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Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also one of the most radical and controversial. The story of Spinoza's life takes the reader into the heart of Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with Spinoza's exile from Judaism, into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual, and religious world of the young Dutch Republic. This new edition of Steven Nadler's biography, winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award for biography and translated into a dozen languages, is enhanced by exciting new archival discoveries about his family background, his youth, and the various philosophical, political, and religious contexts of his life and works. There is more detail about his family's business and communal activities, about his relationships with friends and correspondents, and about the development of his writings, which were so scandalous to his contemporaries.… (more)
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With Spinoza, the history of philosophy begins anew. Nadler illuminates this history with a two-hundred year run-up starting with the Spinoza family in Portugal. With Index, Bibliography, and intelligent commentary in Notes on sources.
The quote from the book which captured me was the first sentence: "On March 30, 1492, Spain committed one of those acts of great self-destructive folly to which superpowers are prone: it expelled its Jews." The lessons of the Dutch Republic, the Jewish diaspora, and the rebirth of philosophy surrounding Spinoza, remain relevant today, where so much is explained by ignorance.