After experience had taught me that all the usual surroundings of social life are vain and futile; seeing that none of the objects of my fears contained in themselves anything either good or bad, except in so far as the mind is affected by them, I finally resolved to inquire whether there might be some real good having power to communicate itself, which would affect the mind singly, to the exclusion of all else: whether, in fact, there might be anything of which the discovery and attainment would enable me to enjoy continuous, supreme, and unending happiness.
Most writers on the emotions and on human conduct... attribute human infirmities and fickleness, not to the power of nature in general, but to some mysterious flaw in the nature of man... -from Ethics Considered a rationalist in the ranks of Descartes and Leibniz, Benedict De Spinoza was so unorthodox in his philosophies that his writings, published in 1678 just after his death, were immediately banned in his homeland of Holland. The spreading influencing of his thinking could not be stopped, however, and Spinoza overarching contention-that human happiness could be achieved only through a reasoned understanding of the universe-remains provocative and significant today. This collection, translated from Latin by R.H.M. Elwes and published in 1901, brings together Spinoza's best known work, Ethics, in which he postulates that God and Nature constitute one deterministic system, a single divine machine, in which humans are a vital part; his treatise "On the Improvement of the Understanding," in which he discusses the very nature of the mind itself; and a selection of his correspondence that elucidates his reasoning. AUTHOR BIO: BENEDICT DE SPINOZA (1632-1677) was born in Amsterdam to a prosperous merchant family. He also wrote A Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, which he never completed, and A Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being.
In the genre of Christian philosophers, Spinoza presents a geometric argument for the necessary existence of God as the one absolute substance underlying all other substance. From the necessity of God's existance, he derives the laws of existence, those of nature, and the ethical principles animating human conduct. In this sweeping volume that covers a wide range of topics from metaphysics, epistemology, and theology, Spinoza addresses the key concepts of freedom, the existence of evil, and the ultimate purpose of humanity.
This book identifies the mindset, processes, and behaviors that contribute to successful reform efforts and provide school leaders with concrete tools enabling them to be more effective.
