Spinoza, Baruch, << spih NOH zuh, buh ROOK >> (1632-1677), was a Dutch philosopher. He was also called Benedict, the Latin form of Baruch.
Spinoza was born on Nov. 24, 1632, in Amsterdam of Portuguese-Jewish parents. He early acquired the reputation of a freethinker and was excommunicated by the Amsterdam Jewish community in 1656. He then lived in several towns in the Netherlands, earning a living as a lens grinder. Throughout his career, Spinoza was a strong supporter of religious toleration and political liberalism. He prized his independence, rejecting offers of a pension from King Louis XIV of France and of a university professorship in Germany. Although he was respected by many, Spinoza was controversial because of his radical and unorthodox views on religion, philosophy, and politics.
Spinoza’s philosophy was strongly influenced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes and by such medieval Jewish philosophers as Moses Maimonides. Spinoza accepted Descartes’s view that thought and matter are the basic categories of reality. The physical world is nothing but bits of matter moving and interacting according to general causal laws—that is, laws of cause and effect. However, in his masterpiece, The Ethics (published shortly after his death), Spinoza developed Descartes’s ideas in radically unconventional ways. Spinoza stated that God is not some transcendent, supernatural being but is identical with Nature, and that “God or Nature” is the only substance. Thought and matter are two of God’s infinite attributes (qualities), and all finite things, such as human minds and bodies, are only modes or effects of the attributes of God.
Spinoza argued that there are no exceptions to Nature’s causal principles. He denied that human beings—or even God—act with free will. He maintained, however, that human happiness and freedom of mind can be attained by rational understanding of our place in nature and our subjection to its laws–particularly the laws of the mind’s passion.
Spinoza published the Theological-Political Treatise anonymously in 1670. In it, he argued that the Bible is not literally of divine origin but is a work of human literature. It is, moreover, not a source of scientific, historical, or philosophical truths, but only some of the basic universal moral precepts approved by reason. The most important of these precepts is to love one’s fellow human beings and act with charity and justice. For Spinoza, these are the principles of “true religion.” Spinoza argued that religions based on what he considered a fictional humanlike conception of God are just organized superstition. They represent a threat to personal well-being and the peace of the state. Spinoza was harshly condemned by both religious and secular authorities for these views. Spinoza died on Feb. 21, 1677.
