Introduction to Spinoza and His Theory of Love

Chapters

See also: the site-wide Topic Index ↗︎

Lecture 1 Why God and Nature Are One

Introduction to the Lecture Series on Spinoza

▶︎ 0:00 transcript ↗︎

The Scientific Revolution and the Crisis of Truth

▶︎ 1:20 transcript ↗︎

Truth, Religion, and the Rise of Empirical Knowledge

▶︎ 3:52 transcript ↗︎

Rationalists vs. Empiricists and Certainty

▶︎ 7:12 transcript ↗︎

The Ethics: Structure and Geometrical Method

▶︎ 10:35 transcript ↗︎

What Is a Definition? Intelligibility and Negation

▶︎ 13:00 transcript ↗︎

Rationalism, Certainty, and the Human Drive for Truth

▶︎ 14:22 transcript ↗︎

Understanding vs. Dominating Nature: Francis Bacon

▶︎ 16:31 transcript ↗︎

Causa Sui: Collapsing Cause and Effect

▶︎ 19:59 transcript ↗︎

Causa Sui vs. Biblical Creation

▶︎ 24:16 transcript ↗︎

Medieval Philosophy and Spinoza's Radical Break

▶︎ 28:20 transcript ↗︎

Atheism, Morality, and Why He Wrote The Ethics

▶︎ 31:56 transcript ↗︎

Substance: The Foundation of Existence

▶︎ 34:59 transcript ↗︎

Attributes: Thought and Extension

▶︎ 36:44 transcript ↗︎

Modes: Finite Things and the Mind-Body Unity

▶︎ 40:49 transcript ↗︎

God as Substance and Nature: Deus Sive Natura

▶︎ 45:47 transcript ↗︎

Determinism, Necessity, and Rejecting Free Will

▶︎ 47:10 transcript ↗︎

Overview: The Five Parts of The Ethics

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Lecture 2 The Mind Is the Body's Idea

Recap: God, Nature, and Parallelism

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Why Free Will Feels Essential to Who We Are

▶︎ 0:36 transcript ↗︎

Descartes' Doubt, the Cogito, and Dualism

▶︎ 1:48 transcript ↗︎

How Cartesian Dualism Shapes Our World Today

▶︎ 5:15 transcript ↗︎

The Mind Is the Idea of the Body

▶︎ 7:07 transcript ↗︎

The Physical Digression: How Bodies Work

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Motion, Rest, and What Keeps Things Alive

▶︎ 13:30 transcript ↗︎

Postulates on the Human Body

▶︎ 17:09 transcript ↗︎

Ideas in Proportion: The Mind's Inner Life

▶︎ 18:31 transcript ↗︎

What a Healthy Mind Looks Like

▶︎ 20:30 transcript ↗︎

Spinoza's Theory of Knowledge

▶︎ 24:14 transcript ↗︎

First Kind of Knowledge: Imagination

▶︎ 25:34 transcript ↗︎

Second Kind of Knowledge: Rational Thought

▶︎ 29:42 transcript ↗︎

Third Kind of Knowledge: Intuition

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Intuitive vs. Discursive Knowledge

▶︎ 34:22 transcript ↗︎

Adequate and Inadequate Ideas in Practice

▶︎ 38:40 transcript ↗︎

Conatus: The Drive to Persevere in Being

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Lecture 3 Joy, Sadness, and the Power to Act

Conatus as Essence and Desire

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Platonic vs. Aristotelian Ethics and Mind-Body

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Harmony vs. Conflict in Ethical Action

▶︎ 3:38 transcript ↗︎

Desire as Conscious Conatus and Affect Defined

▶︎ 5:58 transcript ↗︎

Actions vs. Passions: Passion Means Suffering

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Joy, Sadness, and the Dynamics of Power

▶︎ 10:29 transcript ↗︎

Mental Life, Longevity, and Understanding

▶︎ 12:50 transcript ↗︎

Three Kinds of Knowledge and Will as Intellect

▶︎ 14:27 transcript ↗︎

Imagination, Rationality, and Adequate Causation

▶︎ 17:35 transcript ↗︎

The Myth of Individuality and Independence

▶︎ 18:51 transcript ↗︎

Pathological Individuation and Bondage

▶︎ 22:17 transcript ↗︎

Good, Evil, and Naturalized Morality

▶︎ 24:16 transcript ↗︎

Social Dimension of Affect and Emotional Contagion

▶︎ 27:40 transcript ↗︎

Competition, Early Development, and Recovery

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Virtue, Power, and Mutual Flourishing

▶︎ 35:35 transcript ↗︎

The Wise Person's Way of Living

▶︎ 38:16 transcript ↗︎

Love and the Imperative to Know Thyself

▶︎ 40:02 transcript ↗︎

Lecture 4 Love as an Expansion of Self

Love as the Most Important Affect

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Defining Love and Hate in the Ethics

▶︎ 1:47 transcript ↗︎

Love as Expansion of the Self

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Self-Love and External vs. Internal Causes

▶︎ 4:24 transcript ↗︎

How Love Constitutes Beauty

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Possessive Love and Stages of Knowledge

▶︎ 7:56 transcript ↗︎

Rational Love as Friendship and Nobility

▶︎ 10:07 transcript ↗︎

Jealousy: The Dark Side of Love

▶︎ 11:22 transcript ↗︎

Hate, Anger, and Overcoming Hate with Love

▶︎ 14:37 transcript ↗︎

Navigating Life with Irrational People

▶︎ 16:10 transcript ↗︎

Freedom, Imagination, and Why We Love It

▶︎ 17:33 transcript ↗︎

Actions vs. Passions: Structure of Part Three

▶︎ 20:33 transcript ↗︎

How Affects Differ Between Individuals

▶︎ 23:26 transcript ↗︎

Strength of Character: Tenacity and Nobility

▶︎ 25:14 transcript ↗︎

Friendship, the Golden Rule, and the State

▶︎ 27:12 transcript ↗︎

Overcoming Passions: Maxims and Practice

▶︎ 30:06 transcript ↗︎

The Road to Intellectual Love of God

▶︎ 31:34 transcript ↗︎

Understanding as Love of God

▶︎ 35:27 transcript ↗︎

The Erotic Ladder: Onion vs. Climbing

▶︎ 38:36 transcript ↗︎

Intellectual Love of God and Salvation

▶︎ 41:50 transcript ↗︎