Description
Scruton presents here a clear analysis of the ideas of Benedict de Spinoza (1632-66), considered the father of the Enlightenment, who developed a political philosophy designed to justify the governing of the secular state by a liberal constitution, and a metaphysics that sought to reconcile human freedom with a belief in scientific explanation. Scuton also demonstrates how Spinoza's thought remains relevant to today's intellectual preoccupations.
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Father of the Enlightenment and the last guardian of the medieval world, Spinoza made a brilliant attempt to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch and to present a vision of man as simultaneously bound by necessity and eternally free. Ostracized by the Jewish community in Amsterddam to which he was born, Spinoza developed a political philosophy that set out to justify the secular state ruled by a liberal constitution, and a metaphysics that sought to reconcile human freedom with a belief in scientific explanation. Here, 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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