Benedict de Spinoza, also known as Baruch Spinoza, was a philosopher of Dutch-Portuguese Jewish origin, born on November 24, 1632, in Amsterdam, and died on February 21, 1677, in The Hague. He is celebrated for his contributions to philosophy, particularly his monistic system of thought, known as Spinozism.
Spinoza was born into a family of Jewish exiles who had fled from Portugal to escape religious persecution. His father, Michael d'Espinoza, was a successful merchant and a respected member of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. Spinoza received a traditional Jewish education, studying Hebrew, the Talmud, and medieval Jewish philosophy. However, his early exposure to the ideas of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment through his connections with free-thinking circles in Amsterdam shaped his philosophical outlook.
In 1656, at the age of 23, Spinoza was excommunicated from the Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam for his unorthodox views, particularly his skepticism towards religious dogma and his embrace of rationalism. This event, known as a Cherem, was a formal expulsion from the Jewish community. Following his excommunication, Spinoza abandoned his family's name, opting for the Latinized version, Benedict de Spinoza, and lived a life of modest means, supporting himself by grinding lenses for scientific instruments.
Spinoza's major philosophical work, "Ethics, Demonstrated in Geometrical Order," was published posthumously in 1677. In this work, he:
Spinoza's philosophy was highly controversial in his time due to its perceived atheism or pantheism, which challenged the established religious and philosophical norms. However, his ideas have had a profound influence on subsequent thinkers: