The Philosophy of Spinoza & Leibniz - Bryan Magee & Anthony Quinton (1987)

Anthony Quinton discusses the 17th-18th century philosophers Spinoza and Leibniz with Bryan Magee in an episode of this 1987 series on the Great Philosophers. Both were rationalist philosophers who developed elaborate philosophical systems out of only a few basic principles of reason, but ended up with quite different views. Spinoza was a monist and pantheist. He identified everything with one substance, what he called "God or Nature", and understood everything as a mere aspect or mode of this great unity of existence. Thus, there is ultimately only one true entity or being for Spinoza. He rejected any personal conception of God, as well as free will and purpose within nature, leading many to think of him as an atheist. Leibniz, on the other hand, embraced plurality in his system. He posited an infinite array of indivisible substances that he called "monads" which were immaterial, incorporeal, mind-like points or atoms. These were taken to be fundamental, making Leibniz something of a panpsychist or an idealist. The existence of matter was taken to be derivative, a mere appearance of something ultimately mental or quasi-mental in nature. Like Spinoza, he was also a determinist who thought everything had to have a complete explanation, leaving no genuine room for objective randomness or chance. And he also agreed with Spinoza that there were innate ideas and knowledge which we possessed prior to any sensory experience of the world. Both thinkers went on to have a huge influence on other philosophers, as well as on many important scientists. (My Description)

00:00 Introduction
04:44 Rationalist Background
07:37 Spinoza’s Vision
13:35 Spinoza on Mind & Matter
16:32 Freedom & the Emotions
19:54 Was Spinoza Religious?
23:40 Leibniz on the Monad
28:14 Leibniz on Two Kinds of Truths
32:19 Leibniz on Mind-Body Interaction
35:46 Leibniz on Free Will
38:23 Contributions

#philosophy #spinoza #bryanmagee #leibniz

[SolveEtCoagula]

Why don't we have TV programmes like this anymore? Once upon a time it was substance over style. TV had a simple presentaion but some deeply profound material. Now, it's style over substance - great presentaion but such utterly trivial content!

[Gminor]

This excellent 43 minute conversation is a fairly complete summary of the 3d semester of my undergraduate Philosophy degree in 1976. Much clearer to me now than then.

[TheBigFella]

I've watched this video at least 20 times. Having watched it I went out and managed to find the books that they wrote. I wish I was as clever and articulate as they are.

[ruc]

Anthony Quinton is such a pleasure to listen to and McGee does what he does best, as always

[Wingedmagician]

god damn i love this so much. worth watching half a dozen times

[sietzebosman]

how I wish I had a grandfather like this.

[gavaniacono]

AQ is extremely clear. And pleasant to listen too. McGee as always keeps things on track.

How close was Spinoza to idealism, a heresy, but nevertheless. An analytical idealism. For a rationalist as well to stray that far is marvellous.

[fabiodeoliveiraribeiro]

Dualism and Monism. Without understanding the difference between the two, it is not possible to imagine the abyss that exists between Spinoza's philosophy and Leibniz's. This distinction also has a curious origin. Spinoza abandoned Judaism, but not the main characteristic of that religion (the belief that everything that exists participates in the unique substance of the deity). Leibniz distinguishes appearance from essence taking into account a fundamental characteristic of Christianity (the distinction between the material and spiritual world). In Spinoza, nature acquires a dignity that it could never have in Leibniz's philosophy. Spinoza and Leibniz also cannot agree on what it means to know something, not even on the essence of man who reflects on himself, on the world and on himself in the world.

[dionysianapollomarx]

Great audio. Much better than previous versions. I still have some of the Magee series downloaded in my hard drive. Lol.

[dadofstigandstu]

“This kind of Solomonic carve-up of the cosmic baby…” So good.

[wandereroftheabyss-ol]

This channel has supreme intellectual conversations what we now call podcasts except they are just mids.

[CarlosElio]

16:15 "The "wrinkles of reality" at one and the same time have these two aspects, a physical aspect and a mental aspect." It sounds very close to de Broglie's duality.

[alfredorezende]

As noções filosoficas de Descartes são de uma notoria inocencia tanto quanto as noções de Darwin são oara a explicar a evolucao humana. A simplicidade é tbem aquilo a que nada falta.

[TheBigFella]

Wonderful wonderful video- thank you for uploading

[pkumarsachin]

It is truly remarkable how the east amd the west come together with Spinoza. If one were to replace Spinoza with Shankracharya, this presentation will make just as much sense.

[CatastrophicDisease]

So basically the Parmenides and Heraclitus of the early modern period?

[mentalitydesignvideo]

fantastic lecture, both in its encompassing scale, accessibility and clarity. Also, plummy upper-class accents are a special treat. Takeaway: Spinoza an absurd cut-rate Buddhist, Leibniz 300 years ahead of his time predicting Information Theory and Quantum Mechanics.

[alfredorezende]

A ideia de substancia de Spinoza como sendo comparado á definicao de Euclides com relacao ao ponto da uma linha: ponto é aquilo a que nada falta, o que se deduz: a unidade é indestrutivel no sentido da sintese/construcao e é dividido na fase a seguir pela analise/explicacao dessa mesma construcao.

[donaldist]

two minds and a couch, though the couch is not strictly necessary, and we see what humanity is capable of just by talking. I had maybe two classes like this but aim to give my students the same experience. Failing horribly, of course.

[esorse]

Wouldn't zero as the ideal-material number for no quantity at the start of a number line, resolve the issue of adjacent zero-dimensional points accompanying an infinity assuming space?