Theologico-Political Treatise (1670)

Spinoza, Baruch. Theologico-Political Treatise. Edited by Martin Yaffe. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Co., 2004.

In his Theologic-Political Treatise, Spinoza links human psychology to the rise and persistence of superstition, offering a critique of both religion and political manipulation. In this excerpt from the preface, Spinoza brilliantly observes how uncertainty, coupled with human emotions… More

Ethics (1677)

Spinoza, Benedictus de. A Spinoza Reader: The Ethics and Other Works. Translated by Edwin M. Curley. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994

Spinoza redefines traditional concepts of God and human freedom, merging metaphysics, psychology, and ethics into a single, unified system. Spinoza’s most famous proposition, “Deus sive Natura” (“God or Nature”), radically reframes the divine as identical to the… More

Political Treatise (1676)

Spinoza, Baruch. Political Treatise. Edited by Jonathan Israel. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000.

Written near the end of his life, Spinoza’s Political Treatise diverges from the speculative metaphysics of his Ethics and focuses on the practical realities of political governance. While Spinoza champions democracy as the most natural and stable form of government—rooted in the… More