Sunday, November 24, 2013

Baruch Spinoza (1632-77), a Dutch rationalist philosopher born a Portuguese Jew, was born today, Nov. 24, in 1632.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-77), a Dutch rationalist philosopher born a Portuguese Jew, was born today, Nov. 24, in 1632.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
"His extremely naturalistic views on God, the world, the human being and knowledge serve to ground a moral philosophy centered on the control of the passions leading to virtue and happiness. They also lay the foundations for a strongly democratic political thought and a deep critique of the pretensions of Scripture and sectarian religion. Of all the philosophers of the seventeenth-century, perhaps none have more relevance today than Spinoza."


Baruch Spinoza

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spinoza was expelled from his Jewish Synagogue at age 23 for his radically modern views and was shunned. His books were later put on the Catholic Church's Index of forbidden books.

He was a forerunner of the modern Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism.

Spinoza lived an outwardly simple life supporting himself as a lens grinder and turned down all honors and teaching opportunities and died of a lung disease at age 44. He also turned down his inheritance and allowed it to go to his sister. He has been called the Prince of Philosophers.

IEP: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy



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