Meanwhile at Pandemic U., we're doing Spinoza today (slightly out of order temporarily, for no better reason I guess than to give me a thin excuse to recycle that stale old "Descartes before the horse" joke) in CoPhi, and Kierkegaard in A&P. What an odd couple, a blissful fatalistic rationalist (the "Lens Grinder") and an angst-ridden melancholy absurdist/irrationalist (the Faith Leaper).
Spinoza's God was Einstein's...
Kierkegaard's was Abraham's.
Some of the best things Spinoza ever said:
- “The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”
- “I do not know how to teach philosophy without becoming a disturber of the peace.”
- “I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”
If you like to listen, check out the marvelous stage production about Spinoza called The New Jerusalem (audible)... and Charlton Heston channeling my old Vandy classmate and Kierkegaard expert George Connell, in an installment of the Giants of Philosophy audio series.
Crazy how this is a part of history we are going to tell our children. Our crazy, sad, and harsh reality of doing work online is nothing less than terrible, in my opinion.
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