Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardic Portuguese-Jewish background and one of the central figures of early modern rationalism. He was born in Amsterdam to a family that had fled Iberian religious persecution. Educated in the Jewish community’s schools, he later developed religious and philosophical views that diverged sharply from orthodox Judaism and was excommunicated by the Amsterdam Portuguese-Jewish congregation in 1656. Spinoza supported himself partly as a lens grinder and lived quietly in several Dutch cities, declining prestigious academic appointments in order to preserve his intellectual independence. His philosophy argues that God and nature are one infinite reality, that human beings are governed by natural causes, and that freedom consists in understanding necessity through reason. His major work, Ethics, was published posthumously in 1677 and presents his system in a geometric, theorem-like form. Other important writings include the Theological-Political Treatise, a defense of freedom of thought and biblical criticism, and the Political Treatise. Spinoza’s ideas profoundly influenced later Enlightenment thought, modern biblical scholarship, political liberalism, and philosophy.
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