Wie na het lezen van Th. Zweerman, Spinoza’s Inleiding tot de filosofie. Ethiek als verhuiskunde. Met medewerking van redacteur Paul Juffermans [Boom, Amsterdam, 2006] waarin veel aandacht voor Spinoza's gebruik van retorische middelen in de TIE – een aspect waar geen aandacht werd gegeven in de voorjaarscursus van de VHS – méér wil weten van Spinoza's kennis van de retorica en de TIE als zijn propedeuse op de filosofie, kan misschien zinvol terecht in dit werk (waarvoor dan wel €105 moet worden meegenomen).
Jan Rothkamm – Institutio Oratoria: Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza. Brill, Leiden, 2009 (556 pages).
Rhetoric as Propaedeutics to Philosophy – this is the upshot of the present study on philological aspects in the life and works of Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes and Baruch de Spinoza. Against the backdrop of a general historical setting, the book provides a detailed account of the different educational paths of the four philosophers as well as their attempts to continue rhetorical training during adulthood. Additional chapters on preferred language(s), reading habits, didactic aims and writing strategies produce further evidence for the hypothesis of a lifelong occupation with the classical art of argument and persuasion. It thus emerges that Rhetoric retains its relevance for the making of a philosopher in the Seventeenth century even among reformist and rationalist movements that are commonly portrayed as hostile to the classical tradition.