Spinoza was born into a family of Jewish emigrants who fled persecution in Portugal. He was brought up in the Talmud, however his views were so unconventional that the Jewish community tried to bribe him with 1000 florins to keep quiet about his views. Of course he refused, and at the age of 24 was excommunicated from the Jewish church.

Spinoza was a Dutch rationalist philosopher as well as a religious thinker, who is considered the most modern exponent of pantheism.

Like Descartes, Spinoza was concerned with the improvement of human knowledge, which requires that we be able to tell the true from the false in a reliable way. In his paper, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, he addressed this issue. Like Descartes, he initially worked in the framework of the Cartesian philosophy. Spinoza studied Descartes ideas and published the book, Principles of the Philosophy of Rene Descartes in 1663.

Considered to be Spinoza’s major philosophical work, Ethics was published posthumously. Ethics was a summary of his philosophy. The highest good was knowledge of God, “which was able to brining freedom from tyranny of passion, fear, resignation to destiny and true blessedness.

Contrary to the beliefs of Hobbes, Spinoza believed that there is no evil. “The perfection of things is to be reckoned only from their own nature and power: things are not more or less perfect, according as they delight or offend human senses, or according as they are serviceable or repugnant to mankind.

Publications

The Principles of Descartes's Philosophy (1663)

Theologico-Political Treatise (1670)

Ethics (1677)

On the Improvement of Understanding (1677)