Madame Jaquet has delivered a unique service to both the advanced and beginning student of Baruch Spinoza. As with all of the interrelationships which comprise the core tenets in Spinoza's system: Substance/Mode, Extension/Thought, Duration/Eternity, Finite/Infinite and others; to comprehend and to grasp Baruch's intended meaning within the amalgam and nuanced interactions between Actions and Passions requires an ability to delve deeply and with a surgeon's touch to extract and to display transparently the elegance in the nature of human Emotion and Psychology which only he understood. Chantal has this touch.Much of Spinozan commentary on the emotions tends to reflect the author's preconceived opinions concerning Baruch's psychology and ends up painting Baruch as some 17th century materialist/behaviorist; missing the gist entirely of Spinoza's unparalleled contribution to human self-knowledge.Dr. Jaquet puts this unfortunate situation to rights. Her insights into the inter-workings of where mind and body conjoin in the 'conatus' and the role that both the actions and passions play in leading us from a bondage to outside forces towards a freedom built on an understanding of the nature of our emotional triggers and how to overcome their hypnotizing influence is reflected in this masterful presentation.Her goal in producing this work mirrors Spinoza's; in her words, to recognize that, "Human perfection manifests itself at its highest point through active affects based on reason and intuitive knowledge."My suggestion would be to purchase this book and discover precisely what Chantal means by this.Sincerely, Charles M Saunders- Spinoza Author of 'The "Ethics" Examined in Detail'