Rude dogs

One of the great benefits of serving tasty middle eastern treats to strangers is having the financial power to purchase the secondary literature surrounding the works of Spinoza. I bought a shit ton of these books from amazon. One of them is a study of The Ethics by Jonathon Bennett. Bennett is one of the most intelligent men alive. Back in my Lincoln days I read his book, "The Act Itself" in which he tears a new asshole into principled ethics. His thinking is so brilliant and thorough, that it leaves me humbled and personally content with being a mere observer to the intellectual greats. I mean this guy is out there kicking so much ass that there isn't too much I think I could bring to the table other than, "Wow. Could you say that again slowly, Jonathon?...Shit." So anyway, I am reading his criticism of The Ethics and I could not be happier. He is doing everything I wanted to see done. He attacks Spinoza where he is confusing, tries to figure out how exactly Spinoza goes wrong, and actually confronts the work with all its power, instead of running behind some "modern advancements" to hide from it. Also, Bennett isn't some European flake-he is as analytical and precise as can be.

Bennett describes Spinoza mind as slow, deep, and tenacious. He, often in the midst of scathing criticism, remarks something to the effect that Spinoza's intellectual courage is "terrifyingly awesome". Bennett, unlike nearly every other contemporary philosopher, recognizes that Spinoza's metaphysics of extension IS the metaphysics of modern quantum physics, and not some pre-newtonian confusion. The book is bad ass. I would recommend Delueze's Spinoza's Practical Philosophy, or Stuart Hampshire's Spinoza for those who want to know what the S-dog is all about (along with The Ethics) but Bennett's book is the shit for those already in love with the cursed 16th century bad boy.