By all accounts Spinoza was a kind, gentle, and considerate man of principle. He refused a university post because he did not wish to compromise his ideals, and he would not take money for his genius, preferring to earn his living as a humble lens grinder. Unlike many of the great thinkers, Spinoza tried to live according to his philosophy.
As a result he was hated by almost everyone. However, he survived expulsion from his religion, rejection by his family, and an attempt on his life to say:
"There cannot be
too much joy"
Spinoza was a Dutch Jew of Spanish descent, whose parents had come to Amsterdam to escape persecution from the Catholic Church. As a youth, he studied the Jewish philosophers, but the most abiding influence on his thinking was Descartes.
Like Descartes, Spinoza believed that reason is how people make sense of the world. But whereas Descartes had said that the world is made up of two things - mind and matter, Spinoza said that there is only one substance - God.
God and the universe and everything in it are all one and the same. To make matters worse, Spinoza said that people have no special place in the cosmos. The Jews were especially indignant about this. Their faith taught them that they were God's chosen people. Spinoza was hauled in front of the synagogue elders and thrown out of the flock. His belief so outraged the Jewish community that an attempt was made on his life. He kept the knife-slashed cloak as a memento.
Spinoza stayed true to his principles all his life and, although he made enemies, many people admired his integrity. At age 45, he died of consumption, made worse by glass dust from lens grinding.
"God, the cosmos, and everything, are all one substance"
Like Descartes, he used geometric formulas to try to find out the truth about the universe.
Spinoza was an expert in optics. He made a meagre living grinding lenses.
He was attacked by a knife-wielding assassin on the synagogue steps.
