Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The lovable* God-intoxicated philosopher is back

The author of Betraying Spinoza and other works of literary philosophy rejects his Rationalist armchair approach but still finds him an intriguing and ethically-sophisticated thinker. (Russell called him lovable*, Novalis "God intoxicated")
 

 
So, he seems to have foiled the curse.
Cursed be he by day, and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lieth down, and cursed be he when he riseth up; cursed be he when he goeth out and cursed be he when he cometh in; the Lord will not pardon him; the wrath and fury of the Lord will be kindled against this man, and bring down upon him all the curses which are written in the Book of the Law; and the Lord will destroy his name from under the heavens; and, to his undoing, the Lord will cut him off from all the tribes of Israel, with all the curses of the firmament which are written in the Book of the Law; but ye that cleave unto the Lord God live all of you this day! We ordain that no one may communicate with him verbally or in writing, nor show him any favor, nor stay under the same roof with him, nor be within four cubits of him, nor read anything composed or written by him.
To which Spinoza is said to have replied: "Very well, this does not force me to do anything that I would not have done of my own accord, had I not been afraid of a scandal." OSU

Does that sound like a philosopher, or what?


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