Spinoza | Why We Suffer and What We Can Do About It

What did a great and wise man such as Spinoza think of human suffering? There are many complexities in the philosophy of Spinoza which can make understanding this question difficult at times, and I am sure after this video more reading will be necessary to clarify it further. We must remember that Spinoza is not a philosopher who can simply be read, he must be studied. Below are the sources I have used to aid in my creation of this video, if you found it interesting then I recommend you read through this commentary, thank you for joining me once again in uncovering (in my opinion) the greatest of modern philosophers!

Music: Aakash Gandhi – Shattered Paths

Sources: • The Philosophy of Spinoza – The Modern Library (Introduction by Joseph Ratner) • https://iep.utm.edu/spinoza/ • The Story of Philosophy – Will Durant

CC Attribution: • Spinoza Bookcase - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spinoza's_bookcase_in_the_Spinozahuis_Rijnsburg.JPG • Spinoza on Mural - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LuminariesofPantheism.jpg • Gravity and orbits - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conic_sections,_orbits,_and_gravitational_potential.jpg

TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Spinoza | Why We Suffer and What We Can Do About It 01:19 Why we suffer 02:17 Adequate vs Inadequate Ideas 03:39 The Conatus Principle 04:26 The Life of Bondage 05:37 What we can do about it 06:18 The Method 07:37 Under the guidance of reason 08:46 The Greatest Good 09:54 A goal worth striving for