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Yitzhak Y. Melamed. Spinoza's Metaphysics: Substance and Thought. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xxii + 232. Cloth, $74.00.
Whether adding considerable strength and polish to existing views, or breaking new ground, Yitzhak Melamed draws upon an exhaustive command of Spinoza's corpus to il- lustrate and defend his view that Spinoza poses provocative challenges to our contemporary beliefs about the world. Thus he proves the principle that Spinoza is of more than merely historical interest.
The loosely structured Part 1 addresses several difficult topics with decided insight and care. First is the substance-mode relation. Edwin Curley, in part to moderate the image of Spinoza as a particularly radical thinker, has suggested that modes (particulars) are causally dependent upon but not properties of God. Though Curley's reading has been subjected to criticisms, Melamed's objections are unique in that they often employ texts well outside of the Ethics. Melamed's alternative, that modes are both caused by and properties of God, while mostly in line with the views of other commentators, additionally explains how this reading, true to principle, presents a remarkable alternative amidst contemporary accounts of particulars.
Another chapter is in part devoted...