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100-618: The philosopher Baruch Spinoza was born in a house that stood where the Mozes en Aäronkerk church now stands. The painter Rembrandt lived from 1639 to 1656 in what is now the Rembrandthuis museum. Opposite the museum is a sculpture bearing a poem by Jacob Israël de Haan . The street was originally part of the Sint Antoniesbreestraat . In the 17th century, many Jewish emigrants from Portugal and Spain settled in

200-615: A New Christian and only spoke Portuguese at home. The marriage was childless. Spinoza's sister Rebecca, brother Gabriel, and nephew eventually migrated to Curaçao , and the remaining family joined them after Spinoza's death. Through his mother, Spinoza was related to the philosopher Uriel da Costa , who stirred controversy in Amsterdam's Portuguese Jewish community. Da Costa questioned traditional Christian and Jewish beliefs, asserting that, for example, their origins were based on human inventions instead of God's revelation. His clashes with

300-473: A dominant influence on Spinoza's philosophy. While boarding with Van den Enden, Spinoza studied in his school, where he learned the arts and sciences and likely taught others. Many of his friends were either secularized freethinkers or belonged to dissident Christian groups that rejected the authority of established churches and traditional dogmas. Spinoza was acquainted with members of the Collegiants ,

400-485: A group of disaffected Mennonites and other dissenting Reformed sects that shunned official theology and must have played some role in Spinoza's developing views on religion and directed him to Van Enden. Jonathan Israel conjectures that another possible influential figure was atheist translator Jan Hendriksz Glazemaker , a collaborator of Spinoza's friend and publisher Rieuwertsz, who could not have mentored Spinoza but

500-463: A kind of mass or corporeal matter), they are quite mistaken". For Spinoza, the universe (cosmos) is a mode under two attributes of Thought and Extension . God has infinitely many other attributes which are not present in the world. Herem (censure) Herem ( Hebrew : חֵרֶם ḥērem ) is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community . It is the total exclusion of a person from

600-400: A leading Oporto commercial family, and his maternal grandfather was a foremost merchant who drifted between Judaism and Christianity. Spinoza was raised by his grandmother from ages six to nine and probably learned much about his family history from her. Spinoza's father Michael was a prominent and wealthy merchant in Amsterdam with a business that had wide geographical reach. In 1649, he

700-478: A legal measure resorted to by a judicial court for certain prescribed offenses. The three terms herem , "censure, excommunication", " devotion of enemies by annihilation " in the Tanakh , and " devotion of property to a kohen ", are all English transliterations of the same Hebrew noun. This noun comes from the semitic root Ḥ-R-M . There is also a homonym herem "fisherman's net", which appears nine times in

800-546: A lesser form of blessedness, namely, that of pure understanding of oneself as one really is, i.e., as a definite modification of Substance in a certain set of relationships with everything else in the universe. That this is what Spinoza has in mind can be seen at the end of the Ethics , in E5P24 and E5P25, where Spinoza makes two final key moves, unifying the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical propositions he has developed over

900-495: A sense of Jewish identity; he argued that without adherence to Jewish law, the Jewish people lacked a sustaining source of difference and identity, rendering the notion of a secular Jew incoherent. Sometime between 1654 and 1657, Spinoza started studying Latin with political radical Franciscus van den Enden , a former Jesuit and atheist, who likely introduced Spinoza to scholastic and modern philosophy, including Descartes, who had

1000-712: A synagogue regulation that business matters are to be arbitrated within the community. Amsterdam was tolerant of religious diversity so long as it was practiced discreetly. The community was concerned with protecting its reputation and not associating with Spinoza lest his controversial views provide the basis for possible persecution or expulsion. Spinoza did not openly break with Jewish authorities until his father died in 1654 when he became public and defiant, resulting from lengthy and stressful religious, financial, and legal clashes involving his business and synagogue, such as when Spinoza violated synagogue regulations by going to city authorities rather than resolving his disputes within

1100-492: A teenager, he certainly heard discussions about him. Steven Nadler explains that, although da Costa died when Spinoza was eight, his ideas shaped Spinoza's intellectual development. Amsterdam's Jewish communities long remembered and discussed da Costa's skepticism about organized religion, denial of the soul's immortality, and the idea that Moses didn't write the Torah, influencing Spinoza's intellectual journey. Spinoza attended

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1200-674: A thread of "attending to the highest good" (which also is the highest truth) and thereby achieving a state of peace and harmony, either metaphysically or politically. In this light, the Principles of Philosophy might be viewed as an "exercise in geometric method and philosophy", paving the way for numerous concepts and conclusions that would define his philosophy (see Cogitata Metaphysica). Spinoza's metaphysics consists of one thing, substance, and its modifications (modes). Early in The Ethics Spinoza argues that only one substance

