Theologico-Political Treatise - Part 4 by Benedictus De Spinoza

Theologico-Political Treatise - Part 4 by Benedictus De Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza (born Benedito de Espinosa, later Benedict de Spinoza; 24 November 1632 - 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. Inspired by the groundbreaking ideas of Ren Descartes, Spinoza became a leading philosophical figure of the Dutch Golden Age.

Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. Jewish religious authorities issued a herem against him, causing him to be effectively expelled and shunned by Jewish society at age 23, including by his own family. His books were later added to the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books. He was frequently called an atheist by contemporaries, although nowhere in his work does Spinoza refute the existence of God.

Spinoza lived an outwardly simple life as an optical lens grinder, collaborating on microscope and telescope lens designs with Constantijn and Christiaan Huygens. He turned down rewards and honours throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. He died at the age of 44 in 1677 from a lung illness, perhaps tuberculosis or silicosis exacerbated by the inhalation of fine glass dust while grinding lenses. He is buried in the Christian churchyard of Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague.

Spinoza's magnum opus, the Ethics, was published posthumously in the year of his death. The work opposed Descartes' philosophy of mind-body dualism, and earned Spinoza recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important thinkers. In it, Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, and one in which the refined conceptions of medieval philosophy are finally turned against themselves and destroyed entirely. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said, The fact is that Spinoza is made a testing-point in modern philosophy, so that it may really be said: You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted Gilles Deleuze to name him the 'prince' of philosophers. (wikipedia.org)

BENEDICT DE (BARUCH) SPINOZA was born in Amsterdam, Holland, on November 24, 1632, into a family of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish descent. Given his cultural and religious background, Spinoza was educated in Judaism within the close Amsterdam community. In his mid-twenties, he began to turn away from his religion; after attempting to return Spinoza to the fold, the Amsterdam community expelled him in 1656. To escape these pressures, Spinoza moved to the nearby village of Ouwerkerk in 1660, where he could be close to friends, many of whom belonged to a religious community in the area.

Rather than being schooled at the universities, Spinoza was trained as a skilled craftsman--a grinder of optical lenses. This vocation provided him with a modest living, which permitted ample time for study and for writing on a variety of subjects. One of the early products of these independent intellectual efforts was Spinoza's short work on the philosophy of Rene Descartes (Parts I and II of Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, Demonstrated in the Geometrical Manner [1663]).

Three years after leaving Amsterdam, Spinoza moved to the town of Voorburg, not far from The Hague. Here he wrote and anonymously published his Theological-Political Treatise in 1670. It was in this work that he departed from the prevailing religious teachings of his day to argue that the Bible was a source for moral guidance rather than the fountain of philosophical or scientific truth. Spinoza's devotion to freedom of thought was later carried forth in an unfinished work titled Political Treatise (1677). Spinoza's skill as a craftsman and as a philosopher gained him so much international attention that in 1673 he was offered the chair in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. But Spinoza's desire for solitude and the intellectual freedom that the quiet life afforded, prompted him to decline the post. In 1677, Spinoza moved to The Hague, where a short time later he died on February 21.

By far the greater proportion of Spinoza's work was published after his death: B. D. S. Opera Posthuma (1677, which includes the works Ethics Demonstrated in a Geometrical Manner, Political Treatise, Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding, and Hebrew Grammar).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9783849515935
ISBN 10	3849515931
Title	Theologico-Political Treatise - Part 4
Author	Benedictus De Spinoza
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	tredition GmbH
Year published	2013-02-21
Number of pages	78
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.