Spinoza to Smith

PW 76-88

1. When Spinoza and Leibniz "played off" Descartes's view of substance, what were they really talking about?

2. How did Spinoza earn his living? How did he die? What, besides the mind-body problem, was his philosophy an attempt to solve? What did he say is illusory?

3. What is determinism? In Spinoza's view, what is it pointless to want? What does this imply about our freedom? [Hint: see recent Schopenhauer tweet .] What attitude should we seek? What emotion attends it?

4. What did Leibniz mean by "monad" and "pre-established harmony"? What did he say about mind-body interaction, and interaction generally? Was his own life socially interactive, by comparison with Spinoza's? What was the basic principle of his philosophy?

5. What kind of world did Leibniz say we inhabit? How did his philosophy answer the problem of evil?

6. What "tension" troubled Newton? He's considered the greatest what of all time?

7. In what did Enlightenment philosophers put their greatest trust? They considered themselves citizens of what? To what did they think humanity was advancing?

8. What tradition began with John Locke? [Not LOST's John Locke] What was his view of rationalism and its confidence in reason? What was his assumption about the human mind? What did he say we know about "things-in-themselves" and the world beyond our senses?

9. How does Berkeley's idealism resemble Leibniz's monadolgy?

10. What was David Hume's view of the Enlightenment philosophers' confidence in reason? How did he apply this view to morality? How did he think we could be moral? What did he think takes reason's place in motivating human virtue?

11. What did Locke say is the basis of property rights? How did his social contract view of democracy, and individuality defy traditional authority?

12. Who were the two most prominent French Enlightenment philosophers? What was Rousseau's view of human nature?

13. What political concept did Thomas Jefferson invent?

14. Who was David Hume's best friend? How has he been misunderstood?

15. A decent free-enterprise system is possible only in the context of what kind of society, according to Smith? What does this imply for our contemporary politics ("tea party" libertarianism, etc.)?