Spinozas Book of Life

Most readers of Spinoza treat him as a pure metaphysician, a grim determinist, or a stoic moralist, but none of these descriptions captures the author of the Ethics, argues Steven B. Smith in this intriguing book. Offering a new reading of Spinozas masterpiece, Smith asserts that the Ethics is a celebration of human freedom and its attendant joys and responsibilities and should be placed among the great founding documents of the Enlightenment. Two aspects of Smiths book distinguish it from other studies. It treats the famous geometrical method of the Ethics as a form of moral rhetoric, a model for the construction of individuality. And it presents the Ethics as a companion to Spinozas major work of political philosophy, the Theologico-Political Treatise, each work helping to explore the problem of freedom. Affirming Spinozas centrality for both critics and defenders of modernity, the book will be of value to students of political theory, philosophy, and intellectual history.