His denial of the spirit world and his idea that God is Nature is probably not everyone's cup of tea. was i wrong?would you recommend it as a gift? I'm still learning.”, “You will search the world over and not find a nonsuperstitious community. In fact there is NOT much of a link to go on, between Rosenberg and Spinoza; it feels like a false or inflated premise. This book genuinly changed my look at life. From this central identification, Spinoza concludes, it must follow that there can be no definitive separation between God and matter, as God could not be properly self-sufficient if … Spinoza seems a kind of Christ forgiving all, even the attempt of assassination. *The Spinoza Problem* has so many of the elements that I usually adore: historical fiction drawn around real and important historical figures, settings and themes of personal significance to me, and a core political/philosophical dimension. In the middle of the 17th century, Spinoza took on Descartes and lost. He is withdrawn as a hermit to polish glass.Rosenberg seems a mousy man neurotic between his admiration for Spinoza and his commitment Nazi. When sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe. I find Yalom's ability to breath new life into understanding past philosophers remarkable. Spinoza seems a kind of Christ forgiving all, even the attempt of assassination. Spinoza disagreed. And it would be great to read it yourself, you and your friend would have a lot to talk about. God is expressed in infinite attributes, though humans only perceive two: mind and body, also known as thought and extension. He was intellectually gifted, and this could nothave gone unremarked by the congregation’s rabbis. In his contribution on 'Miracles, wonder and the state in Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise,' Michael Rosenthal, one of the editors, addresses the problem of collective action, more particularly that by which people come to call into being a state and to accept sovereign rule. He thus denies human freedom as it is traditionally understood. Instead, in order to avoid this problem, Spinoza asserts there is a self-caused causation (substance). He is withdrawn as a hermit to polish glass.Rosenberg seems a mousy man neurotic between his admiration for Spinoza and his commitment Nazi. " The Spinoza Problem is a ringing endorsement for an authentically philosophical life, wherein a toweringly heroic philosopher is persecuted in two eras: one governed by medieval superstition; the other, by totalitarian racism. “Never able to cleanse his mind of the image of the great Goethe genuflecting before the Jew Spinoza,” Rosenberg migrates to Munich, writes for a propaganda sheet and befriends Hitler. The writing is in sync with the topic of the book, which is something I never experienced before. I do know that how much you like a book has a lot to do with who are "now". Wish some really religious people read this book. To put in parallel Spinoza and the theorist anti-semite was a risky project. Rosenberg is stunned to discover that Goethe, his idol, was a great admirer of the Jewish seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. In Part 1, Spinoza presented a three tiered ontology. I immensely enjoyed this book. Spinoza has also been described as an " Epicurean materialist", specifically in reference to his opposition to Cartesian mind-body dualism. Spinoza has long intrigued me, and for years I've wanted to write about this valiant seventeenth-century thinker, so alone in the world—without a family, without a community—who authored books that truly changed the world. ), I saw this book on GR. In short, it is a mixture of historical facts and fiction albeit unsuccessful so Yalom should write about what he knows better and that probably being psychoanalysis. Along with René Descartes and Gottfried Leibniz, he is considered one of the great Rationalists of the 17th Century, although the breadth and importance of his work was not fully realized until years after his death. Particular things are defined in Def II.7 and although Spinoza does discuss briefly how they are to be individuated, i.e. If you want a very light fluffy summary of some of Spinoza's views, okay; and in fact the Rosenberg character is a pretty inte, I found this initially intriguing but ultimately tedious. I enjoy this kind of fictionalised history because it manages to make history known and appreciated by means of one or more interesting stories. Fifthly, Spinoza’s third proposition is constructed upon prior errors, and hence too is deeply erroneous. And also, pretty much, it's a novel in which nothing happens. While some doubt the truth value of this (we do not know if Spinoza actually resembled his philosophy in every aspect) I enjoyed it because this way, Spinoza and his search for the unity of everything in nature as well as his rational way of arguing shines through the entire. However, Spinoza does have a problem. And also, pretty much, it's a novel in which nothing happens. The Spinoza Problem A Novel (Book) : Yalom, Irvin D. : Baker & TaylorAlfred Rosenberg, a Nazi ideologue, is convinced of German cultural greatness but he becomes haunted by the intellectual legacy of his hero, Goethe, when he discovers the poet's regard for the Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza.Perseus PublishingA novel by the masterful storyteller and psychotherapist Irvin Yalom … Start by marking “The Spinoza Problem” as Want to Read: Error rating book. I enjoy this kind of fictionalised history because it manages to make history known and appreciated by means of one or more interesting stories. She said it was a pleasant read with a nice flow so I thought I'd give it a go for a light summer read, one that wasn't the typical YA that I go for when I don't want to overcomplicate things. March 6th 2012 Alberto then begins to tell Sophie about Spinoza. Thus how much you enjoyed a certain book can be a good measure of who you've become and who you will be. Spinoza applied uncompromising rationalism to life, ethics and beliefs. … Highly instructive: I learned a lot about Spinoza, the rise (and fall) of Hitler, the Jewish customs, not to mention Alfred Rosenberg, whom I had known nothing about. It ispossible that Spinoza argues that God exists causa sui—that is, self-caused, or self-sufficient. It is always much easier to stress the negative than to see the positive. I am fascinated by how Yalom puts together two personalities that have never met and how he makes use of the psychiatry and psychoanalysis to make his point. When Einstein spoke of God, he spoke of Spinoza's God—a God entirely equivalent to nature, a God that includes all substance, and a God "that doesn't play dice with the universe"—by which he means that everything that happens, without exception, follows the orderly laws of nature. Told in alternating chapters, we meet Spinoza at the time of his excommunication (. I found this initially intriguing but ultimately tedious. When sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe. This book is more about the problem between "the God's chosen people" and "the self proclaimed superior race" than the Spinoza problem. Rosenberg is stunned to discover that Goethe, his idol, was a great admirer of the Jewish seventeenth-century philosopher Baru. His latest, “ The Spinoza Problem,” attempts nothing less than an accessible introduction to Baruch Spinoza, the 17th-century rationalist … Thus, The Spinoza Problem. i bought this book as a gift for one of my dearest colleagues. He anticipated secularization, the liberal democratic political state, and the rise of natural science, and he paved the way for the Enlightenment. Compared with the Rembrandts and Vermeers nearby, these antique volumes weren’t particularly valuable, but the Nazi officer assigned to carry out this little act of plunder said the books were of “great importance for the exploration of the Spinoza problem.”, It's been years since I've read any Spinoza, but that wasn't a problem here - Yalom's historical faction includes long passages where Spinoza himself explains his rational process. Publisher's Summary When 16-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster's office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe. This will be the reading for Saturday, September 7th meeting. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. He tried but never succeeded into resolving. Spinoza has long intrigued me, and for years I've wanted to write about this valiant seventeenth-century thinker, so alone in the world—without a family, without a community—who authored books that truly changed the world. Refresh and try again. Irvin David Yalom, M.D., is an author of fiction and nonfiction, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University, an existentialist, and accomplished psychotherapist. This view was held by Epicureans before him, as they believed that atoms with their probabilistic paths were the only substance that existed fundamentally. I am not smart enough to read Spinoza but this book has easy prose and is a nourishing subject for any atheist/rational thinking person. And downstairs, the tiny Spinoza Museum was looted, sealed, and expropriated by an officer of the Rosenberg task force, who believed that its library could help the Nazis solve their “Spinoza problem.” I saw this book on GR. Once again, Yalom manages to weave a fine web of a story that intertwines historically accurate figures and events (in two eras this time, centuries apart) with psychological analysis and philosophy. He tried but never succeeded into resolving the dilemma. See all 4 questions about The Spinoza Problem…, Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment, Author Luvvie Ajayi Jones Wants You to Fight Your Fears. The fact that substance exists outside the dimensions of both space and time, according to Spinoza, may explain the reason that the substance has not been proven to exist. I decided to give Yalom a second chance, after having put down When Nietzsche Wept a few years ago halfway through and finding myself too disappointed to pick it back up. A