Commentary

• “Spinoza and the Political Problem”

  - Gildin, Hilail. "Spinoza and the Political Problem" in Spinoza. A collection of critical Essays, edited by Marjorie Grene, University of Notre Dame Press (Ind.), 2nd ed., 1979 (1st ed. : Anchor Books, New York, 1973), p. 377-387.

• “The ‘Separation’ of Religion and Politics: The Paradoxes of Spinoza”

  - Fradkin, Hillel G. “The ‘Separation’ of Religion and Politics: The Paradoxes of Spinoza.” The Review of Politics 50, no. 4 (October 1, 1988): 603–627. doi:10.2307/1407356.
  Abstract: “Benedict Spinoza is the first philosophical proponent of liberal democracy. In his Theologico-Political Tractate he calls for the liberation of philosophy from theology and for the subordination of religion to politics. Though Spinoza may… More

• Spinoza and the Rise of Liberalism

  - Feuer, Lewis S. Spinoza and the Rise of Liberalism. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers, 1987.
  From the Publisher: “In this classic work the author undertakes to show how Spinoza’s philosophical ideas, particularly his political ideas, were influenced by his underlying emotional responses to the conflicts of his time. It thus differs form… More

• Spinoza: The Enduring Questions

  - Hunter, Graeme, and David Savan. Spinoza: The Enduring Questions. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.

• “Spinoza’s Paradox: Judaism and the Construction of Liberal Identity in the Theologico-Political Treatise.”

  - Smith, Steven B. “Spinoza’s Paradox: Judaism and the Construction of Liberal Identity in the Theologico-Political Treatise.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 4, no. 2 (1995): 203–225.

• “Power and Difference: Spinoza’s Conception of Freedom”

  - James, Susan. “Power and Difference: Spinoza’s Conception of Freedom.” Journal of Political Philosophy 4, no. 3 (1996): 207–228. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.1996.tb00050.x.
  Excerpt: “During the last two decades, an established though contested alliance between liberty and equality has been profoundly challenged by reassessments of the view that, when States impose the same rights and obligations on all their citizens,… More

• Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750

  - Israel, Jonathan I. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  From the Publisher: “In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the complete demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophers,… More

• Spinoza’s “Theological-Political Treatise”: A Critical Guide

  - Melamed, Yitzhak Y., and Michael A. Rosenthal, eds. Spinoza’s “Theological-Political Treatise”: A Critical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  From the Publisher: “Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise was published anonymously in 1670 and immediately provoked huge debate. Its main goal was to claim that the freedom of philosophizing can be allowed in a free republic and that it… More

Multimedia

• 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.