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Baruch Spinoza

Type Figure Region Dutch Republic Time 1632–1677 Also known as Spinoza

Dutch Jewish philosopher, a key figure of modern rationalism and pantheism. Excommunicated by the Amsterdam Jewish community on suspicion of heresy, …

Timeline

  1. 1632–1656Amsterdam · North HollandBorn into a merchant family, educated at a Jewish school and a Latin school, where he encountered Cartesian philosophy and modern science, gradually drifting away from orthodox Jewish doctrine.
  2. 1656–1660Rijnsburg · South HollandExcommunicated by the Jewish community for publicly questioning the divinity of the Pentateuch; moved to Rijnsburg, made a living grinding lenses, and began systematically writing philosophical works such as the Ethics.
  3. 1661–1663Voordburg · South HollandMoved to Voordburg, continued grinding lenses and philosophical writing, completed the Latin Compendium of the Principles of Cartesian Philosophy, and deepened his thinking on biblical criticism and the separation of church and state.
  4. 1663–1670The Hague · South HollandSettled in The Hague, completed the main parts of the Ethics around 1665; in 1670 anonymously published the Theological-Political Treatise, advocating freedom of thought and state sovereignty, which sparked enormous controversy.
  5. 1671–1677The Hague · South HollandDeclined an invitation to a professorship at Heidelberg University to preserve his freedom of thought; met Leibniz in 1676; after his death, friends published his posthumous work Ethics, establishing the place of his philosophical system.

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