Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die

The book represent the humanistic side of Spinoza’s philosophy. The concept of ‘free man’ is explained in very detail. Best way to acquaint with Spinoza’s philosophy.

I’m not a philosopher so I didn’t expect to understand this book. I was pleasantly surprised when I read it that I found it to be quite easy to comprehend and useful as a guide to living a virtuous life. Spinoza major premise is that we should all be living a life striving for freedom. I’m not sure what he means by this but what it appears is that he wants us to further our power by using reason to determine what is the best course of action. He doesn’t believe everyone is capable of becoming free but he believes everyone is working towards that goal whether they think they are or not. This may not sound like grand philosophy but he makes it meaningful by putting it in its proper context. He also does a splendid job of explaining how to face death. This alone makes the book worth reading.

最も理解しやすいものの一つのように思いました。同著者による”Spinoza's Ethics: An Introduction”も良いですが。こちらのほうが私のような素人には分かりやすいように感じました。同じ著者によるスピノザのBiioraphyも面白いです。

Excellent analysis

But dry