1300-468: Is "attributed" to reality by intellect. Spinoza defined God as "a substance consisting of infinite attributes, each of which expresses eternal and infinite essence", and since "no cause or reason" can prevent such a being from existing, it must exist. This is a form of the ontological argument , which is claimed to prove the existence of God, but Spinoza went further in stating that it showed that only God exists. Accordingly, he stated that "Whatever is,

1400-467: Is a part of God. This view was described by Charles Hartshorne as Classical Pantheism . Spinoza argues that "things could not have been produced by God in any other way or in any other order than is the case". Therefore, concepts such as 'freedom' and 'chance' have little meaning. This picture of Spinoza's determinism is illuminated in Ethics : "the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks

1500-636: Is absolutely infinite , self-caused, and eternal. He calls this substance " God ", or " Nature ". He takes these two terms to be synonymous (in the Latin the phrase he uses is "Deus sive Natura" ). For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe consists of one substance, God, or, what is the same, Nature, and its modifications (modes). It cannot be overemphasized how the rest of Spinoza's philosophy—his philosophy of mind, his epistemology, his psychology, his moral philosophy, his political philosophy, and his philosophy of religion—flows more or less directly from

1600-478: Is by universal egoism ". Spinoza's notion of blessedness figures centrally in his ethical philosophy. Spinoza writes that blessedness (or salvation or freedom), "consists, namely, in a constant and eternal love of God, or in God's love for men. Philosopher Jonathan Bennett interprets this as Spinoza wanting "'blessedness' to stand for the most elevated and desirable state one could possibly be in." Understanding what

1700-484: Is clearly disappointed by Spinoza's only statement on women. "It is unfortunate that the very last words we have by him, at the end of the extant chapters of the Political Treatise , are a short digression … on the unsuitability of women to hold political power." Likewise Jonathan I. Israel says that Spinoza's views are "hugely disappointing to the modern reader" and that most that can be said in his defense

1800-453: Is in God, and nothing can exist or be conceived without God". This means that God is identical with the universe, an idea which he encapsulated in the phrase " Deus sive Natura " ('God or Nature'), which some have interpreted as atheism or pantheism . Though there are many more of them, God can be known by humans either through the attribute of extension or the attribute of thought. Thought and extension represent giving complete accounts of

1900-407: Is just the substance of the universe by first stating that substances do not share attributes or essences and then demonstrating that God is a "substance" with an infinite number of attributes, thus the attributes possessed by any other substances must also be possessed by God. Therefore, God is just the sum of all the substances of the universe. God is the only substance in the universe, and everything

2000-522: Is meant by "most elevated and desirable state" requires understanding Spinoza's notion of conatus ( striving , but not necessarily with any teleological baggage) and that "perfection" refers not to (moral) value, but to completeness. Given that individuals are identified as mere modifications of the infinite Substance, it follows that no individual can ever be fully complete, i.e., perfect, or blessed. Absolute perfection, is, in Spinoza's thought, reserved solely for Substance. Nevertheless, modes can attain

2100-425: Is that "in his age rampant tyrannizing over women was indeed universal." He goes on to say, "one may legitimately wonder why did Spinoza, if he was to be consistent, not apply his highly sceptical and innovative, for his time uniquely subversive, de-legtimizing general principle likewise to men's tyrannizing over women." One scholar has attempted to rationalize Spinoza's views excluding women from full citizenship. But

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2200-499: The Amalekites , and the entire population of Jericho . The neglect of Saul to carry out such a command as delivered by Samuel resulted in the selection of David as his replacement. The Talmud speaks of twenty-four offenses that, in theory, were punishable by a form of niddui or temporary excommunication. Maimonides (as well as later authorities) enumerates the twenty-four as follows: The niddui ( Hebrew : נידוי ) ban

2300-728: The British Royal Society Henry Oldenburg . Huygens and others notably praised the quality of Spinoza's lenses. Spinoza engaged in correspondence with Willem van Blijenbergh , an amateur Calvinist theologian, who sought Spinoza's view on the nature of evil and sin. Whereas Blijenbergh deferred to the authority of scripture for theology and philosophy, Spinoza told him not solely to look at scripture for truth or anthropomorphize God. Also, Spinoza told him their views were incommensurable. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz outwardly described Spinoza's work negatively but privately wrote letters to him and desired to examine

2400-642: The Ethics , this work was published posthumously by his circle of supporters in Latin and in Dutch. The subtitle is " In quo demonstratur, quomodo Societas, ubi Imperium Monarchicum locum habet, sicut et ea, ubi Optimi imperant, debet institui, ne in Tyrannidem labatur, et ut Pax, Libertasque civium inviolata maneat ." ("In which it is demonstrated how a society, may it be a monarchy or an aristocracy , can be best governed, so as not to fall into tyranny , and so that

