Spinoza’s Ethics: A Close Reading of Part IV "Of Human Bondage"

Spinoza is one of the great philosophers of the 17th century. Observing that all people seek happiness and do so primarily through wealth, popularity, or sensual pleasure without success. Spinoza sought a true path to supreme and unending happiness. What he found was detailed in his work "Ethics." His Ethics includes nothing supernatural and requires no leaps of faith. It is based solely on logic and reason.

Spinoza’s work is extremely difficult, written in the form of Euclid’s mathematical logic, including definitions, axioms, propositions, and proofs. Academics have been struggling with the first two parts for over 300 years, and rarely offer commentary on the following three, which is where Spinoza expresses his ethical doctrine explicitly.

In this meeting, Blake will provide an overview of Part IV of Spinoza's Ethics. Questions and discussions are welcome during and after the presentation.

Although there are several translations of Spinoza's Ethics into English, the following two are freely available and recommended.

Shirley's translation uses better English idioms and is easier to read.([https://homepages.uc.edu/~martinj/Spinoza_&_Hobbes/English/Spinoza%20-%20Complete%20Works%20(2002).pdf](https://homepages.uc.edu/~martinj/Spinoza_&_Hobbes/English/Spinoza%20-%20Complete%20Works%20(2002).pdf))

Curley's translation is more literal and the academic standard. (https://archive.org/details/benedictus-de-spinoza-the-collected-works-of-spinoza-complete-digital-edition-by/mode/2up)