Spinoza's Philosophy & Nihilism: God, Truth, and Freedom in an Uncaring Universe

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Master Thesis

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Abstract

My thesis is that Spinoza’s philosophy can be understood as being nihilistic in the positive sense, rather than the negative sense as his critics accused him of promoting. This will be shown through the subjects of atheism, acosmism, and determinism. Each subject exhibits how Spinoza radically changed the content of the philosophical ideas of his time, taking the reader through the historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of Spinoza’s philosophy. A full summary is included on page 71.

Keywords

Spinoza, nihilism, Nietzsche, acosmism, atheism, pantheism, deism, Hobbes, Ethics, free will, freedom, necessitarianism, determinism, Hegel, German Idealism, rationalism, seventeenth century,

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