2500-574: The Masoretic Text of the Tanakh, that has no etymological connection to herem . The Talmudic usage of herem for excommunication can be distinguished from the usage of herem described in the Tanakh in the time of Joshua and the early Hebrew monarchy, which was the practice of consecration by total annihilation at the command of God carried out against peoples such as the Midianites ,

2600-619: The Nieuwe Kerk four days after his death, with six others in the same vault. At the time, there was no memorial plaque for Spinoza. In the 18th century, the vault was emptied, and the remnants scattered over the earth of the churchyard. The memorial plaque is outside the church, where some of his remains are part of the churchyard's soil. Spinoza's friends rescued his personal belongings, papers, and unpublished manuscripts. His supporters took them away for safekeeping from seizure by those wishing to suppress his writings, and they do not appear in

2700-636: The Rembrandthuis museum. The street was also popular with other artists, such as the painter Esaias Boursse , who lived next door to Rembrandt. During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II , most residents of Amsterdam's Jewish neighbourhood were deported to the concentration camps where they were murdered. After the war, the neighbourhood was left deserted. Many of the houses began to deteriorate and were eventually demolished. In

2800-538: The Theologico-Political Treatise , his works appeared in print after his death. Because the reaction to his anonymously published work, Theologico-Political Treatise , was unfavorable, Spinoza told supporters not to translate his works and abstained from publishing further. Following his death, his supporters published his works posthumously in Latin and Dutch. His posthumous works– Opera Posthuma –were edited by his friends in secrecy to prevent

2900-463: The principle of sufficient reason is commonly associated with Gottfried Leibniz , Spinoza employs it in a more systematic manner. In Spinoza's philosophical framework, questions concerning why a particular phenomenon exists are always answerable, and these answers are provided in terms of the relevant cause. Spinoza's approach involves first providing an account of a phenomenon, such as goodness or consciousness, to explain it, and then further explaining

3000-483: The rationalist school of thought, which includes the assumption that ideas correspond to reality perfectly, in the same way that mathematics is supposed to be an exact representation of the world. The Ethics , a "superbly cryptic masterwork", contains many unresolved obscurities and is written with a forbidding mathematical structure modeled on Euclid's geometry. The writings of René Descartes have been described as "Spinoza's starting point". Spinoza's first publication

3100-431: The "God-intoxicated man". Spinoza inspired the poet Shelley to write his essay " The Necessity of Atheism ". It is a widespread belief that Spinoza equated God with the material universe. He has therefore been called the "prophet" and "prince" and most eminent expounder of pantheism . More specifically, in a letter to Henry Oldenburg he states, "as to the view of certain people that I identify God with Nature (taken as

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3200-420: The "herem," the most rigorous form of excommunication, might be pronounced. This extended for an indefinite period, and no one was permitted to teach the offender or work for him, or benefit him in any way, except when he was in need of the bare necessities of life. A milder form than either niddui or herem was the nezifah ban. (In modern Hebrew, nezifah generally means "a dressing-down" or "reading (someone)

3300-480: The 1960s, the city government unveiled plans to build a dual carriageway through the Jodenbreestraat, as well as a metro line underneath the street. To prepare for construction, Jodenbreestraat was significantly widened by demolishing the remaining houses along the north side of the street. However, following heavy riots in 1975, the plans for the dual carriageway were abandoned. Along the empty north side of

3400-649: The Catholic Church. Burgh attacked Spinoza's views as expressed in the Theological-Political Treatise and tried to persuade Spinoza to embrace Catholicism. In response, Spinoza, at the request of Burgh's family, who hoped to restore his reason, wrote an angry letter mocking the Catholic Church and condemning all religious superstition. Spinoza published little in his lifetime, and most formal writings were in Latin, reaching few readers. Apart from Descartes' Principles of Philosophy and

3500-471: The Jewish community in 1656. Following his excommunication, he distanced himself from all religious affiliations and devoted himself to philosophical inquiry and lens grinding. Spinoza attracted a dedicated circle of followers who gathered to discuss his writings and joined him in the intellectual pursuit of truth. Spinoza published little to avoid persecution and bans on his books. In his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus , described by Steven Nadler as "one of

3600-439: The Jewish community. He acted as an intermediary for Spinoza's correspondence, sending and receiving letters of the philosopher to and from third parties. They maintained their relationship until Serrarius died in 1669. Through his pursuits in lens grinding, mathematics, optics, and philosophy, Spinoza forged connections with prominent figures such as scientist Christiaan Huygens , mathematician Johannes Hudde , and Secretary of

3700-605: The Jewish community. It is a form of shunning and is similar to vitandus " excommunication " in the Catholic Church . Cognate terms in other Semitic languages include the Arabic terms ḥarām "forbidden, taboo, off-limits, or immoral" and haram "set apart, sanctuary", and the Ge'ez word ʿirm "accursed". Although developed from the biblical ban, excommunication, as employed by the rabbis during Talmudic times and during

