Ethics
#1042 of 2,654 all-time
Ethics
Baruch Spinoza
7 people recommended it in 3 threads, 2010–2020.
What people on Hacker News said
Using this foundation he then makes a logical argument (given his axiomatisation of emotion) for why we should be happy.
It's also the book that made me realise that, even if the jealous Abrahamic God exists, He is not moral.
He then uses this foundation to show that there's no objective measure for dividing individualness (what is me, what is not me) and responsibility (what was caused by me, what was not caused by me), essentially a proof that given the axioms no such measure can exist.
Spinoza essentially shows that if free will is defined as "being 100% the cause of some action", then free will does not exist.
This shows that any causal chain can ultimately be traced backwards to something outside "your" control. In which case, how can one sensibly assign responsibility to yourself?
Spinoza shows that God creating some kind of free will that made actions unpredictable to him is equivalent to the idea of God creating a rock so heavy that he himself cannot lift; it's incompatible with the idea of omnipotence.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read? 2020 · 5 recommendations
- Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything? 2019 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books? 2010 · 1 recommendation