Spinoza on Reason, Passions, and the Supreme Good
Spinoza on Reason, Passions, and the Supreme Good

Author: Andrea Sangiacomo

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-01-19

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0198847904

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Spinoza's thought is at the centre of an ever growing interest. Spinoza's moral philosophy, in particular, points to a radical way of understanding how human beings can become free and enjoy supreme happiness. And yet, there is still much disagreement about how exactly Spinoza's recipe is supposed to work. For long time, Spinoza has been presented as an arch rationalist who would identify in the purely intellectual cultivation of reason the key for ethical progress. Andrea Sangiacomo offers a new understanding of Spinoza's project, by showing how he himself struggled during his career to develop a moral philosophy that could speak to human beings as they actually are (imperfect, passionate, often not very rational). Spinoza's views significantly evolved over time. In his early writings, Spinoza's account of ethical progress towards the Supreme Good relies mostly on the idea that the mind can build on its innate knowledge to resist the power of the passions. Although appropriate social conditions may support the individual's pursuit of the Supreme Good, achieving it does not depend essentially on social factors. In Spinoza's later writings, however, the emphasis shifts towards the mind's need to rely on appropriate forms of social cooperation. Reason becomes the mental expression of the way the human body interacts with external causes on the basis of some degree of agreement in nature with them. The greater the agreement, the greater the power of reason to adequately understand universal features as well as more specific traits of the external causes. In the case of human beings, certain kinds of social cooperation are crucial for the development of reason. This view has crucial ramifications for Spinoza's account of how individuals can progress towards the Supreme Good and how a political science based on Spinoza's principles can contribute to this goal.

The Supreme Wisdom
The Supreme Wisdom

Author: Junior Dastine

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0595304338

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The Supreme Wisdom shall make you change for the betterment, but that change will grow and make you wiser. Men that use quotation often win arguments of its opposers. Quotation is mighty and will triumph. "What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes? But the man who orders his life according to their teachings cannot go far wrong." --Norman Douglas People that use quotation are people of scholar, it shows that you are clever, and as well that you read. We could be brighter than we look by using The Supreme Wisdom. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." --Psalms 119: 105 Quoting someone is the repetition of something that well said; it is a refining of the logic of The Supreme Wisdom. "Most people who put together collections of verse or epigrams resemble those who eat cherries or oysters: the begin by choosing the best and end by eating everything." --Chamfort, Maxims To communicate efficiently and be understood we ought always to use quote, for it is true knowledge. You do not understand life in your own; you apprehend it more just by using quotes.

Supreme Injustice
Supreme Injustice

Author: Paul Finkelman

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2018-01-08

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0674982088

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The three most important Supreme Court Justices before the Civil War—Chief Justices John Marshall and Roger B. Taney and Associate Justice Joseph Story—upheld the institution of slavery in ruling after ruling. These opinions cast a shadow over the Court and the legacies of these men, but historians have rarely delved deeply into the personal and political ideas and motivations they held. In Supreme Injustice, the distinguished legal historian Paul Finkelman establishes an authoritative account of each justice’s proslavery position, the reasoning behind his opposition to black freedom, and the incentives created by circumstances in his private life. Finkelman uses census data and other sources to reveal that Justice Marshall aggressively bought and sold slaves throughout his lifetime—a fact that biographers have ignored. Justice Story never owned slaves and condemned slavery while riding circuit, and yet on the high court he remained silent on slave trade cases and ruled against blacks who sued for freedom. Although Justice Taney freed many of his own slaves, he zealously and consistently opposed black freedom, arguing in Dred Scott that free blacks had no Constitutional rights and that slave owners could move slaves into the Western territories. Finkelman situates this infamous holding within a solid record of support for slavery and hostility to free blacks. Supreme Injustice boldly documents the entanglements that alienated three major justices from America’s founding ideals and embedded racism ever deeper in American civic life.

