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The Nature of All Things: Spinoza’s Philosophical Odyssey
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 19:59:16 +0000 UTCProfessor of philosophy Colin Bodayle joins Breht to dive into the profound, unique, and almost mystical philosophy of Baruch Spinoza. Together, they discuss the value of philosophy for all of us, Spinoza as a "philosopher's philosopher", his life and death in 17th century western Europe, his complex geometrical structure of writing, God as Nature as Substance, his forward thinking politics, Atheism and Pantheism, what Spinoza thinks a good life is, Stoicism and Buddhism, Marx and Engels connection to Spinoza, dialectical materialism, the underlying interconnectedness of all being, Breht's wild metaphysical speculation, the nature of consciousness, and much more.
Outro Song: "Between Two Mysteries" by Mount Eerie
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Comments
Bill
Really enjoyed learning about Spinoza. I couldn’t help but to draw similarities between him and Buddhism, so I was very appreciative of you mentioning this. Particularly important was the contrast between the animism of Spinoza- his philosophy of god/nature (non-duality)and the philosophy of Descartes (dualism) which informs us of western philosophy and religion that separates man and nature- leveraging the rise in capitalism, the exploitation of nature. Jason Hickel, in his book Less is More, discusses this philosophical underpinning of capitalism- and this episode further helped me connect the dots, so thank you for that. Would love an episode on Hegel!
Revolutionary Left Radio
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!!! Alfred North Whitehead! :)
Curtis
I've loved your talks mentioning spinoza, but this one particularly. I've been reincorporating yogic science and philosophy into my personal awareness as well as sociopolitical understanding lately. So, philosophers like Spinoza and Whitehead (or was it Whitehall?) and their types of panentheism really coincide with my own personal spiritual experiences, especially as of late. Great episode, my friend.
