Baruch Spinoza

He was dismissed from Jewish society at age 23 due to his controversial ideas. Prior to any action by the Dutch Jewish community, however, his books were put on the Catholic Index of banned books, and were burned by Dutch Protestants, for their humanistic take on the Bible.

Background

Baruch Spinoza was a lens grinder, and throughout his life he turned down prestigious teaching positions as well as other honors in order to live a quiet existence. His moral character and philosophical accomplishments prompted 20th century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him "the 'prince' of philosophers." Spinoza died at the age of 44 from what was thought to be an illness with his lungs.

He was born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands to a successful merchant family. He had a traditional Jewish upbringing, but his curious, critical nature brought him into conflict with the Jewish community.

Baruch Spinoza befriended members of an eclectic sect that had tendencies toward rationalism. M. Stuart Phelps noted "No one has ever come nearer to the ideal life of the philosopher than Spinoza." Harold Bloom, wrote: "As a teacher of reality, he practiced his own wisdom, and was surely one of the most exemplary human beings ever to have lived."

And according to the New York Times "In outward appearance he was unpretending, but not careless. His way of living was exceedingly modest and retired; often he did not leave his room for many days together. He was likewise almost incredibly frugal; his expenses sometimes amounted only to a few pence a day."

Spinoza spent his remaining 21 years writing and studying as a private scholar.[1] He preached a philosophy of tolerance and benevolence. Anthony Gottlieb described him as living "a saintly life."

Spinoza relocated from Amsterdam to Rijnsburg (near Leiden) around 1661 and later lived in Voorburg and The Hague respectively. He earned a comfortable living from lens-grinding. Spinoza never married, nor did he father any children. When he died, he was considered a saint by the general Christian population, and was buried in holy ground.

Free Thought

Spinoza most likely had access to friends in Amsterdam and Rotterdam who were considered heretics in the eyes of ecclesiastical authority. These most likely included Niels Stensen, a brilliant Danish student in Leiden; others were Coenraad van Beuningen and his cousin Albert Burgh, with whom Spinoza is known to have corresponded.

Philosophy

He contended that everything that exists in Nature and in the Universe is one Reality or substance. He believed that there is only one set of rules governing the whole of the reality which surrounds us, and of which we are part. Spinoza viewed God and Nature as two names for the same reality.

Considering three types of knowledge - opinion, reason, intuition – he asserted that intuitive knowledge provides the greatest satisfaction. This led to his proposition that the more we are conscious of ourselves and Nature (Universe), the more perfect we are, and only intuitive knowledge is eternal. His views provided a bridge between present day psychology and the mystical past of religion.

Eighteenth century Europeans were attracted to Spinoza's philosophy as it provided an alternative to materialism, atheism, and deism. The ideas that were most appealing were the identity of spirit and nature, the unity of all, and the regularity of all that occurs. Spinoza's "God or Nature" [Deus sive Natura] provided a living, natural God, in contrast to the Newtonian mechanical "First Cause" or the dead mechanism of the French "Man Machine."

Baruch Spinoza has had an influence beyond the confines of philosophy. The nineteenth century novelist, George Eliot, produced a translation of the Ethics.. Eliot liked Spinoza's vehement attacks on superstition.

Goethe could not say exactly what he liked in the Ethics, but was profoundly moved by it. Albert Einstein named Spinoza as the philosopher who exerted the most influence on his world view. Einstein had this to say to Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein:

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."

A compliment to Baruch Spinoza is that he was obsessive in his pursuit of free thought amidst rather constricting religious and political circumstances in his era. He became an important historical figure in the Netherlands, where his portrait was featured on the Dutch 1000-guilder banknote, legal tender until the euro was introduced in 2002. The highest and most prestigious scientific award of the Netherlands is the Spinoza prijs (Spinoza prize). Click here for the Transforming Child Behavior Home Page.

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