December 1

Yitzhak Y. Melamed (JHU)

Spinoza on the Nature of Necessity

Abstract: Recent Spinoza literature has dedicated much attention to the question of whether Spinoza was necessitarian. I agree with the dominant view which answers this question positively. However, in my talk I will attempt to answer a much simpler question that has barely received scholarly attention, namely: what is Spinoza’s understanding of necessity?

Yitzhak Y. Melamed is Charlotte Bloomberg Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. He holds an MA in philosophy and the history of science and logic from Tel Aviv University, and a PhD in philosophy from Yale University (2005). He has been awarded the Fulbright, Mellon, and American Academy for Jewish Research Fellowships. He has also won the ACLS Burkhardt (2011), NEH (2010), and Humboldt (2011) fellowships for his forthcoming book on Spinoza and German Idealism. He works at the intersection of philosophy (primarily metaphysics), Jewish and religious studies, the history of science, and the humanities in general.

A recording of the session will be made available on the “Downloads” page for some time following the event.

(The “Downloads” page is password-protected, and the password is available to all members of the Spinoza and EMP Workshop email list.)