3800-502: The Middle Ages, became a rabbinic institution, the object of which was to preserve Jewish solidarity. A system of laws was gradually developed by rabbis, by means of which this power was limited, so that it became one of the modes of legal punishment by rabbinic courts. While it did not entirely lose its arbitrary character, since individuals were allowed to pronounce the ban of excommunication on particular occasions, it became chiefly

3900-844: The Stoics before him, in contrast to the Epicurean belief in the probabilistic path of atoms, which is more in line with contemporary thought on quantum mechanics . One thing which seems, on the surface, to distinguish Spinoza's view of the emotions from both Descartes' and Hume's pictures of them is that he takes the emotions to be cognitive in some important respect. Jonathan Bennett claims that "Spinoza mainly saw emotions as caused by cognitions. [However] he did not say this clearly enough and sometimes lost sight of it entirely." Spinoza provides several demonstrations which purport to show truths about how human emotions work. The picture presented is, according to Bennett, "unflattering, coloured as it

4000-682: The Talmud Torah school adjoining the Bet Ya'acov synagogue, a few doors down from his home, headed by the senior Rabbi Saul Levi Morteira . Instructed in Spanish, the language of learning and literature, students in the elementary school learned to read the prayerbook and the Torah in Hebrew, translate the weekly section into Spanish, and study Rashi 's commentary. Spinoza's name does not appear on

4100-452: The authorities, leading to his imprisonment and eventual death in prison. Anticipating the reaction to his ideas, Spinoza published his treatise in 1670 under a false publisher and a fictitious place of publication. The work did not remain anonymous for long. Samuel Maresius attacked Spinoza personally, while Thomas Hobbes and Johannes Bredenburg criticized his conception of God and saw the book as dangerous and subversive. Spinoza's work

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4200-459: The bounds of political and religious authority while arguing for a secular, democratic state. Before the publication of the Theological-Political Treatise , Spinoza's friend Adriaan Koerbagh published a book that criticized organized religion, denied the divine authorship of the Bible, and asserted that miracles were impossible—ideas similar to those of Spinoza. His work attracted the attention of

4300-512: The breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. … All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak." In his letter to G. H. Schuller (Letter 58), he wrote: "men are conscious of their desire and unaware of

4400-424: The causes by which [their desires] are determined." He also held that knowledge of true causes of passive emotion can transform it into an active emotion, thus anticipating one of the key ideas of Sigmund Freud 's psychoanalysis . According to Eric Schliesser, Spinoza was skeptical regarding the possibility of knowledge of nature and as a consequence at odds with scientists such as Galileo and Huygens. Although

4500-399: The chapter on the laws of excommunication: Although the power is given to the scholar to excommunicate a man who has slighted him, it is not praiseworthy for him to employ this means too frequently. He should rather shut his ears to the words of the ignorant and pay no attention to them, as Solomon, in his wisdom, said, 'Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken' ( Eccl 7:21 ). This was

4600-422: The cited position. If the offense was in reference to monetary matters, or if the punishment was inflicted by an individual, the laws were more lenient, the chief punishment being that men might not associate with the offender. At the expiration of the period the ban was raised by the court. If, however, the excommunicate showed no sign of penitence or remorse, the niddui might be renewed once and again, and finally

4700-459: The community to free himself from paying his father's debt. On 27 July, 1656, the Talmud Torah community leaders, which included Aboab de Fonseca , issued a writ of herem against the 23-year-old Spinoza. Spinoza's censure was the harshest ever pronounced in the community, carrying tremendous emotional and spiritual impact. The exact reason for expelling Spinoza is not stated, only referring to his "abominable heresies", "monstrous deeds", and

4800-479: The concept of an anthropomorphic, fatherly God who cares about humanity. In 1785, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi published a condemnation of Spinoza's pantheism, after Gotthold Lessing was thought to have confessed on his deathbed to being a "Spinozist", which was the equivalent in his time of being called an atheist . Jacobi claimed that Spinoza's doctrine was pure materialism, because all Nature and God are said to be nothing but extended substance . This, for Jacobi,

4900-615: The confiscation and destruction of manuscripts. He wore a signet ring to mark his letters, engraved with the Latin word Caute , meaning "Caution", and the image of a thorny rose. Spinoza's health began to fail in 1676, and he died in The Hague on 21 February 1677 at age 44, attended by a physician friend, Georg Herman Schuller. Spinoza had been ill with some form of lung affliction, probably tuberculosis and possibly complicated by silicosis brought on by grinding glass lenses. Although Spinoza had been becoming sicker for weeks, his death

5000-493: The course of the work. In E5P24, he links the understanding of particular things to the understanding of God, or Substance; in E5P25, the conatus of the mind is linked to the third kind of knowledge ( Intuition ). From here, it is a short step to the connection of Blessedness with the amor dei intellectualis ("intellectual love of God"). This unfinished treatise in Latin expounds Spinoza's ideas about forms of government. As with

