SPINOZA, BARUCH (BENEDICTUS DE)

(1632–1677)

Philosopher. Spinoza was the son of a wealthy Portuguese-Jewish merchant in Amsterdam. In 1656, he was banned from the synagogue because of his unorthodox ideas. From 1660 until 1667, he lived in the village of Rijnsburg near Leiden, where he earned a living by polishing lenses in the circle of the so-called Rijnsburger collegianten. After that, he lived in The Hague, where he wrote most of his famous trea tises and developed the principles of Cartesian philosophy in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and Ethica. Because of their affected rationalistic, atheistic, and democratic character, most of Spinoza’s works were censored by the authorities.

See also DESCARTES, Rene (1596–1650).