Baruch Spinoza was a 19th century Dutch philosopher. He is regarded as one of the most important philosophers in history for having laid the foundations of what came to be known as 18th century enlightenment. Spinoza was also responsible for introducing biblical criticism. Spinoza went through a traditional Jewish education and studied under the tutelage of Saul Levi Morteira, a Rabbi. He worked in his father’s business for a while but later started working as a teacher and that is when he started off his journey as a philosopher. Spinoza is best known for his work on ethics, Hebrew grammar, epistemology and metaphysics. Some of his most notable ideas include those on political society, Pantheism, neutral monism, affect, par-allelism, separation of church and state and lastly, intellectual and religious freedom among others. His school of thought is broadly classified under Spinozism and rationalism, the latter being the bedrock of some of the most important theories in western philosophy. Some of his better known works include ‘A Short Treatise on God’, ‘Man and His Well Being’, ‘The Principles of Cartesian Philosophy’ and his most famous work ‘The Ethics’ among others. His thoughts and observations on various subjects became popular over a period of time. Here are some of the best known sayings and quotes by Baruch Spinoza.
I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.
Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.
Baruch Spinoza
The mind of God is all the mentality that is scattered over space and time, the diffused consciousness that animates the world.
