UKC

Spinoza has popped up quite a bit recently in my general reading so I think it's time to dig deeper into his philosophy.

What should I read? Any particular texts of his or would something about him by another author be more accessible?

Ta

Think I'll start with this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079ps2

He's often studied as an example of what more modern philosophy overcame, kind of the before to a before and after. I studied 1/4 of my 3rd year (of an Engineering degree, not a usual combination) in modern philosophy and Spinoza's Ethics (along with some Leibniz) was studied as a comparison. 

Don't waste your time with Spinoza, or any of the other rationalists for that matter. Do Hume's Treatise of Human Understanding instead, and then have a bash at The Critique of Pure Reason. Both are much more applicable to the sorts of ways we think about the world (our assessment of experience and understanding is generally regarded as a mediation of our subjectivity interpreting a possible noumena, known through observation/s). Don't go any further, however - what happens next in the post-Scottish Enlightenment and German Idealist is a waste of time (excepting, perhaps, Smith and Malthus). 

I love spinoza, it's great with chicken paprikash 

I'm already quite familiar with Hume and Kant having studied both as an undergrad and taught them at high school level.

I'm sure you're right that they are much more relevant to modern philosophy and modes of thinking than Spinoza but my interest in Spinoza wasn't based on that. The fact that he has cropped up several times in my recent reading suggests he still has some cultural significance and I love to follow links like that from author to author.

I haven’t read Spinoza but find that In Our Time podcasts, like the above, are usually great places to start. He’s also discussed in the one on the mind-body problem (from about 18 minutes in)

I’m late to this but if you are still looking for suggestions on what to read, hopefully Steven Nadler* has some useful ones here: https://fivebooks.com/best-books/spinoza-steven-nadler/

Spinoza seems, along with some of those mentioned up thread, to have influenced contemporary (analytic) philosophers Thomas Nagel & Galen Strawson

Here’s a photo of Arne Næss (philosopher & uncle of Arne Næss Jr) reading Spinoza’s Ethics in his mountain tent: https://images.aeonmedia.co/user_image_upload/2663/ArneNaess4.jpg ...

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* He is interviewed in two of three Philosophy Bites podcasts on Spinoza. Susan James is interviewed in the other one (& has recent posts on YouTube):

https://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/spinoza/

The new site (https://philosophybites.com/) also includes transcripts but its search function is still being developed, I think.

Thanks!

It's many years since I studied Spinoza, but I think the book I found most useful was Nadler's Spinoza's Ethics, an Introduction.

 Don't go any further, however - what happens next in the post-Scottish Enlightenment and German Idealist is a waste of time (excepting, perhaps, Smith and Malthus). 

And Viz of course. 

Malthus yes.

Smith: few more responsible for how deeply fecked humanity is!