Spinoza, Baruch

Spinoza’s philosophy radically changed the framework of western thought duringmodernity, and had huge consequences for its development from the 17th centuryonwards. Drawing on different traditions of thought, he created a system of philosophywhich challenged the views of his contemporary readers in almost every domain. Fromhis metaphysics to his epistemology, from his account of morals to his political theory,from his method of interpreting Scripture, to the method of exposition that he employedin his main work—namely, the Ethics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order (1677)—, there isnot a single aspect of Spinoza’s philosophy which has not been thoroughly examined anddiscussed. Yet, Spinoza’s theses and arguments continue to influence philosophicaldebates. Spinoza’s so called substance monism, his identification of God with nature, hisstrict necessitarianism, his unique account of the mind-body relationship and of humanaffects, his passionate defence of religious freedom and of freedom of thought are still asource of inspiration for many thinkers and the focus of several studies, not necessarilyrelated to the limited domain of the historiography of philosophy.