Commentary
[in chronological order]
Spinoza’s Metaphysics by Itzhak Melamed
- Melamed, Yitzhak Y. Spinoza’s Metaphysics: Substance and Thought. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.From the Publisher: Yitzhak Melamed here offers a new and systematic interpretation of the core of Spinoza’s metaphysics. In the first part of the book, he proposes a new reading of the metaphysics of substance in Spinoza: he argues that for Spinoza… More
“Spinoza on the Ethics of Courage and the Jewish Tradition” by Alexander Green
- Green, Alexander. “Spinoza on the Ethics of Courage and the Jewish Tradition.” Modern Judaism 33, no. 2 (May 1, 2013): 199–225. doi:10.1093/mj/kjt002.Excerpt: Baruch Spinoza’s elusive statement at the end of the third chapter of hisTheological-Political Treatise has served as a source of inspiration for numerous thinkers, many of whom have used it in order to support their own disparate… More
Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn by Martin Yaffe
- Strauss, Leo. Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn, ed. Martin D. Yaffe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2012.From the Publisher: “Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86) was the leading Jewish thinker of the German Enlightenment and the founder of modern Jewish philosophy. His writings, especially his attempt during the Pantheism Controversy to defend the philosophical… More
“Why Spinoza Is Intolerant of Atheists” by Michael Rosenthal
- Rosenthal, Michael A. “Why Spinoza Is Intolerant of Atheists: God and the Limits of Early Modern Liberalism.” The Review of Metaphysics 65, no. 4 (June 2012): 813+.Excerpt: SPINOZA IS OFTEN LAUDED as a founder of modern liberalism. Most recently, Jonathan Israel has argued that Spinoza was a central figure in what he calls the “Radical Enlightenment.” In particular, he claims that Spinoza’s focus on… More
Maimonides and Spinoza by Joshua Parens
- Parens, Joshua. Maimonides and Spinoza: Their Conflicting Views of Human Nature. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2012.From the Publisher: Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinoza—as an Enlightenment advocate for secularization—among its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently… More
Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics: The Theologico-Political Treatise
- James, Susan. Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics: The Theologico-Political Treatise. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.From the Publisher: “Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise is simultaneously a work of philosophy and a piece of practical politics. It defends religious pluralism, a republican form of political organisation, and the freedom to philosophise,… More
Spinoza’s Revolutions in Natural Law
- Campos, Andre Santos. Spinoza’s Revolutions in Natural Law. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.From the Publisher: “This very first analysis of Spinoza’s philosophy of law from the viewpoint of his deterministic ontology shows that he revolutionized modern philosophy from within by developing an entirely new natural law theory connecting… More
“Benedict Spinoza on the Naturalness of Democracy”
- Ward, Lee. “Benedict Spinoza on the Naturalness of Democracy.” Canadian Political Science Review 5, no. 1 (April 6, 2011): 55–73.Abstract: “Benedict Spinoza is arguably the first important political philosopher to endorse democracy as the best government. He does so primarily on the basis of the claim that it is the most natural regime. However, there are features of Spinoza’s… More
Conflict, Power, and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza: Tumult and Indignation
- Lucchese, Filippo Del. Conflict, Power, and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza: Tumult and Indignation. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011.From the Publisher: “Conflict, Power and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza explores Spinoza’s political philosophy by confronting it with that of Niccolò Machiavelli. Filippo Del Lucchese conducts a study of the relationship between… More
The Trials of Spinoza
- Ali, Tariq. The Trials of Spinoza. Har/DVD. Seagull Books, 2011.From the Publisher: Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) is considered one of the great rationalist thinkers of the seventeenth century. His magnum opus, Ethics, in which he criticized the dualism of Descartes, solidified his reputation and greatly influenced the… More
Major Works
Political Treatise (1676)
- Spinoza, Baruch. Political Treatise, ed. Jonathan Israel. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000.Excerpt: 1. PHILOSOPHERS conceive of the passions which harass us as vices into which men fall by their own fault, and, therefore, generally deride, bewail, or blame them, or execrate them, if they wish to seem unusually pious. And so they think they are… More
Ethics (1677)
- Spinoza, Benedictus de. A Spinoza Reader: The Ethics and Other Works. Translated by Edwin M. Curley. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994Excerpt: PART I. CONCERNING GOD. DEFINITIONS. I. By that which is self-caused, I mean that of which the essence involves existence, or that of which the nature is only conceivable as existent. II. A thing is called finite after its kind, when it can be… More
Theologico-Political Treatise (1670)
- Spinoza, Baruch. Theologico-Political Treatise. Edited by Martin Yaffe. Newsbury: Newburyport: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co., 2004.Excerpt: PREFACE. (1)Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating… More
Multimedia
BBC “In Our Time”: Benedict Spinoza
- Audio. Melvyn Bragg with guests Jonathan Rée, Sarah Hutton, and John Cottingham. BBC Radio 4, In Our Time, 23 Dec 2011.Melvyn Bragg discusses the Dutch Jewish Philosopher Spinoza. For the radical thinkers of the Enlightenment, he was the first man to have lived and died as a true atheist. For others, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he provides perhaps the most profound… More
Roundtable on Spinoza’s Philosophy
- Roundtable on Spinoza's Philosophy hosted by the Philoctetes Center, February, 2009. Speakers were Akeel Bilgrami, Jonathan Israel, Steven Nadler, Joel Whitebook, and Catherine Wilson.Steven Nadler on Spinoza
- Video. Steven Nadler. At Beyond Belief, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006.Steven Nadler, Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, gives a talk on Baruch Spinoza at Beyond Belief 2006, touching on Spinoza’s conception of God and morality.
Other Works
Complete Works
-Spinoza, Baruch. Spinoza: Complete Works. Edited by Michael L. Morgan. Translated by Samuel Shirley. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub Co Inc, 2002.
Other works of note: On the Improvement of the Understanding (1662) The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (1663)
Correspondence
-Spinoza, Baruch. The Letters, ed. Shirley, et. al. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co., 1995.