[Download] "Maimonides and Spinoza" by Joshua Parens # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details
- Title: Maimonides and Spinoza
- Author : Joshua Parens
- Release Date : January 09, 2012
- Genre: Philosophy,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 4204 KB
Description
Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinozaâas an Enlightenment advocate for secularizationâamong its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently emerged that the teachings of the two philosophers were in fact much closer than was previously thought. In his perceptive new book, Joshua Parens sets out to challenge the now predominant view of Maimonides as a protomodern forerunner to Spinozaâand to show that a chief reason to read Maimonides is in fact to gain distance from our progressively secularized worldview.
Turning the focus from Spinozaâs oft-analyzed Theologico-Political Treatise, this book has at its heart a nuanced analysis of his theory of human nature in the Ethics. Viewing this work in contrast to Maimonidesâs Guide of the Perplexed, it makes clear that Spinoza can no longer be thought of as the founder of modern Jewish identity, nor should Maimonides be thought of as having paved the way for a modern secular worldview. Maimonides and Spinoza dramatically revises our understanding of both philosophers.