The elegance of logic, such a dandy

Poor students Edition.

Ethics (Ética) by Spinoza.

One word: Special.

I avoided it for a long time after comments that it was a very difficult book to read, I was very intimidated by all the fuss and one day I found a cheap used copy and hell… the world is for the brave, right?

Let me say I was impressed, it is a complex piece of work indeed, but it is brilliant in many levels. As timing goes, it is old school philosophy in all it´s glory, so you have all those fundamental concepts: humanity, god and the way of everything…how amazing is to define the world from an open canvas.

Just by the structure, the famous “geometrical order” in which is written it is a challenge, but in no time you get the fluidity and simplicity of his reasoning, albeit the simplicity is for us, the readers, I just imagine what a monumental task was getting there. Noteworthy, the defining of the nature of god is brutal in its logic and on the same time, a masterpiece of elegance, to this day, is one of the notions that is fresh as ever to me. To be clear in this regard, I am an atheist, not that it matters really, but just to say that knowledge is a beautiful thing, getting a glimpse to these wonderful minds is a privilege.

And what the hell with the book cover? It should be a very flashy illustration, with fractal engines, nature and fireworks for Christ sake!