The Supreme Law of the Future Man (Classic Reprint)
The Supreme Law of the Future Man (Classic Reprint)

Author: Julius Hochfelder

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-07

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 9780428481834

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Excerpt from The Supreme Law of the Future Man And even civilized religions in these civilized times have not succeeded in overcoming the meanness of petty discriminations. Well-known hotels and summer resorts kept by those who would challenge you to a duel if you insinuated that they were not good Christians, have barred Hebrews from their establishments. Why, indeed, why is this so if there be not something fundamentally wrong in teaching these religions? You say there is so much good accomplished by these religions as they are taught now that the good quite overcomes the evil? That there is much that is good I do not deny, but why should these evil tendencies exist with it? Can a thousand good deeds make even one little wrong right? Indeed not! No more than a thousand dollars, aye, a million dollars, can restore the life of some poor little soul crushed under the wheels of an auto driven by a saint who never did anyone harm. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

American Original
American Original

Author: Joan Biskupic

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books

Published: 2009-11-10

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1429990015

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The first full-scale biography of the Supreme Court's most provocative—and influential—justice If the U.S. Supreme Court teaches us anything, it is that almost everything is open to interpretation. Almost. But what's inarguable is that, while the Court has witnessed a succession of larger-than-life jurists in its two-hundred-year-plus history, it has never seen the likes of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Combative yet captivating, infuriating yet charming, the outspoken jurist remains a source of curiosity to observers across the political spectrum and on both sides of the ideological divide. And after nearly a quarter century on the bench, Scalia may be at the apex of his power. Agree with him or not, Scalia is "the justice who has had the most important impact over the years on how we think and talk about the law," as the Harvard law dean Elena Kagan, now U.S. Solicitor General, once put it. Scalia electrifies audiences: to hear him speak is to remember him; to read his writing is to find his phrases permanently affixed in one's mind. But for all his public grandstanding, Scalia has managed to elude biographers—until now. In American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the veteran Washington journalist Joan Biskupic presents for the first time a detailed portrait of this complicated figure and provides a comprehensive narrative that will engage Scalia's adherents and critics alike. Drawing on her long tenure covering the Court, and on unprecedented access to the justice, Biskupic delves into the circumstances of his rise and the formation of his rigorous approach to the bench. Beginning with the influence of Scalia's childhood in a first-generation Italian American home, American Original takes us through his formative years, his role in the Nixon-Ford administrations, and his trajectory through the Reagan revolution. Biskupic's careful reporting culminates with the tumult of the contemporary Supreme Court—where it was and where it's going, with Scalia helping to lead the charge. Even as Democrats control the current executive and legislative branches, the judicial branch remains rooted in conservatism. President Obama will likely appoint several new justices to the Court—but it could be years before those appointees change the tenor of the law. With his keen mind, authoritarian bent, and contentious rhetorical style, Scalia is a distinct and persuasive presence, and his tenure is far from over. This new book shows us the man in power: his world, his journey, and the far-reaching consequences of the transformed legal landscape.

Knowledge of Self
Knowledge of Self

Author: Supreme Understanding

Publisher: Supreme Design Publishing

Published: 2009-07-30

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13:

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Do you know who - and what - you are? Do you know who you're meant to be? Do you know how to find the answers to questions like these? Knowledge of Self is the result of a process of self-discovery, but few of us know where to begin when we're ready to start looking deeper. Although self-actualization is the highest of all human needs, it is said that only 5% of people ever attain this goal. In the culture of the Nation of Gods and Earths, commonly known as the Five Percent, students are instructed that they must first learn themselves, then their worlds, and then what they must do in order to transform their world for the better. This often intense process has produced thousands of revolutionary thinkers in otherwise desperate environments, where poverty and hopelessness dominate. Until now, few mainstream publications have captured the brilliant yet practical perspectives of these luminary men and women. Knowledge of Self: A Collection of Writings on the Science of Everything in Life presents the thoughts of Five Percenters, both young and old, male and female, from all over the globe, in their own words. Through essays, poems, and even how-to articles, this anthology presents readers with an accurate portrait of what the Five Percent study and teach, as well as sound direction on how to answer timeless questions like: Who am I, and why am I here? Why is there so much injustice in the world, and what can be done about it? Who is God and where on Earth is he? How do I improve myself without losing myself? Why are people of color in the situations they're in? What can we do about the global problems of racism and poverty?