Who Was Spinoza and Why Should We Care?

Steven Nadler / University of Wisconsin, Madison

Bento (Baruch) de Spinoza was the most original and radical thinker of his time. His “scandalous” works were widely condemned by civil, academic and ecclesiastic authorities. One overwrought contemporary critic proclaimed that Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise was “a book forged in hell by the devil himself.”  His writings are no easy read. And yet, he remains today perhaps the most relevant thinker from the history of philosophy.