Spinoza: A Life

as he was described by a German romantic a century later. An advocate of freethinking whilst loving one's neighbour as oneself, a dislike for organised religion coupled with a respect for civil authority and social cohesion, and the forerunner of liberalism and democracy. This book has great insights into his life and his thinking and deserves to be widely read.

This is a properly academic treatment of the life of Spinoza and all the better for it. The level of research is impressive, especially given the paucity of material on Spinoza's early life. That being said, I could have done without the long back-story of the development of Jewish life in Amsterdam. At times, the level of detail on this topic made me feel as though I was reading another book, one on wider cultural history. It probably needed one final edit, as well, to pick up occasional repetition and some infelicities in the writing. Those minor points aside, this is a book with many strengths. The author's interweaving of the details of Spinoza's life and views with the intellectual life of the Dutch Republic and wider Europe is rich and seamless. The coverage of his friendships, social networks and writing gives us a rounded picture to compliment a reading of Spinoza's works. This is an immensely valuable book for those interested in Spinoza's life and character. It is substantial, balanced and erudite.

A very fine biography still. But if you have the first edition you want to check to see if the changes are substantial enough to warrant replacement.

Excerpt from Chapter 1 - Paragraph 1: "On March 30, 1492, Spain committed one of those acts of great self-destructive folly to which superpowers are prone: it expelled its Jews." After watching an interview with the author last week on FFRF, I came here, read the line I just quoted, then bought the book. What an intellectual treat!!! My only question now is this: would "the enlightenment" still have occurred without Spain's expulsion (perhaps Spinoza's ancestors might not have survived "the numerous inquisitions") or would it have only been delayed?

起伏に富んだヒュームの人生などに比べると、スピノザの人生にはそれほど大きな起伏はなかったもののようで、比較的静かな人生だったように読みました。私的な面での記載はあまりなかったように思います。確かスピノザの私的な手紙はすべて死後破棄された（Condemnation対策？）というような話を聞いたことがあるので、私的な生活史の面で記載できる内容はあまりないのかもしれません。

This book is in two parts which are almost equal in length. The first half covers the migration of the Sephardic Jews from Portugal to Amsterdam, Spinoza’s family background, details about some of the leaders in the Jewish community, a bit about Spinoza’s neighbor Rembrandt, and life for young Bento (or Baruch) growing up and as a merchant after his father died. The cut-off point is Spinoza’s excommunication (“herem”) at age 23 from the Jewish community in July 1656, and the author’s analysis of why that happened. Nadler’s extensive and detailed research gives the reader a deep context by which to understand Spinoza’s early life. The second half, while also detailing Spinoza’s life after leaving the Jewish community, has much more about his philosophy. Nadler gives highly readable summaries of Spinoza’s two most important works, the Ethics and the Theological-Political Treatise. Though he worked on the Ethics before the Treatise, Spinoza published the Treatise first so that readers would have a better understanding of his metaphysical and moral analysis in the Ethics. But, with a few exceptions, the reading public did not care and did not want to understand (or detested) the Treatise. While the Dutch Republic has a reputation of being the most tolerant European country in the 1600’s, Nadler points out how in Spinoza’s lifetime religious absolutism was becoming (again) tied to the secular state and Spinoza, fearing for his safety, did not publish the Ethics during his lifetime. Nadler does a superb job of interweaving the changes in the government to Spinoza’s later life. The liberal leader, Johan De Witt, under whom the freedom to publish and discuss unorthodox ideas was acceptable, was taken by a mob, beaten to death, and his body hung by the feet and torn to bits. One of Spinoza’ closest friends who wrote in a similar vein as Spinoza was arrested and died in prison a year later. As Nadler shows, Spinoza was a fortunate man whose “atheism” was being condemned by official government bodies even as he lay dying of tuberculosis augmented by dust from his lens-grinding work. Nadler points out that Spinoza was not the loner often associated with his image. Nor was he always quiet and unassuming which is another part of the common image of the man. But what Nadler does show unmistakably is the genius and breadth of mind of this remarkable man in the 1600’s. With modifications today based on current science, Spinoza’s goal of understanding and incorporating into the mind as many causes in the universe as possible (including understanding causes of our own emotions) continues to be a goal worthy of any human being if we are to have a future together. His criticisms of narrow-minded religions and authoritarian governments are as relevant today as in 1670. And, unlike many thinkers and philosophers, Spinoza lived what he taught – toleration, open-mindedness, and constant attempts to expand his understanding. Nadler’s biography gives full justice to this extraordinary man.

A definitive biography and philosophy of this throughly modern philosopher.

For the first 117 pages of this biography you are emmeshed in the micro-history of a struggling and ultimately successful Sephardic community in Amsterdam-- Spinoza doesn't even get born until chapter 3 and doesn't really enter history until he is anathemized in chapter 6. The net effect of this focus on the Amsterdam synagogue is to root Spinoza in his Jewishness--they kicked him out and he renounced them but in this book he remains Bento and Baruch much more than Benedictus. (Nadler p.388 suggests Spinoza "may have even had a mind to be present" at the consecration of the community's new synagogue in 1675--a delightful but very unlikely speculation that tells us more about this book's strategy than about Spinoza). Bringing that community back to life is a real achievement and I for one found it a unique window into the birth struggles of capitalism and the modern liberal state (it sounds a lot like today). As far as laying out Spinoza's story, Nadler has a lifetime of study behind him and this is the standard biography in English. If the Sephardic rabbis in their disputes and foibles come across as more lively than Bento, that may be what happens when you cultivate equanimity (and also perhaps a result of most of Spinoza's personal correspondence being destroyed, to avoid incriminating others). Nadler lets you know in the preface that this is not an "intellectual" biography. Nevertheless he could have done more to tell the reader about the Ethics (p. 265ff). The Tractatus gets fuller coverage (but if religion is so bad, why do are Nadler's Amsterdam Sephardim so sympathetic?). I would have been curious to know more about Spinoza's opinions about Jesus, whom he apparently calls "Christ" in his writings (we get a paragraph p.337 and there is no Jesus or Christ in the Index). Supplementing this book with the recent Spinoza's Religion, by Claire Carlisle, may provide a more rounded view of what Leibnitz called Spinoza's "strange metaphysics." In the end it isn't the metaphysics that fascinates but the fact that this man in the mid 1600s sounds so 22d century. Like our celebrity atheists he reduces religion to morality (he sees the cultural and community aspects of religion as not only irrational, as they certainly are, but pernicious, which is more arguable). In a universe with no goal, run by a "philosophical" God who does not know your name (or apparently anything beyond physics equations), where everything you do is predetermined by rigid causality, Spinoza managed not only to be cheerful and positive but also found meaning in his work. In the special sense the word carries in his system, but also perhaps in the usual sense of the word, he was truly blessed.