's Ethics_. I really like Bennett's commentary and I think every philosopher deserves a critic of his caliber. But he reads Spinoza, indeed expressly sets out to read Spinoza, only to find out what he has to say that is of interest to the modern academic philosopher, and he thereby winds up missing the point a lot. Lloyd sets him straight on several issues -- not least his failure to appreciate that Spinoza's development of collaborative ethics from self-regard depends on a new understanding of the self.

  She's pretty good on the subject of the mind's eternality, too. I won't try to summarize her claims on this overworked subject; let's just say that she provides a fairly sound reply to Bennett's claim that the second half of Book Five doesn't have anything important to say to us.

  There are several other good commentaries on the _Ethics_, of which I personally recommend Curley's _Behind the Geometrical Method_ and Bennett's aforementioned _A Study of Spinoza's Ethics_. (Among older ones, I still like Joachim's best.) But if you want a commentary suitable for both introductory and advanced readers that does a nice job of letting Spinoza speak for himself, Lloyd's is it.

  Read moreRead less

  38 people found this helpful

  Helpful

  Sending feedback...

  Thank you for your feedback.

  Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

  Report

  Sending feedback...

  Thanks, we'll investigate in the next few days.

  Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
• 

  Autonomeus

  5 out of 5 stars

  Excellent, concise guide to Spinoza's "Ethics"

  Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2023

  Format: Paperback

  Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

  Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

  Genevieve Lloyd's 1996 book is short (176 pages), clear, and concise. It is an excellent guide to Spinoza's difficult "Ethics." She sees Spinoza's view of God as not pantheist, and certainly not atheist, but rather panentheist -- the world is in God, but God is not entirely in the world. God is both immanent and transcendent (38-41).

  Her analysis of Spinoza's puzzling assertion that the mind is eternal is superb. Some have confused eternal with immortal, but Spinoza is clear that the mind does not continue after the death of the body. What he means by eternal has to do with the Now and being part of God. Lloyd emphasizes the attitude of not being afraid of death as part of experiencing eternity while living (114-123).

  I am a sociologist, not a philosopher. But if I was teaching Spinoza I would strongly consider using this book along with the "Ethics."

  (verified library loan)

  Read moreRead less

  Helpful

  Sending feedback...

  Thank you for your feedback.

  Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

  Report

  Sending feedback...

  Thanks, we'll investigate in the next few days.

  Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
• 

  Charles M. Saunders

  5 out of 5 stars

  Exhibits a comprehensive and accurate understanding of Spinoza's intende meaning

  Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2019

  Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

  Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

  There are as many mistaken notions concerning Spinoza's intended meaning in his "Ethics" as there are commentators on the subject. Most attempt to pigeon-hole him into some philosophical category or contrast his thinking with some of their own pet slants on contemporary academic schools. Professor Lloyd does not employ any comparative analysis methodologies but rather transliterates Baruch's own words using a clearly explicated rendering which clearly bespeaks her hours and years spent patiently examining in detail each and every aspect of all five 'Parts'. The "Ethics" has earned its reputation as one of the most complicated documents in the History of Ideas. Spinoza has captured within its 'Clear Labyrinth' every detail of humanity's place in the cosmos and precisely why our capability to think and most importantly to 'understand substance and mode intuitively' marks us as the 'crown in all the creata'.

  Baruch's Ontology folds into his Epistemology, which envelops into his Psychology, Particle Physics and Morality and Ethics, incorporates itself into the Infinite, the Eternal and the Human. Everything that can be known and adequately understood about virtually every aspect of objects, people and planets is included and was captured in the elegant mind of Baruch Spinoza. And to top it all off; everything he discovered about the known and the unknown universe is completely self-evident.

  Let Professor Lloyd lead you through exactly what this means as she demonstrates why she is the Leading Spinoza Scholar alive today.

  Sapere Aude!

  Charles M. Saunders

  Spinoza Author

  The "Ethics" Examined in Detail

  Read moreRead less

  One person found this helpful

  Helpful

  Sending feedback...

  Thank you for your feedback.

  Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

  Report

  Sending feedback...

  Thanks, we'll investigate in the next few days.

  Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
• 

  toronto

  5 out of 5 stars

  A la mode

  Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2014

  Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

  Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

  This is a terrific companion to the Ethics, clear, well-written, and full of insights. I've read it a couple of times as a "warm-up" refresher before starting in on the Ethics again. I would pair it off with Nadler's Ethics:An Introduction, which is more "nuts and bolts". To plunge into contemporary (Anglo) Spinoza criticism, the Cambridge Companion to the Ethics is the best bet; the continental criticism is best sampled in The New Spinoza. Lloyd is in-between: she cites Deleuze, Gueroult, and Negri; but doesn't neglect Wolfson, Bennett, et al.

  Read moreRead less

  5 people found this helpful

  Helpful

  Sending feedback...

  Thank you for your feedback.

  Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

  Report

  Sending feedback...

  Thanks, we'll investigate in the next few days.

  Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again
• 

  Primumveritas

  2 out of 5 stars

  Not for beginners!!!

  Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2006

  Format: Paperback

  Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

  Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

  This book is an erudite discussion of Spinoza's philosophy which presupposes a lot of previous knowledge of his doctrine. To take but one example, the first chapter does not explain the central notions of substance, modes and attributes, but discusses them, which is mainly done by comparing the points of view of several Spinoza scholars. All in all, this so-called "guidebook" is in fact a kind of dialogue the author is having with other specialists.

  Therefore, if you want to get acquainted with Spinoza and undestand the basics, don't buy this book. I recommend Robert Duff's "Spinoza's Political and Ethical Philosophy" instead.

  Read moreRead less

  25 people found this helpful

  Helpful

  Sending feedback...

  Thank you for your feedback.

  Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again

  Report

  Sending feedback...

  Thanks, we'll investigate in the next few days.

  Sorry, We failed to report this review. Please try again