Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza (/bəˈruːk spɪˈnoʊzə/;^[6] Dutch: [baːˈrux spɪˈnoːzaː]; born Benedito de Espinosa, Portuguese: [bɨnɨˈðitu ðɨ ʃpiˈnɔzɐ]; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677, later Benedict de Spinoza) was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin.^[5] By laying the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment^[7] and modern biblical criticism,^[8] including modern conceptions of the self and the universe,^[9] he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy.^[10] Along with René Descartes, Spinoza was a leading philosophical figure of the Dutch Golden Age.

Spinoza's magnum opus, Ethics, was published posthumously in 1677. The work opposed Descartes' philosophy on mind–body dualism, and earned Spinoza recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important thinkers. In the Ethics, "Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, and one in which the refined conceptions of medieval philosophy are finally turned against themselves and destroyed entirely".^[11] Hegel said, "You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all."^[12] His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him "the 'prince' of philosophers."^[13]

Spinoza's given name, which means "Blessed", varies among different languages. In Hebrew, it is written ברוך שפינוזה. His Portuguese name is Benedito "Bento" de Espinosa. In his Latin works, he used Latin: Benedictus de Spinoza.

Spinoza was raised in a Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly-controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. Jewish religious authorities issued a herem (חרם) against him, causing him to be effectively shunned by Jewish society at age 23. His books were also later put on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books.

Spinoza lived an outwardly-simple life as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honours throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. He died at the age of 44 allegedly of a lung illness, perhaps tuberculosis or silicosis exacerbated by the inhalation of fine glass dust while grinding optical lenses. He is buried in the churchyard of the Christian Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague.^[14]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1Biography
  • 1.1Family and community origins
  • 1.217th-century Netherlands
  • 1.3Early life
  • 1.4Expulsion from the Jewish community
  • 1.5Later life and career
  • 1.6Voorburg
  • 1.7Lens-grinding and optics
  • 1.8The Hague
  • 1.9Writings and correspondence
• 2Philosophy
  • 2.1Substance, attributes, and modes
  • 2.2Ethical philosophy
  • 2.3Spinoza's "Ethics"
• 3History of reception
  • 3.1Pantheist, panentheist, or atheist?
  • 3.2Comparison to Eastern philosophies
  • 3.3Spinoza's reception in the 19th and 20th centuries
  • 3.4Spinoza's religious criticism and its effect on the philosophy of language
  • 3.5Spinoza in literature, art, and popular culture
• 4Bibliography
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7Further reading
• 8External links

Biography[edit]

Family and community origins[edit]

Spinoza's ancestors were of Sephardic Jewish descent and were a part of the community of Portuguese Jews that had settled in the city of Amsterdam in the wake of the Portuguese Inquisition (1536), which had resulted in forced conversions and expulsions from the Iberian peninsula.^[15]

The Spinoza family ("de Espinosa" or "Espinosa" in Portuguese and in Spanish; it could also be spelled as "de Espinoza" or "Espinoza" in both languages) probably had its origins in Espinosa de los Monteros, near Burgos, or in Espinosa de Cerrato, near Palencia, both in Northern Castile, Spain. The family was expelled from Spain in 1492 and fled to Portugal. Portugal compelled them to convert to Catholicism in 1498.^[16][17]

Attracted by the Decree of Toleration issued in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht, Portuguese "conversos" first sailed to Amsterdam in 1593 and promptly reconverted to Judaism.^[18] In 1598 permission was granted to build a synagogue, and in 1615 an ordinance for the admission and government of the Jews was passed.^[19] As a community of exiles, the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam were highly proud of their identity.^[19]

Spinoza's father was born roughly a century after this forced conversion in the small Portuguese city of Vidigueira, near Beja in Alentejo. When Spinoza's father was still a child, Spinoza's grandfather, Isaac de Spinoza, who was from Lisbon, took his family to Nantes in France. They were expelled in 1615 and moved to Rotterdam, where Isaac died in 1627.

Spinoza's father, Miguel (Michael), and his uncle, Manuel, then moved to Amsterdam where they resumed the practice of Judaism. Miguel was a successful merchant and became a warden of the synagogue and of the Amsterdam Jewish school.^[19] He buried three wives and three of his six children died before reaching adulthood.^[20]

17th-century Netherlands[edit]

Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important cosmopolitan centres where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. This flourishing commercial activity encouraged a culture relatively tolerant of the play of new ideas, to a considerable degree sheltered from the censorious hand of ecclesiastical authority (though those considered to have gone "too far" might have gotten persecuted even in the Netherlands). Not by chance were the philosophical works of both Descartes and Spinoza developed in the cultural and intellectual background of the Dutch Republic in the 17th century.^[21] Spinoza may have had access to a circle of friends who were unconventional in terms of social tradition, including members of the Collegiants.^[22] One of the people he knew was Niels Stensen, a brilliant Danish student in Leiden;^[23] others included Albert Burgh, with whom Spinoza is known to have corresponded.^[24]