5100-413: The custom of the early pious men, who would not answer when they heard themselves insulted, but would forgive the insolent … But this humility should be practised only when the insult occurs in private; when the scholar is publicly insulted, he dares not forgive; and if he forgive he should be punished, for then it is an insult to the Torah that he must revenge until the offender humbly apologizes. Arguably

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5200-402: The day of nezifah was sufficient apology. But when a scholar or prominent man actually pronounced the formal niddui on one who had slighted him, all the laws of niddui applied. This procedure was, however, much discouraged by the sages, so that it was a matter of proper pride for a rabbi to be able to say that he had never pronounced the ban of excommunication. Maimonides concludes with these words

5300-523: The death of Rachel, Michael married Hannah Deborah, with whom he had five children. His second wife brought a dowry to the marriage that was absorbed into Michael's business capital instead of being set aside for her children, which may have caused a grudge between Spinoza and his father. The family lived on the artificial island on the south side of the River Amstel, known as the Vlooienburg , at

5400-558: The emphasis on the afterlife, Spinoza emphasized appreciating and valuing life for oneself and others. By advocating for individual liberty in its moral, psychological, and metaphysical dimensions, Spinoza helped establish the genre of political writing called secular theology . Spinoza's philosophy spans nearly every area of philosophical discourse, including metaphysics , epistemology , political philosophy , ethics , philosophy of mind , and philosophy of science . His friends posthumously published his works, captivating philosophers for

5500-571: The fifth house along the Houtgracht canal. The Jewish quarter was not formally divided. The family lived close to the Bet Ya'acov synagogue, and nearby were Christians, including the artist Rembrandt . Miriam was their first child, followed by Isaac who was expected to take over as head of the family and the commercial enterprise but died in 1649. Baruch Espinosa, the third child, was born on 24 November 1632 and named as per tradition for his maternal grandfather. Spinoza's younger brother Gabriel

5600-411: The generous contributions of his friends to support himself. In 1663, Spinoza moved to Voorburg for an unknown reason. He continued working on Ethics and corresponded with scientists and philosophers throughout Europe. In 1665, he began writing the Theological-Political Treatise , which addresses theological and political issues such as the interpretation of scripture, the origins of the state, and

5700-677: The inventory of his possessions at death. Within a year of his death, his supporters translated his Latin manuscripts into Dutch and other languages. Secular authorities and later the Roman Catholic Church banned his works. Despite being published in Latin rather than a vernacular language, this 1670 treatise published in Spinoza's lifetime caused a huge reaction described as "one of the most significant events in European intellectual history." The Ethics has been associated with that of Leibniz and René Descartes as part of

5800-409: The latter being evident in every finite mode (he gives examples of "motion" and "rest"). The traditional understanding of an attribute in philosophy is similar to Spinoza's modes, though he uses that word differently. To him, an attribute is "that which the intellect perceives as constituting the essence of substance", and there are possibly an infinite number of them. It is the essential nature that

5900-638: The manuscript of the Ethics . In 1676, Leibniz traveled to The Hague to meet Spinoza, remaining with him for three days to converse about current events and philosophy. Leibniz's work bears some striking resemblances to parts of Spinoza's philosophy, like in Monadology . Leibniz was concerned when his name was not redacted in a letter printed in the Opera Posthuma . In 1675, Albert Burgh, a friend and possibly former pupil of Spinoza, wrote to him repudiating his teachings and announcing his conversion to

6000-422: The manuscript of  Ethics , reworking part Three into parts Four and Five, and composed a Hebrew grammar for proper interpretation of scripture and for clearing up confusion and problems when studying the Bible, with part One presenting etymology, the alphabet, and principles governing nouns, verbs, and more. Part Two, unfinished before he died, would have presented syntax rules. Another unfinished work from 1676

6100-543: The metaphysical underpinnings in Part I of the Ethics . Spinoza sets forth a vision of Being, illuminated by his awareness of God. They may seem strange at first sight. To the question "What is?" he replies: "Substance, its attributes, and modes". Following Maimonides , Spinoza defined substance as "that which is in itself and is conceived through itself", meaning that it can be understood without any reference to anything external. Being conceptually independent also means that

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6200-644: The most famous case of a herem is that of Baruch Spinoza , the seventeenth-century philosopher. Another renowned case is the herem the Vilna Gaon ruled against the early Hassidic groups in 1777 and then again in 1781, under the charge of believing in panentheism . Except in rare cases in the Haredi and Hasidic communities, herem stopped existing after the Haskalah , when local Jewish communities lost their political autonomy, and Jews were integrated into

6300-472: The most important books of Western thought", Spinoza questioned the divine origin of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of God while arguing that ecclesiastic authority should have no role in a secular, democratic state. Ethics argues for a pantheistic view of God and explores the place of human freedom in a world devoid of theological, cosmological, and political moorings. Rejecting messianism and