recurring theme in the book seems to be a search of both Spinoza and Rosenberg for calm, rest, ataraxia. Rosenberg is cast as a subtly immature figure, seeking his place in the party he helped to form. This is not my first book by Yalom and it will definitely not be the last. Long after graduation, Rosenberg remains haunted by this "Spinoza problem": how could the German genius Goethe have been inspired by a member of a race Rosenberg considers so inferior to his own, a race he was determined to destroy? I love his style – it's fluid, it molds on every type of subject and it somehow incorporates scientific or historical information in such a way that you don't even realize anymore which is fact and which is fiction. And one should never forget all the work and energy an author has to put into writing a book, even if the book is not brilliant. "This is the most intriguing novel I've read in many a year. and I remembered the embarrassment that I had by reading it in when it had been published . Welcome back. In The Spinoza Problem, Irvin Yalom spins fact and fiction into an unforgettable psycho-philosophical novel. The Spinoza Problem consists of two compelling narratives….The two tales amount to a mystery novel, although it is a mystery of a very cerebral kind.” City Book Review “Yalom delivers a powerful philosophical and psychological novel.” Shelf Awareness “[Yalom] is the perfect author to bring together Spinoza and Rosenberg in a novel …. He tells the story of Spinoza's philosophy and expulsion from the Jewish community, interspersed with the story of Nazi party official Alfred Rosenberg who admired Spinoza's ideas while hating his race. While educating himself, Rosenberg became fascinated and deeply impressed with Spinoza's thought, and plagued by the conflict created in his mind by these great ideas springing from a Jew. That's rare. Unlike us, the rest of the human population that reads his books, t. This is not my first book by Yalom and it will definitely not be the last. While the other two great rationalists, Descartes and Leibniz, werephysical theorists and mathematicians of the first rank, who madesubstantial contributions to the development of physical science, thesame cannot be said of Spinoza. Spinoza’s Philosophy Summary. Yalom postulates “the Spinoza problem” was Rosenberg’s efforts to understand how a great Geman like Goethe could be influenced by a mere Jew, or how a Jew could write such an insightful book. There's a conversation; and then another conversation; and then another conversation where they talk about the previous conversation. The writing is in sync with the topic of the book, which is something I never experienced before. (OK, Yalom has the credentials as a psychiatrist -- yet most of the 'analysis' going on seems pretty fluffy to me. A psychiatrist with a deep interest in philosophical issues, Yalom jointly tells the story of the seventeenth-century thinker Baruch Spinoza, his philosophy and subsequent excommunication from the Jewish community, and his apparent influence on the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, whose einsatzgruppe was dispatched during the Second World War to investigate a mysterious “Spinoza Problem.” Seamlessly alternating between Golden Age Amsterdam and Nazi Germany, Yalom investigates the inner lives of these two enigmatic men in a tale of influence and anxiety, the origins of good and evil, and the philosophy of freedom and the tyranny of terror. As long as there is ignorance, there will be adherence to superstition. Embarrassment comes owing to the fact that the role of the bad guy is occupied by the. I picked this up because my mother's book club had their last meeting centered around it. Your greatest instrument is you, yourself, and the work of self-understanding is endless. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) has long appealed to skeptics and secularists. Heavily influenced by Descartes, Spinoza was the first to suggest that the Bible be read critically. Wow. This is a work of fiction that, as the author says, could have happened. While some doubt the truth value of this (we do not know if Spinoza actually resembled his philosophy in every aspect) I enjoyed it because this way, Spinoza and his search for the unity of everything in nature as well as his rational way of arguing shines through the entire book. Among the innumerable treasures the Nazis stole from Europe during World War II was a collection of books displayed at the Spinoza Museum in Rijns­burg, Holland. That is why I teach.”