Spinoza is a key figure in modern philosophy. Ethics is his most studied and well known work. Being both up-to-date and clear, this Guidebook is designed to lead the reader through this complex seminal text.
Spinoza's Ethics introduces and assess:
* Spinoza'a life, and its connection with his thought
* The text of the Ethics
* Spinoza's continuing relevence to contemporary philosophy

In this intriguing book, Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd show us that in spite of-or rather because of-Spinoza's apparent strangeness, his philosophy can be a rich source for cultural self-understanding in the present. "Collective Imaginings" draws on recent reassessments of the philosophy of Spinoza and develops new ways of conceptualizing issues of freedom and difference. These newly contextualized theories are easily applied to contemporary issues, such as environmental debates, issues of feminism, the conception of democracy, and the idea of the individual and community, providing relevance to our everyday lives.
A fine counter to the 'read and raid' and the 'read and destroy' schools of history of philosophy . . . a careful interpretation of Spinoza that helps resolve contemporary problems about the relation between (what we think of as) the individual and the conflicts and harmony that form social life. -- Amelie Rorty, Brandeis University
A fresh look at Spinoza andhow his thought is applicable today

Why would the work of the 17th century philosopher Benedict de Spinoza concern us today? How can Spinoza shed any light on contemporary thought?
In this intriguing book, Moira Gatens and Genevieve Lloyd show us that in spite ofor rather because ofSpinozas apparent strangeness, his philosophy can be a rich resource for cultural self-understanding in the present.
Collective Imaginings draws on recent re-assessments of the philosophy of Spinoza to develop new ways of conceptualising issues of freedom and difference. We can apply these newly contextualised theories to contemporary issues such as environmental debates, issues of feminism, our conception of democracy, and the idea of the individual and the community.
This ground-breaking study will be invaluable reading to students and professors wishing to gain a fresh perspective on Spinozas thought.

"Being in Time" is a provocative and accessible essay on the fragmentation of the self as explored in philosophy and literature. This original study is unique in its focus on the literary aspects of philosophical writing and their interactions with philosophical content. It explores the emotional aspects of the human experience of time commonly neglected in philosophical investigation by looking at how narrative creates and treats the experience of the self as fragmented and the past as "lost." Genevieve Lloyd demonstrates the continuities and the contrasts between modern philosophic discussions of the instability of the knowing subject, treatments of the fragmentation of the self in the modern novel, and older philosophical discussions of the unity of consciousness.
Combining theoretical discussion with human experience, "Being in Time" will be important reading to anyone interested in the relationship between philosophyand literature, as well as to more general audience of readers who share Augustine's experience of time as making him a "problem to himself."

Genevieve Lloyd's book is a provocative and accessible essay on the fragmentation of the self as explored in philosophy and literature. The past is irrevocable, consciousness changes as time passes: given this, can there ever be such a thing as the unity of the self? Being in Time explores the emotional aspects of the human experience of time, commonly neglected in philosophical investigation, by looking at how narrative creates and treats the experience of the self as fragmented and the past as 'lost'. It shows the continuities, and the contrasts, between modern philosophic discussions of the instability of the knowing subject, treatments of the fragmentation of the self in the modern novel and older philosophical discussions of the unity of consciousness. Being in Time combines theoretical discussion with human experience: it will be valuable to anyone interested in the relationship between philosophy and literature, as well as to a more general audience of readers who share Augustine's experience of time as making him a 'problem to himself'.

This new edition of Genevieve Lloyd's classic study of the maleness of reason in philosophy contains a new introduction and bibliographical essay assessing the book's place in the explosion of writing and gender since 1984.

This new edition of Genevieve Lloyd's classic study of the maleness of reason in philosophy contains a new introduction and bibliographical essay assessing the book's place in the explosion of writing and gender since 1984.

Benedict de Spinoza [1632-1677] is among the most fascinating and the most controversial of Western philosophers. These volumes provide a comprehensive selection of high quality critical discussions of his philosophy published in, or translated into English since 1970.
The collection is designed to allow current debates on key themes to be followed through in depth. At the same time, the selection and organisation of the articles give readers an appreciation of the diversity of philosophical approach and interpretation that characterises recent Spinoza scholarship.

This volume is intended for students coming to Spinoza for the first time. This book provides an overview of critical interpretations, relating the Ethics to its intellectual context, considers its historical reception, and highlights why the book continues to be relevant today. In addition, the final sections of the Ethics, usually ignored in introductory commentaries, are given attention and illuminated as the climax of the work. "Spinoza and the Ethics" is an updated and accessible introduction for students to Spinoza's most important text.

A philosophical exploration of wonder: its history, its present condition and its future potentialGenevieve Lloyd illuminates and challenges some perplexing aspects of contemporary attitudes to wonder. Central to her argument is the claim that wonder has come to be largely eclipsed by the allure of the notion of the Sublime a concept closely associated with Romantic Idealism.Lloyd offers us a renewed sense of wonder, reconnected with its philosophical history, that plays a significant role in contemporary social critique. In her path to reclaim wonder, she moves between philosophical and literary sources. She draws especially on Flaubert's responses to Romanticism and his related treatment of stupidity, which influenced the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida. She also reaches into contemporary debates on refugees, secularisation and climate change.

To the ancient Greeks, providence was the inherent purpose and rational structure of the world. In Christian thought, it became a benign will "providing" for human well-being. And in our own ever more secular times--is providence lost? Perhaps, but as Genevieve Lloyd makes clear in this illuminating work, providence still exerts a powerful influence on our thought and in our lives; and understanding how can help us clarify the functioning--or, increasingly, disfunctioning--of concepts of freedom and autonomy that define our modernity. Such an understanding is precisely the goal of this book, which traces a succession of transformations in the concept of providence through the history of Western philosophy.

Beginning with early versions of providence in ancient Greek thought, Lloyd follows the concept through its convergence with Christian ideas, to its role in seventeenth-century philosophical accommodations of freedom and necessity. Finally, she shows how providence was subsumed into the eighteenth-century ideas of progress that eventually rendered it philosophically superfluous. Incorporating rich discussions of thinkers from Euripides to Augustine, Descartes and Spinoza to Kant and Hegel, her lucid and elegantly written work clearly and forcefully brings the history of ideas to bear on our present confusion over notions of autonomy, risk, and responsibility. Exploring the interplay among philosophy, religion, and literature, and among intellect, imagination, and emotion in philosophical thought, this book allows intellectual historians and general readers alike to grasp what it actually means that providence can be lost but not escaped.

Through a curated selection of papers written over four decades by one of Australia's leading philosophers, this collection demonstrates the impact of Continental philosophy on philosophical thought in Australia. The development of specific philosophical problems, over a period of more than forty years by a philosopher whose first training was 'pre-continental', shows that it is possible to achieve interaction between 'continental' and 'pre-continental' methods in philosophy, even while recognizing their distinctiveness. These essays 'work towards' continental philosophy in the ways they pay attention to language, to how we experience things and are experienced by others, and to the structures of language and power that frame what it is possible to say and to hear, to write and to read.

This edited collection of essays explores the ways in which we can interpret past philosophical texts from a feminist perspective. Drawn together within a chronological framework, pieces by leading feminist critics, such as Luce Irigaray and Martha Nussbaum, reveal the fresh perspectives that feminism can offer to the discussion of past philosophers.