6400-625: The neighbourhood, and in the second half of the century, the southern section of the Sint Antoniesbreestraat came to be known as Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street"). The street served as a marketplace until the late 19th century. In 1893, the city government ordered the merchants to move their stalls to nearby Waterlooplein square. Rembrandt lived in this street, from 1631 to 1635, at the home of art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh , and again from 1639 to 1656, in his own house, built in 1606 and still standing today. It now houses

6500-628: The next two centuries. Celebrated as one of the most original and influential thinkers of the seventeenth century, Rebecca Goldstein dubbed him "the renegade Jew who gave us modernity." Spinoza's ancestors, adherents of Crypto-Judaism , faced persecution during the Portuguese Inquisition , enduring torture and public displays of humiliation. In 1597, his paternal grandfather's family left Vidigueira for Nantes and lived outwardly as New Christians , eventually transferring to Holland for an unknown reason. His maternal ancestors were

6600-408: The niddui. The court might even reduce or increase the number of days, forbid all intercourse with the offender, and exclude his children from the schools and his wife from the synagogue, until he became humbled and willing to repent and obey the court's mandates. According to one opinion (recorded in the name of Sefer Agudah ), the possibility that the offender might leave the Jewish community due to

6700-406: The original editors of Opera Posthuma —a collection of his works published posthumously—Lodewijk Meyer, Georg Hermann Schuller, and Johannes Bouwmeester, excluded personal matters and letters due to the political and ecclesiastical persecution of the time. Spinoza corresponded with Peter Serrarius , a radical Protestant and millenarian merchant, who was a patron of Spinoza after his expulsion from

6800-582: The peace and liberty of the citizens remain unviolated"). Although Spinoza's political and theological thought was radical on many ways, he held traditional views on the place of women. In the TP, he writes briefly on the last page of the TP that women were "naturally" subordinate to men, stating bluntly his women are "by nature" not by "institutional practice" subordinate to men. Both his major biographers in English remark on his view of women. Biographer Steven Nadler

6900-529: The phenomenon in terms of itself. For instance, he might argue that consciousness is the degree of power of a mental state. Spinoza has also been described as an " Epicurean materialist", specifically in reference to his opposition to Cartesian mind-body dualism. This view was held by Epicureans before him, as they believed that atoms with their probabilistic paths were the only substance that existed fundamentally. Spinoza, however, deviated significantly from Epicureans by adhering to strict determinism, much like

7000-485: The propositions of the Ethics while it was in draft and Spinoza's second text, Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being . Though a few prominent people in Amsterdam discussed the teachings of the secretive but marginal group, it was mainly a testing ground for Spinoza's philosophy to extend his challenge to the status quo. Their public reputation in Amsterdam was negative, with Ole Borch disparaging them as "atheists". Throughout his life, Spinoza's general approach

7100-499: The registry after age fourteen, and he likely never studied with rabbis such as Manasseh ben Israel and Morteira. Spinoza possibly went to work around fourteen and almost certainly was needed in his father's business after his brother died in 1649. During the First Anglo-Dutch War , much of the Spinoza firm's ships and cargo were captured by English ships, severely affecting the firm's financial viability. The firm

7200-407: The religious establishment led to his excommunication twice by rabbinic authorities, who imposed humiliation and social exclusion. In 1639, as part of an agreement to be readmitted, da Costa had to prostrate himself for worshippers to step over him. He died in 1640, reportedly committing suicide. During his childhood, Spinoza was likely unaware of his family connection with Uriel da Costa; still, as

7300-421: The responsibility of paying debts owed by his late father, Spinoza appealed to the city to declare him an orphan; since he was a legal minor, not understanding his father's indebtedness would remove the obligation to repay his debts and retrospectively renounce his inheritance. Though he was released of all debts and legally in the right, his reputation as a merchant was permanently damaged in addition to violating

7400-432: The riot act", i.e., a stern verbal rebuke.) This ban generally only lasted one day. During this time the offender dared not appear before him whom he had displeased. He had to retire to his house, speak little, refrain from business and pleasure, and manifest his regret and remorse. He was not required, however, to separate himself from society, nor was he obliged to apologize to the man whom he had insulted; for his conduct on

7500-420: The same thing is ontologically independent, depending on nothing else for its existence and being the 'cause of itself' ( causa sui ). A mode is something which cannot exist independently but rather must do so as part of something else on which it depends, including properties (for example color), relations (such as size) and individual things. Modes can be further divided into 'finite' and 'infinite' ones, with

7600-634: The severity of the excommunication did not prevent the court from adding rigor to its punishments so as to maintain its dignity and authority. This opinion is vehemently contested by the Taz who cites earlier authorities of the same opinion ( Maharshal ; Maharam ; Mahari Mintz ) and presents proof of his position from the Talmud. Additionally, the Taz notes that his edition of the Sefer Agudah does not contain

