Questions about Baruch Spinoza
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Why was Baruch Spinoza expelled from his Jewish community in 1656?
On the 27th of July 1656, the Talmud Torah community in Amsterdam issued a writ of herem against Spinoza, then twenty-three years old, citing his "abominable heresies" and "monstrous deeds" without naming a specific charge. Contributing factors included his violation of synagogue regulations by going to city authorities to be declared an orphan and free himself from his father's debts, as well as his open questioning of Jewish doctrines. The censure was the harshest ever pronounced in the community and was never rescinded.
What did Spinoza mean by "Deus sive Natura" (God or Nature)?
Spinoza argued that there is only one substance in the universe, which he called both God and Nature, treating the two terms as synonymous. Everything that exists is a modification of this single infinite substance. He insisted he did not mean God was simply corporeal matter; rather, the universe is a mode under two knowable attributes, Thought and Extension, while God has infinitely many attributes.
What were Baruch Spinoza's major published works?
Spinoza published only two works in his lifetime: his 1663 geometric exposition of Descartes's Principles of Philosophy, the only work he published under his own name, and the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus in 1670, published anonymously with a false publisher. His Ethics, Political Treatise, Hebrew Grammar, and collected Letters were published posthumously in 1677 by his friends under the title Opera Posthuma.
How did Baruch Spinoza support himself financially?
Spinoza supported himself primarily by grinding optical lenses and crafting telescopes and microscopes, work that earned praise from the scientist Christiaan Huygens and others for its quality. He also relied on contributions from his circle of friends and supporters, and he taught others during the years he boarded with Franciscus van den Enden.
What influence did Baruch Spinoza have on later philosophers and thinkers?
Jonathan I. Israel argued that Lessing, Goethe, Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Schelling, Heine, George Eliot, and Nietzsche all remained preoccupied with Spinoza throughout their creative lives. Albert Einstein named Spinoza as the philosopher who exerted the most influence on his world view. Gilles Deleuze named him "the prince of philosophers" in his 1968 doctoral thesis, and Louis Althusser and others used Spinoza to challenge Hegelian dominance in post-war French philosophy.
How did Baruch Spinoza die, and what happened to his manuscripts?
Spinoza died in The Hague on the 21st of February 1677, at age forty-four, likely from tuberculosis possibly complicated by silicosis from grinding glass lenses. He died without a will. His friends removed his unpublished papers and manuscripts before any official inventory was taken, then edited and published them as the Opera Posthuma later that year, working in secrecy to prevent the confiscation of the materials.