"I can work best now while peeling potatoes. . . . It is for me
what lens-grinding was for Spinoza."--L. Wittgenstein
More than 250 years separate the publication of Baruch Spinoza's
"Ethics" and Ludwig Wittgenstein's "Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus." Both are considered monumental philosophical
treatises, produced during markedly different times in human
history, and notoriously challenging to interpret. In "Peeling
Potatoes or Grinding Lenses, " Aristides Baltas contends that these
works bear a striking similarity based on the idea of "radical
immanence." Each purports to understand the world, thought, and
language from the inside and in a way leading to the dissolution of
all philosophy. In that guise, both offer a powerful argument
against fundamentalism of all sorts and kinds.
To Spinoza, God is just Nature. God is not above or separate
from the world, humanity, or mere objects for, as Nature, He
inheres in everything. To Wittgenstein, logic is not above or
separate from language, thought, and the world. The hardness of the
logical "must" inheres in states of affairs, facts, thoughts, and
linguistic acts. Outside there are no truths or sense--only
nonsense.
Through close readings of the texts based on lessons drawn from
radical paradigm change in science, Baltas finds in both works a
single-minded purpose, implacable reasoning, and an austerity of
style that are rare in the history of philosophy. He analyzes the
structure and content of each treatise, the authors' intentions,
the limitations and possibilities afforded by scientific discovery
in their respective eras, their radical opposition to prevailing
philosophical views, and draws out the particulars, as well as the
implications, of the arresting match between the two.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!