spinoza

The distinction is grounded in logic, per Spinoza (and later Leibnitz, who was also a monist and wrote the famous Monadology ).

Monism (or at lest the version of it Spinoza deals with) claims that creation is part of God.

The other 4 being perhaps Rembrandt, Escher, Erasmus and Spinoza or did you have others in mind?

Un-natural philosophy has neither place nor use, and Einstein's modest affection for Spinoza was almost completely irrelevant to this actual science.

I find it amusing to quote Spinoza whilst talking about such philosophical things like lithium and mental state.

This was the approach taken by Spinoza and later by Schopenhauer, but also, independently and millennia earlier, by Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.

Incidentally, this is also why Spinoza (a Sephardic Jew and monist) was excommunicated.

It reminds me a bit about Benedict de Spinoza and Robert Musil.

Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Spinoza the whole school of rationalism is missing here.

(Confer Einstein's conversations with Martin Buber.) Einstein also made a point of crediting Spinoza as the source of his spiritual leanings.

After a brief skimming on my lunch break: The approach this author takes is similar to the one that Baruch Spinoza uses in formulating a system of ethics, and which David Hume tears apart.

Kant is providing à la Spinoza a chart for the geometry of ethical behavior, so we can treat ethical behavior in terms of non-locality to specific norms — whereas Spinoza does this in terms of a calculus of the emotions w/r/t Self, or the Ethical Self.

To quote Spinoza, "all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare".

Interestingly, Spinoza's "Ethics" (~1677) elaborates a view of the universe uncannily similar to that of the quoted scientists, and that seems unlikely to be merely coincidental.

In the words of Spinoza, "all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare." Success is possible, we just have to find the courage and strive to get there.

This kind of thing was an important concept in Spinoza's Ethics (Spinoza famously denied free will), and I believe also played a role in Buddha's teachings.

Notable exceptions to this would include Albert Einstein who cited inspiration from and exhibited a competent understanding of Spinoza.

Benedict Spinoza, for instance, used a false name to avoid the wrath of the Spanish Inquisition.