Spinoza on Monism

by Goff, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780230279483
• ISBN10: 0230279481
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Spinoza believed that there was only one substance in reality, which he called "God or nature." A number of leading contemporary philosophers have defended monism, this strange and beautiful idea that the cosmos is the source of all being. This book explores both the historical roots of the monism in Spinoza, and its flowering in the 21st century.

Author Biography

PHILIP GOFF is a philosopher of mind and a metaphysician. He has lectured at Birmingham, UK, was a research fellow with the AHRC project Phenomenal Qualities at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and is currently Research Fellow at the Center for Consciousness at the Australian National University. His main philosophical aim is to argue against physicalism about consciousness.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
PART I: MONISM IN CONTEMPORARY METAPHYSICS
Monism: The Priority of the Whole; J.Schaffer
Existence MonismTrumps Priority Monism; T.Horgan& M.Potrc
Why the World has Parts: Reply to Horgan and Potrc; J.Schaffer
Against Monism; E.J.Lowe
There Is More Than One Thing; P.Goff
The World as We Know It; R.Healey
On the Common Sense Argument for Monism; D.O'Conaill& T.E.Tahko
Substances Stressed; J.Heil
PART II: MONISM IN SPINOZA
Spinoza on Composition and Priority; G.Guigon
Why Spinoza Is Not an Eleatic Monist (Or Why Diversity Exists); Y.T.Melamed
Spinoza's Monism and the Reality Of The Finite; S.Nadler
Spinoza's Monism? What Monism?; M.Laerke
Spinoza's Demonstration of Monism: A New Line of Defense; M.Kulstad
Explanatory Completeness and Spinoza's Monism; R.N.Goldstein
Index