Baruch Spinoza

Radical philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age

Baruch Spinoza was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin born in the Dutch Republic on 24 November 1632.^[1] He died in The Hague on 21 February 1677 at age 44.^[2] Seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza is widely regarded as a highly original and influential figure.^[3]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Region: Western philosophy
Era: 17th-century philosophy; Age of Enlightenment
Other names: Benedictus de Spinoza
Born: 24 November 1632
Birthplace: Amsterdam, Dutch Republic
Died: 21 February 1677
Place of death: The Hague, Dutch Republic

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Spinoza's ancestors faced persecution during the Portuguese Inquisition.^[4] Spinoza attended the Talmud Torah school adjoining the Bet Ya'acov synagogue.^[5] After the censure, Spinoza supported himself by teaching and learning lens grinding.^[6] He studied Latin with political radical Franciscus van den Enden between 1654 and 1657.^[7]

A writ of herem was issued against Spinoza by the Talmud Torah community on 27 July 1656, when he was 23 years old.^[8] To avoid persecution, Spinoza released few works while he was alive.^[9] Spinoza regarded the Ethics as his most important work and his main intellectual contribution.^[10] After Spinoza's death, his friends arranged for the publication of his writings.^[3]

What the cited sources add

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that Spinoza defines the emotions using the geometrical method.^[11] Schmitter states that Spinoza shows influences from Descartes, Hobbes, and ancient Stoicism.^[11] Spinoza's account differs from Descartes by listing contempt along with wonder and counting neither as proper passions.^[11] Schopenhauer argued that Spinoza's pantheism is merely the realisation of Descartes' ontological proof.^[12]

Archie explains that Spinoza treats causality as the same thing as logical or absolute necessity.^[13] Archie also notes that Spinoza defines a free thing as one that exists solely by the necessity of its own nature.^[13] Schopenhauer held that Spinoza's notion of causa sui mistakenly mixed up the relationship of reason and consequence with that of cause and effect.^[12]

References

Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Schmitter, "Spinoza on the Emotions", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 8 Apr 2021; Israel 2023, p. 353-54 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gullan-Whur 1998, p. 317-18; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldstein 2006, p. i (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Israel 2023, p. 353-54 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Nadler 1999, p. 45; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scruton 2002, p. 21; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Nadler 2011, p. xi-xii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Rovere, "Honors and theater: Spinoza's pedagogical experience and his relation to F. Van den Enden", Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2018, p. 809–818; Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Israel 2023, p. 353-54 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Scruton 2002, p. 21; Touber 2018, p. 45; Nadler 2001a, p. 25; Smith 2003, p. xx; Nadler 2001a, p. 25; Nadler 2001a, p. 25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nadler 2011, p. xi-xii; Nadler 2018, p. xiii-xiv; Nadler 2026, p. 147-173; Stewart 2006, p. 308 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Baruch Spinoza" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Israel 2023, p. 353-54; Montanarelli, "Spinoza stymies 'God's attorney'/Stewart argues the secular world was at stake in Leibniz face off", SFGate, 8 January 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Schmitter, "Spinoza on the Emotions", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 8 Apr 2021. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
Schopenhauer, "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (1813)", Project Gutenberg (original work published 1813), 1907. facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.org
Archie, "Baruch Spinoza, "Human Beings are Determined"", Philosophical Ethics, 2006-07-12. facts only, no text reused. philosophy.lander.edu

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Baruch Spinoza (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.