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Matthew Gindin
Matthew Gindin

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Published in Strange Wonder

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Against Dualism

Spinoza In Plain English Book 2, Part 5 (Propositions 4–7): This is the latest post in my quixotic attempt to write an accessible commentary on all of Spinoza’s Ethics. See here for An Introduction To Spinoza or start the series at the beginning with Spinoza In Plain English pt.1: Substance. Spinoza’s fourth proposition in the second book of the Ethics…

Spinoza

6 min read

Spinoza In Plain English Book 2, Part 5 (Propositions 4–7): Against Dualism
Spinoza In Plain English Book 2, Part 5 (Propositions 4–7): Against Dualism

Published in Strange Wonder

·Pinned

Spinoza In Plain English, Book 2, Part 3: Human Being, Divine Being

This is the latest post in my quixotic attempt to write an accessible commentary on all of Spinoza’s Ethics. See here for An Introduction To Spinoza or start the series at the beginning with Spinoza In Plain English pt.1: Substance. As Spinoza lays out his opening axioms for Book 2…

Spinoza

3 min read

Spinoza In Plain English, Book 2, Part 3: Human Being, Divine Being
Spinoza In Plain English, Book 2, Part 3: Human Being, Divine Being

Published in Strange Wonder

·Pinned

The Lessons of Malachi Constant: Kurt Vonnegut’s Therapy of Disillusion

“I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.” -Malachi Constant “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Sirens of Titan The hero of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1959 novel, The Sirens of…

Literature

8 min read

The Lessons of Malachi Constant: Kurt Vonnegut’s Therapy of Disillusion
The Lessons of Malachi Constant: Kurt Vonnegut’s Therapy of Disillusion

Published in Strange Wonder

·May 10

Mother Night

We Are What We Pretend To Be “This is the only story of mine whose moral I know,” writes Kurt Vonnegut at the beginning of his 1962 novel Mother Night. “I don’t think it’s a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is: We are what we pretend…

Kurt Vonnegut

4 min read

Mother Night
Mother Night

Apr 15

My Ten Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels

Although some of my favorite novels are what we usually think of as “literature,” over-all my favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. I think this is for two reasons. The first is that sci-fi/fantasy is the most philosophical of all genres. The freedom from so-called “realism” allows the greatest…

Literature

4 min read

My Ten Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels
My Ten Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels

Published in Strange Wonder

·Apr 12

Individuality

Spinoza In Plain English Book 2 Part 7: (Propositions 12–19) In our last essay we discussed Spinoza’s fascinating view of individuality, which circumvents a number of the conundrums the philosophy of selfhood usually tangles itself in. He argues that when a number of bodies communicate their motions to each other in a consistent ratio so that they produce an action…

Philosophy

2 min read

Individuality
Individuality

Jan 24

Ecology In The Divine Image

In the opening chapters of Bereisheet/Genesis, God famously creates humanity b’tzelem Elohim, in the divine image. For millennia Jews (and Christians) have been debating what that means. The word tzelem referred to an image of statue used in non-Jewish Temples, and Umberto Cassuto (1883–1951) argued from this that the writer…

Judaism

10 min read

Ecology In The Divine Image
Ecology In The Divine Image

Published in Strange Wonder

·Jul 30, 2021

On Anger

words from a Buddhist monk on forbearance — I am currently reading the book Good Heart, Good Mind by my teacher and abbot when I was a monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu (available free here). It’s a book of talks he gave in Brazil and France about the ten virtues, or “parami” of the Theravadin Buddhist tradition, often called the…

Buddhism

11 min read

On Anger
On Anger

Published in Strange Wonder

·May 26, 2021

Thoughts On The Nembutsu

Recently, at times it would be good medicine, I’ve begun to sometimes chant the Nembutsu, a kind of mantra associated with Jodo Shu, a Japanese form of Pure Land Buddhism usually considered a form of devotional “folk Buddhism.” Sometimes I’ll chant it out loud, sometimes internally. Why would I do…

Buddhism

4 min read

Thoughts On The Nembutsu
Thoughts On The Nembutsu

May 21, 2021

On Violence

Well, it’s been quite the couple of weeks on social media. There has been a lot that has been positive amongst the pain: I have made friends from far and wide — Jews who I found being courageous enough to criticize their own community and stand up for the rights…

Israel

3 min read

On Violence
On Violence
Matthew Gindin

Matthew Gindin

Trying to be both civic and civil. Freelancer available for hire. https://www.matthewgindin.com/ https://www.patreon.com/mzgindin

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