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There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self - Ernest Hemingway
The second episode of our four-part series on Baruch de Spinoza is a continuation of his key philosophical ideas and his ideas regarding epistemology. We've selected excerpts of the text to help highlight Spinoza's thought process, and how he starts from being hesitant to give up certain things for an uncertain good and concludes by demonstrating there can be no other way to reach the good. Spinoza explains the concerns of fame, riches, and sensual pleasure, and how these barriers to the good hold more power over us than we think. Later in the episode, we introduce some ideas to make the next two episodes more useful by discussing what Spinoza means by "God" and the monist vs. dualist debate that was going on at the time and fundamentally divided philosophers and affected their approach to philosophy. Next, we will begin discussing his Ethics and hopefully shed greater light on the importance of his philosophy and the cohesiveness of his ideas.
Always feel free to let us know what you think, or if you have any episode requests. We would love to hear from you in the comments or on Twitter! Thank you for listening and as always we’ll see you next time as we search for truth on the road that never ends!
