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Baruch Spinoza

Dutch philosopher (1632-1677) · Netherlands · Academics · Died at 44

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Excommunicated at twenty-three for ideas too dangerous for Amsterdam's synagogue, Spinoza wrote a philosophy that collapsed God into nature and stripped politics of divine authority - then published almost nothing until after he was dead.

AcademicsAcademicPhilosophyNews BroadcastingEarly Modern Era

A life in dates

1677Died21 February 1677“The perfection of a thing does not annul its existence, but, on the contrary, asserts it.”In their wordsPart I, Prop. XI

“In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible ; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another.”In their wordsCh. 2, Of Natural Right

1675“My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians.”In their wordsLetter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg , November (1675)

1674“This impels me, before going into your reasons, to set forth briefly my opinion on the question, whether the world was made by chance.”In their wordsOctober 1674Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).

“Beauty, my dear Sir, is not so much a quality of the object beheld, as an effect in him who beholds it.”In their wordsOctober 1674Letter to Hugo Boxel (October 1674) The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza (1891) Tr. R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. 2, Letter 58 (54).

1662“A definition, if it is to be called perfect, must explain the inmost essence of a thing, and must take care not to substitute for this any of its properties.”In their wordsXII, 95

1632Born24 November 1632

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

,
Baruch Spinoza
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. The perfection of a thing does not annul its existence, but, on the contrary, asserts it.

    1677, Part I, Prop. XI, Own words

  2. In the state of nature, wrong-doing is impossible ; or, if anyone does wrong, it is to himself, not to another.

    1677, Ch. 2, Of Natural Right, Own words

  3. My opinion concerning God differs widely from that which is ordinarily defended by modern Christians.

    1675, Letter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg , November (1675), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

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About this person

Born in 1632 to a Portuguese-Jewish merchant family that had fled the Inquisition for Amsterdam, Spinoza received a traditional Hebrew education before his questions about doctrine got him permanently expelled from the Jewish community in 1656. He turned to lens grinding for income and gathered a circle of followers who met to discuss the philosophy he was building in private. His Tractatus Theologico-Politicus challenged the divine origin of the Hebrew Bible and argued that religious authority had no place in a democratic state. Ethics, his major work, equated God with nature - a move read variously as pantheism or atheism - and mapped out human freedom in a world without theological anchors. Friends published his writings after his death in 1677, and two centuries of philosophers have argued over the blueprint he left.

Country
Netherlands
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1632 to 1677 · aged 44

Academics from the Netherlands 6

Christiaan Huygens70.7Hugo Grotius67.8Bernardo Kastrup65.2Jan Tinbergen60.4Max Euwe59.8Johan de Witt59.1

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