History of Philosophy II Pascal and Spinoza

We started off today finishing up some things with Hobbes and Descartes. I reviewed their exchanges regarding Descartes' Meditations especially emphasizing the interesting critiques Hobbes made in his Objection 2. We then moved on to Pascal and discussed his triangle and his wager and then his calculator. His most famous quote: "What's true on one side of Pyrenees is error on the other." We moved on to Spinoza. I referenced the difference between sufficient cause and necessary cause and then moved into the Definitions in the Ethics which then lead to propositions. It was at this point that we left off. The quiz question is to write your response to the concept of Pantheism which we will discuss next class when we continue with Spinoza. If you are interested in the short film I started showing it is here.