7700-972: The street, a huge new building was constructed in 1971, stretching the entire length of the street: the Burgemeester Tellegenhuis. Popularly known as the " Maupoleum ", it was repeatedly voted the ugliest building in Amsterdam, and was finally demolished in 1994 and replaced with two large buildings which house, among others, offices for the Amsterdam School of the Arts and shop premises for supermarket chain Albert Heijn . 52°22′9″N 4°54′11″E  /  52.36917°N 4.90306°E  / 52.36917; 4.90306 Baruch Spinoza Baruch ( de ) Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza ,

7800-446: The synagogue's bans on public weddings, funeral processions, and discussing religious matters with Christians, lest such activity might "disturb the liberty we enjoy". Before the expulsion, Spinoza had not published anything or written a treatise; Steven Nadler states that if Spinoza was voicing his criticism of Judaism that later appeared through his philosophical works, such as Part I of Ethics , then there can be no wonder that he

7900-472: The testimony of witnesses "in the presence of the said Espinoza". Even though the Amsterdam municipal authorities were not directly involved in Spinoza's censure, the town council expressly ordered the Portuguese-Jewish community to regulate their conduct and ensure that the community kept strict observance of Jewish law. Other evidence indicates a concern about upsetting civil authorities, such as

8000-556: The theologians, synods, and city magistrates. The Short Treatise , a long-forgotten text that only survived in Dutch translation, was first published by Johannes van Vloten in 1862. While lodging with Herman Homan in Rijnsburg, Spinoza produced lenses and instruments to support himself and out of scientific interest. He began working on his Ethics and Descartes' Principles of Philosophy , which he completed in two weeks, communicating and interpreting Descartes' arguments and testing

8100-516: The topic has not attracted major consideration in Spinoza studies. Spinoza was considered to be an atheist because he used the word "God" [Deus] to signify a concept that was different from that of traditional Judeo–Christian monotheism. "Spinoza expressly denies personality and consciousness to God; he has neither intelligence, feeling, nor will; he does not act according to purpose, but everything follows necessarily from his nature, according to law...." Thus, Spinoza's cool, indifferent God differs from

8200-505: The water for his metaphysical and ethical ideas. Spinoza's explanations of essential elements of the Cartesian system helped many interested people study the system, enhancing his philosophical reputation. This work was published in 1663 and was one of the two works published in his lifetime under his name. Spinoza led a modest and frugal lifestyle, earning income by polishing lenses and crafting telescopes and microscopes. He also relied on

8300-465: The world in mental or physical terms. To this end, he says that "the mind and the body are one and the same thing, which is conceived now under the attribute of thought, now under the attribute of extension". After stating his proof for God's existence, Spinoza addresses who "God" is. Spinoza believed that God is "the sum of the natural and physical laws of the universe and certainly not an individual entity or creator". Spinoza attempts to prove that God

8400-482: Was Tractatus Politicus , which concerns how states can function well and intended to show that democratic states are best. Spinoza refused an offer to be the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg , perhaps because of the possibility that it might curb his freedom of thought . Few of Spinoza's letters are extant, and none before 1661. Nearly all the contents are philosophical and technical because

8500-660: Was a leading philosopher of the Dutch Golden Age . Spinoza was born in Amsterdam to a Marrano family that fled Portugal for the more tolerant Dutch Republic . He received a traditional Jewish education, learning Hebrew and studying sacred texts within the Portuguese Jewish community, where his father was a prominent merchant. As a young man, Spinoza challenged rabbinic authority and questioned Jewish doctrines, leading to his permanent expulsion from

8600-481: Was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenment , Spinoza significantly influenced modern biblical criticism , 17th-century rationalism , and Dutch intellectual culture, establishing himself as one of the most important and radical philosophers of the early modern period . Influenced by Stoicism , Thomas Hobbes , René Descartes , Ibn Tufayl , and heterodox Christians, Spinoza

8700-524: Was born in 1634, followed by another sister Rebecca. Miriam married Samuel de Caceres but died shortly after childbirth. According to Jewish practice, Samuel had to marry his former sister-in-law Rebecca. Following his brother's death, Spinoza's place as head of the family and its business meant scholarly ambitions were pushed aside. Spinoza's mother, Hannah Deborah, died when Spinoza was six years old. Michael's third wife, Esther, raised Spinoza from age nine; she lacked formal Jewish knowledge due to growing up

8800-520: Was elected to serve as an administrative officer of the recently united congregation Talmud Torah . He married his cousin Rachael d'Espinosa, daughter of his uncle Abraham d'Espinosa, who was also a community leader and Michael's business partner. Marrying cousins was common in the Portuguese Jewish community then, giving Michael access to his father-in-law's commercial network and capital. Rachel's children died in infancy, and she died in 1627. After

