When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published--"godless," "full of abominations," "a book forged in hell . . . by ...the devil himself." Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Yet Spinoza's book has contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine's Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking. In A Book Forged in Hell, Steven Nadler tells the fascinating story of this extraordinary book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired.
Spinoza's Ethics is one of the most remarkable, important, and difficult books in the history of philosophy: a treatise simultaneously on metaphysics, knowledge, philosophical psychology, moral ...philosophy, and political philosophy. It presents, in Spinoza's famous 'geometric method', his radical views on God, Nature, the human being, and happiness. In this wide-ranging 2006 introduction to the work, Steven Nadler explains the doctrines and arguments of the Ethics, and shows why Spinoza's endlessly fascinating ideas may have been so troubling to his contemporaries, as well as why they are still highly relevant today. He also examines the philosophical background to Spinoza's thought and the dialogues in which Spinoza was engaged - with his contemporaries (including Descartes and Hobbes), with ancient thinkers (especially the Stoics), and with his Jewish rationalist forebears. His book is written for the student reader but will also be of interest to specialists in early modern philosophy.
Biological molecules are increasingly becoming a part of the therapeutics portfolio that has been either recently approved for marketing or those that are in the pipeline of several biotech and ...pharmaceutical companies. This is largely based on their ability to be highly specific relative to small molecules. However, by virtue of being a large protein, and having a complex structure with structural variability arising from production using recombinant gene technology in cell lines, such therapeutics run the risk of being recognized as foreign by a host immune system. In the context of immune-mediated adverse effects that have been documented to biological drugs thus far, including infusion reactions, and the evolving therapeutic platforms in the pipeline that engineer different functional modules in a biotherapeutic, it is critical to understand the interplay of the adaptive and innate immune responses, the pathophysiology of immunogenicity to biological drugs in instances where there have been immune-mediated adverse clinical sequelae and address technical approaches for their laboratory evaluation. The current paradigm in immunogenicity evaluation has a tiered approach to the detection and characterization of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) elicited in vivo to a biotherapeutic; alongside with the structural, biophysical, and molecular information of the therapeutic, these analytical assessments form the core of the immunogenicity risk assessment. However, many of the immune-mediated adverse effects attributed to ADAs require the formation of a drug/ADA immune complex (IC) intermediate that can have a variety of downstream effects. This review will focus on the activation of potential immunopathological pathways arising as a consequence of circulating as well as cell surface bound drug bearing ICs, risk factors that are intrinsic either to the therapeutic molecule or to the host that might predispose to IC-mediated effects, and review the recent literature on prevalence and intensity of established examples of type II and III hypersensitivity reactions that follow the administration of a biotherapeutic. Additionally, we propose methods for the study of immune parameters specific to the biology of ICs that could be of use in conjunction with the detection of ADAs in circulation.
This paper is a response to Sanem Soyarslan’s objections to my reading of Spinoza’s free person (homo liber). She argues that on my interpretation the free person, unlike the wise person (vir ...sapiens), while subject to passive affects, does not experience bondage to the passions; and so only the latter, but not the former, can serve as a viable “model of human nature.” I argue that, in fact, the free person and the wise person are, for Spinoza, one and the same indiviual, and thus constitute a single ideal model that we can more or less closely approximate.
Why the tools of philosophy offer a powerful antidote to today’s epidemic of irrationality
There is an epidemic of bad thinking in the world today. An alarming number of people are embracing crazy, ...even dangerous ideas. They believe that vaccinations cause autism. They reject the scientific consensus on climate change as a “hoax.” And they blame the spread of COVID-19 on the 5G network or a Chinese cabal. Worse, bad thinking drives bad acting—it even inspired a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol. In this book, Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro argue that the best antidote for bad thinking is the wisdom, insights, and practical skills of philosophy. When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People provides an engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence, and probability that can make all of us more reasonable and responsible citizens.
When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People shows how we can more readily spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, the book reveals how epistemology, which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge, and ethics, the study of moral principles that should govern our behavior, can reduce bad thinking. Moreover, the book shows why philosophy’s millennia-old advice about how to lead a good, rational, and examined life is essential for escaping our current predicament.
In a world in which irrationality has exploded to deadly effect, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People is a timely and essential guide for a return to reason.
Over the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in the influence of medieval Jewish thought upon Spinoza's philosophy. The essays in this volume, by Spinoza specialists and leading ...scholars in the field of medieval Jewish philosophy, consider the various dimensions of the rich, important, but vastly under-studied relationship between Spinoza and earlier Jewish thinkers. It is the first such collection in any language, and together the essays provide a detailed and extensive analysis of how different elements in Spinoza's metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political and religious thought relate to the views of his Jewish philosophical forebears, such as Maimonides, Gersonides, Ibn Ezra, Crescas, and others. The topics addressed include the immortality of the soul, the nature of God, the intellectual love of God, moral luck, the nature of happiness, determinism and free will, the interpretation of Scripture, and the politics of religion.
