Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Scruton, Roger (former Lecturer in Philosophy, Birckbeck College, University of London)

Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900

Published on 30 May 2002 by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Very Short Introductions' series.

Paperback / softback | 144 pages, xiv halftones
173 x 113 x 9 | 132g

Benedict de Spinoza (1632-77) was at once the father of the Enlightenment and the last sad guardian of the medieval world. In his brilliant synthesis of geometrical method, religious sentiment, and secular science, he attempted to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch, and to present a vision of humanity as simultaneously bound by necessity and eternally free. In this book Roger Scruton presents a clear and systematic analysis of Spinoza's thought, and shows its relevance to today's intellectual preoccupations.

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