8900-410: Was expected to go into mourning and to refrain from bathing, cutting his hair, and wearing shoes, and he had to observe all the laws that pertained to a mourner. He could not be counted in the minyan . If he died, a stone was placed on his hearse, and the relatives were not obliged to observe traditional Jewish mourning ceremonies . It was in the power of the court to lessen or increase the severity of

9000-424: Was his 1663 geometric exposition of proofs using Euclid 's model with definitions and axioms of Descartes' Principles of Philosophy . Following Descartes, Spinoza aimed to understand truth through logical deductions from 'clear and distinct ideas', a process which always begins from the 'self-evident truths' of axioms . However, his actual project does not end there: from his first work to his last one, there runs

9100-543: Was in a unique position to introduce Spinoza to Cartesian philosophy, mathematics, and lens grinding. After learning Latin with Van Enden, Spinoza studied at Leiden University around 1658, where he audited classes in Cartesian philosophy. From 1656 to 1661, Spinoza's main discussion partners who formed his circle and played a formative part in Spinoza's life were Van den Enden, Pieter Balling , Jarig Jelles, Lodewijk Meyer , Johannes Bouwmeester and Adriaan Koerbagh . Spinoza's following, or philosophical sect, scrutinized

9200-441: Was praised by many, but was considered by some to be alarming and dangerously inimical. Spinoza's "God or Nature" ( Deus sive Natura ) provided a living, natural God, in contrast to Isaac Newton 's first cause argument and the dead mechanism of Julien Offray de La Mettrie 's (1709–1751) work, Man a Machine ( L'homme machine ) . Coleridge and Shelley saw in Spinoza's philosophy a religion of nature . Novalis called him

9300-413: Was saddled with debt by the war's end in 1654 due to its merchant voyages being intercepted by the English, leading to its decline. Spinoza's father died in 1654, making him the head of the family, responsible for organizing and leading the Jewish mourning rituals, and in a business partnership with his brother of their inherited firm. As Spinoza's father had poor health for some years before his death, he

9400-609: Was safer than Koerbagh's because it was written in Latin, a language not widely understood by the general public, and Spinoza explicitly forbade its translation. The secular authorities varied enforcing the Reformed Church in Amsterdam's orders to ban the distribution of the blasphemous book. In 1670, Spinoza moved to The Hague to have easier access to the city's intellectual life and to be closer to his friends and followers. As he became more famous, Spinoza spent time receiving visitors and responding to letters. He returned to

9500-584: Was severely punished. Unlike most censures issued by the Amsterdam congregation, it was never rescinded since the censure did not lead to repentance. After the censure, Spinoza may have written an Apologia in Spanish defending his views, but it is now lost. Spinoza's expulsion did not lead him to convert to Christianity or belong to a confessional religion or sect. From 1656 to 1661, Spinoza found lodgings elsewhere in Amsterdam and Leiden, supporting himself with teaching while learning lens grinding and constructing microscopes and telescopes. Spinoza did not maintain

9600-450: Was significantly involved in the business, putting his intellectual curiosity on hold. Until 1656, he continued financially supporting the synagogue and attending services in compliance with synagogue conventions and practice. By 1655, the family's wealth had evaporated and the business effectively ended. In March 1656, Spinoza went to the city authorities for protection against debts in the Portuguese Jewish community. To free himself from

9700-404: Was sudden, and he died without leaving a will. Reports circulated that he repented his philosophical stances on his deathbed, but these tales petered out in the 18th century. Lutheran preacher Johannes Colerus wrote the first biography of Spinoza for the original reason of researching his final days. By the time of his death, he had never married and had no children. Spinoza was buried inside

9800-532: Was the result of Enlightenment rationalism and it would finally end in absolute atheism. Moses Mendelssohn disagreed with Jacobi, saying that there is no actual difference between theism and pantheism. The issue became a major intellectual and religious concern for European civilization at the time. The attraction of Spinoza's philosophy to late 18th-century Europeans was that it provided an alternative to materialism, atheism, and deism. Three of Spinoza's ideas strongly appealed to them: By 1879, Spinoza's pantheism

9900-472: Was to avoid intellectual battles, clashes, and public controversies, viewing them as a waste of energy that served no real purpose. Between 1660 and 1661, Spinoza moved from Amsterdam to Rijnsburg , allowing for a quiet retreat in the country and access to the university town, Leiden, where he still had many friends. Around this time, he wrote his Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being , which he never published in his lifetime, thinking it would enrage

10000-512: Was usually imposed for a period of seven days (in Israel thirty days). If inflicted on account of money matters, the offender was first publicly warned ("hatra'ah") three times, on Monday, Thursday, and Monday successively, at the regular service in the synagogue. During the period of niddui, no one except the members of his immediate household was permitted to associate with the offender, or to sit within four cubits of him, or to eat in his company. He

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