Think Least of Death, Steven Nadler
Think Least of Death, Steven Nadler
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Think Least of Death
Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die

Author: Steven Nadler

Narrator: Christopher Douyard

Unabridged: 6 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/23/2021


Synopsis

In 1656, after being excommunicated from Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community for "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds," the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his family's import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza's views has long obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to answer one of humanity's most urgent questions: How can we lead a good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential God? In Think Least of Death, Steven Nadler connects Spinoza's ideas with his life and times to offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a guide to living one's best life.

In the Ethics, Spinoza presents his vision of the ideal human being, the "free person" who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is most important—improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in moderation. "The free person thinks least of all of death," Spinoza writes, "and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."

About Steven Nadler

Steven Nadler is the author of many books, including Rembrandt's Jews, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Spinoza: A Life, which won the Koret Jewish Book Award, and A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age. He is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy and Evjue-Bascom Professor in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.


Reviews

Goodreads review by robin

Spinoza As A Philosopher Of Freedom In Proposition 67 of Part IV of the "Ethics", Spinoza writes "A free person thinks least of all of death. and his wisdom is a meditation on life, not on death." Spinoza scholar Steven Nadler adopts Spinoza's proposition as the title and theme of his new book "Think......more

Goodreads review by Paul

A wonderful attempt to bring the extremely complex thought of Spinoza to the lay reader. It isn’t really important that it doesn’t wholly achieve its aim. It does manage to generate enough of an understanding and kindle enough enthusiasm to make you want to read more. Good intro to Spinoza!......more

Goodreads review by Ryan

Think Least of Death is philosopher Steven Nadler’s attempt to present the entire philosophical system of Spinoza to the lay reader. Spinoza’s philosophy covers everything from the ultimate nature of reality to the best way to live, with the underlying theme of achieving individual freedom from exte......more

I find most of modern philosophy incredibly verbose and by extension, tedious. However, there is much merit to what many of these scholars have meditated on and said concerning life, the universe and everything. This book is an analysis of the core points made in Spinoza's Ethics (with a few referenc......more