One of the most original and penetrating philosophers of all time, Spinoza is also one of the clearest and easiest to understand if read as a whole. The unabridged reprint of the famous Bohn edition contains all of his most important works and a generous selection of letters to contemporary philosophers and scientists. It is nearly indispensable for an exact understanding of the ideas of such men as Goethe, Hegel, Schelling, Coleridge, Whitehad, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, and many others. It retains to the present day an endless wealth of careful and profound analyses of such concepts as God, the universe, pantheism, the role of society, revealed religion, the state, democracy, the mind, the emotions, freedom, and the nature of man.
In A Theologico-Political Treatise, Spinoza presents an eloquent plea for religious liberty, demonstrating that true religion consists of the practice of simple piety, independent of philosophical speculation. Anticipating the methods of modern rationalists, he examines the Bible at length to show that freedom of thought and speech are consistent with the religious life. In the unfinished Political Treatise, Spinoza develops a theory of government founded on common consent.
Translated from the Latin With an Introduction by R.H.M. Elwes
With a Bibliographical Note by Francesco Cordasco
About the Author
Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam at age twenty-four, and he never joined another religious group but kept a respectful distance, attending religious services of various persuasions. He was born in Amsterdam to a Portuguese Jewish family who had fled to the Netherlands, escaping the persecutions of the Catholic Inquisition which, in 1497, had forced all the Jews of Portugal to convert to Christianity. He is best known as the author of Theologico-Political Treatise and Ethics.