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a multifactorial and polygenic immune-mediated disease, the pathogenesis of which involves different cell types. T and B lymphocytes, macrophages, endothelial ...cells, fibroblasts and osteoclasts have all been implicated in mediating the production of autoantibodies, proinflammatory cytokines and ultimately bone erosions. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 immunoglobulin fusion protein (CTLA-4-Ig, abatacept) is a unique biologic agent targeting the co-stimulatory molecules CD80/CD86, and is indicated for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA in patients who have had an inadequate response to one or more disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, including methotrexate or anti-tumor necrosis factor agents. There is a growing body of evidence that, through selective modulation of the CD80/CD86 co-stimulatory molecules expressed by a variety of activated cell types, CTLA-4-Ig may inhibit the pathogenic RA process at several levels, both directly and indirectly. Here, we provide an overview of recent mechanistic studies of the action of CTLA-4-Ig on different cell types involved in mediating inflammation and joint damage in RA.
From Pulitzer Prize-finalist Steven Nadler, an engaging
guide to what Spinoza can teach us about life's big
questions In 1656, after being excommunicated from
Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community ...for "abominable heresies"
and "monstrous deeds," the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his
family's import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He
quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the
Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of
free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza's views has long
obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to
answer one of humanity's most urgent questions: How can we lead a
good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential
God? In Think Least of Death , Pulitzer Prize-finalist
Steven Nadler connects Spinoza's ideas with his life and times to
offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a
guide to living one's best life. In the Ethics , Spinoza
presents his vision of the ideal human being, the "free person"
who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is
most important-improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions
such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with
benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of
goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in
moderation. "The free person thinks least of all of death," Spinoza
writes, "and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."
An unmatched introduction to Spinoza's moral philosophy, Think
Least of Death shows how his ideas still provide valuable
insights about how to live today.
From Pulitzer Prize-finalist Steven Nadler, an engaging guide to what Spinoza can teach us about life's big questions In 1656, after being excommunicated from Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community ...for "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds, " the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his family's import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza's views has long obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to answer one of humanity's most urgent questions: How can we lead a good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential God? In Think Least of Death, Pulitzer Prize–finalist Steven Nadler connects Spinoza's ideas with his life and times to offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a guide to living one's best life.In the Ethics, Spinoza presents his vision of the ideal human being, the "free person" who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is most important—improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in moderation. "The free person thinks least of all of death, " Spinoza writes, "and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."An unmatched introduction to Spinoza's moral philosophy, Think Least of Death shows how his ideas still provide valuable insights about how to live today.
Nematodes are common in the parasite communities of North American freshwater fishes, and the majority of them belong to 1 conventional order, Spirurida Chitwood, 1933. Within the Spirurida, the ...superfamilies Habronematoidea Chitwood and Wehr, 1932 and Thelazioidea Sobolev, 1949 have undergone considerable diversification. The dominant families of these 2 superfamilies, Cystidicolidae Skrjabin 1946 and Rhabdochonidae Railliet, 1916, respectively, are particularly common, widely distributed, and diverse, especially in North America, yet their phylogenetic relationships remain largely unexplored. In this study, we use near complete sequences of the 18S rRNA genes (SSU rDNA) from species in 6 genera (Capillospirura Skrjabin, 1924, Cystidicola Fischer, 1798, Salmonema Moravec, Santos and Brasil-Sato, 2008, Rhabdochona Railliet, 1916, Spinitectus Fourment, 1883, and a putative new cystidicolid in mooneyes, Hiodontidae), along with a species of Hedruris Nitzsch, 1812 from newts as a surrogate for the fish parasite Hedruris tiara VanCleave and Mueller, 1932, to explore their phylogenetic relationships. These sequences, together with available sequences from a range of other nematodes, including fish nematodes in other groups (Camallanoidea and ‘Seuratoidea'), were analyzed using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood. The results from both analyses indicate, for the first time, support for the close relationships of the sturgeon parasite Capillospirura with Ascarophis van Beneden, 1871 and Cystidicola; the relationship of the cystidicolid from Hiodontidae with Salmonema of salmonid fishes; the monophyly of the 2 dominant spiruridan genera of fishes, Rhabdochona and Spinitectus; and for previous relationships among Nearctic Spinitectus spp. The results also indicate a closer relationship of Rhabdochona and Spinitectus than is suggested by their conventional classification and reject the monophyly of Habronematoidea, Thelazioidea, and Cystidicolidae. Hedruridae appears to be an early branching lineage of spirurins. Finally, the pattern of association between the fish parasites in this study and their hosts indicates, with few exceptions, ecologically driven diversification events involving host shifting not related to the phylogenetic relationships of their hosts.
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