Commentary

• Behind the Geometrical Method

  - Curley, Edwin M. Behind the Geometrical Method. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
  From the Publisher: “This book is the fruit of twenty-five years of study of Spinoza by the editor and translator of a new and widely acclaimed edition of Spinoza’s collected works. Based on three lectures delivered at the Hebrew University of… More

• “Laying Down the Law: The Theologico-Political Matrix of Spinoza’s Physics”

  - Lachterman, David R. “Laying Down the Law: The Theologico-Political Matrix of Spinoza’s Physics.” Leo Strauss’s Thought: Toward a Critical Engagement, Ed. Alan Udoff (Boulder, Co.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991) (n.d.): 123–53.

• Spinoza’s Philosophy: An Outline

  - Harris, Errol E. Spinoza's Philosophy. Amherst: Humanity Books, 1993.
  From the Publisher: “Spinoza’s writings on metaphysics, ethics, and politics have had a remarkably diverse reception in recent times and have contributed to the current dialogue among philosophers, intellectual historians, and literary theorists.… More

• Spinoza: The Enduring Questions

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

• Spinoza: The Way to Wisdom

  - Dijn, Herman de. Spinoza: The Way to Wisdom. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1996.
  From the Publisher: “De Dijn’s comprehensive introduction to Spinoza’s philosophy is based on two key texts. He first provides an in-depth analysis of Spinoza’s Treatise on the Improvement of the Understanding, which De Dijn… More

• “Autonomous Autonomy: Spinoza on Autonomy, Perfectionism, and Politics”

  - Den Uyl, Douglas. “Autonomous Autonomy: Spinoza on Autonomy, Perfectionism, and Politics.” Social Philosophy and Policy 20, no. 02 (2003): 30–69. doi:10.1017/S0265052503202028.
  Abstract: “These epigraphs present us with part of the problem that is to be discussed in this essay. For Spinoza (1632–1677) there is no metaphysical freedom, except for God/Substance/Nature. The behavior of individual things, or modes, is… More

• Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring “The Will of God.”

  - Verbeek, Theo. Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise: Exploring “The Will of God.” London: Ashgate, 2003.
  From the Publisher: “Presents an accessible analysis of Spinoza’s “Tractatus Theologico-politicus”, situating the work in the context of Spinoza’s general philosophy and its 17th-century historical background. According to… More

• Staring Into the Void: Spinoza, the Master of Nihilism

  - Skulsky, Harold. Staring Into the Void: Spinoza, the Master of Nihilism. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2009.
  From the Publisher: “Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza’s philosophical writing, Staring into the Void devotes twelve chapters to showing in detail how the architecture of reality as Spinoza saw it rises in stages from a theory of… 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

• 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

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.