. To put in parallel Spinoza and the theorist anti-semite was a risky project. This is not because thephysical theory he presented was rejected or overlooked, but ratherbecause Spinoza simply never presented a physical th… (Last week, I suggested that a mode is something like a wave on the sea, being a dependent, transient part of a … Spinoza's most famous and provocative idea is that God is not the creator of the world, but that the world is part of God. ", Psychotherapist   •   Writer   •   Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Psychotherapist • Writer • Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry. When sixteen-year-old Alfred Rosenberg is called into his headmaster’s office for anti-Semitic remarks he made during a school speech, he is forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), is a Dutch philosopher and has written the following works: – Treatise on God, man and his happiness (written in Latin in 1661) – Treaty on reform of the understanding (written probably in 1661) He was persecuted for his beliefs, and his own family even deserted him. 62 This is because, as Spinoza claims (which is a variation of a claim made by Descartes, in his Meditations), though an effect reveals its cause, its cause must be greater in power than it, in order for it to have been caused. Spinoza is quite optimistic about our capacities of deliberation and science. While I enjoyed "When Nietzsche Wept" far more, it stems more from the fact that I find Nietzsche more interesting then Spinoza. freedom and to reject evil passions, those that make us passive, for the benefit of joyful passions, those that make us active, and therefore autonomous. I must say that I do not like writing negative reviews. … But the "link" which drives the novel -- Rosenberg's "obsession" with Spinoza -- can't sustain it, and the endless psychobabble that goes on as both characters get psychoanalyzed is the source of the tedium. A fine intellectual novel that brought back the bit I remember about Spinoza from college and added to it. Yet I never connected with this book. Intrigued by some of the most beautiful or devilish minds in the history, I think he loves to imagine how it would have been to have them as patients. Spinoza is portrayed as a person who puts reason on the foreground in every aspect of his life. This has instantly become one of my all time favourite books. by Basic Books (AZ). i haven't read this book but since i found "When Nietzsche wept" very interesting and inspiring i thought this one must be somehow the same. For once I'm surprised by how much I *dis*liked a book. In the 18th century, “Spinozism” was a synonym for atheism. Dispelling ignorance is the only solution. I enthusiastically recommend The Spinoza Problem. Spinoza's ancestors were of Sephardic Jewish descent and were a part of the community of Portuguese Jews that had settled in the city of Amsterdam in the wake of the Portuguese Inquisition (1536), which had resulted in forced conversions and expulsions from the Iberian Peninsula. ", "Irvin Yalom is the most significant writer of psychological fiction in the world today. Alternating chapters deal with Spinoza's life and the life of Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's primary ideologue dealing with racial purity and the "Jewish problem." To see what your friends thought of this book. The Spinoza Problem is an attempt to address this deficit. I guess this would be enough to recommend the book to anyone interested in history, philosophy, religion, psychiatry, etc., even though the style is not one of Yalom's strong suits and mos. There's a conversation; and then another conversation; and then another conversation where they talk about the previous conversation. The fact that he was excommunicated by the Jews at the age of twenty-four and censored for the rest of his life by the Christians had always fascinated me, perhaps because of my own iconoclastic proclivities. and I remembered the embarrassment that I had by reading it in when it had been published . In Spinoza’s view, both the modes of materiality and of thought are causally determined. With these, we can know all the principles of nature, and hence all the principles of God. After reading "When Nietzsche wept", and having loved it, I can read just about anything by Yalom and know that I wouldn't be disappointed. Irvin Yalom has created a taut, deeply informative page turner. Bento (in Hebrew, Baruch; in Latin, Benedictus: all three names mean“blessed”) Spinoza was born in 1632 in Amsterdam. Indeed, his contributions to the historicaldevelopment of physical theory are minimal. Alternating chapters deal with Spinoza's life and the life of Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler's primary ideologue dealing with racial purity and the "Jewish problem." If you want a very light fluffy summary of some of Spinoza's views, okay; and in fact the Rosenberg character is a pretty interesting character, as a character. Nor was Spinoza a systematicexperimentalist. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published I think Spinoza is one of the greatest human beings to have ever walked this earth and the way in which Yalom described his thoughts, ideas and struggles was absolutely fascinating. God and nature are synonymous, and everything that exists is an expression of this single substance. I didn't think he could top When Nietzsche Wept or The Schopenhauer Cure, but he has. The “Spinoza problem” becomes more than a mere academic endeavor. 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