Benedict de Spinoza

Introduction
Early life and career
Excommunication
Association with Collegiants and Quakers
Rijnsburg and The Hague
Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
The period of the Ethics
Last years and posthumous influence

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Engraved portrait of Benedict de Spinoza by Friedrich Roth-Scholtz, showing Spinoza in formal 17th-century attire with a circular symbol in the upper left corner.

Portrait of Benedict de Spinoza, 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, with shoulder-length dark hair, white collar, and black robe, set against a dark background.

At a Glance

Benedict de Spinoza summary

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Agathon (centre) greeting guests in "Plato's Symposium" oil on canvas by Anselm Feuerbach, 1869; in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany.

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Related Questions

How are definitions, axioms, and propositions organized in Spinoza’s Ethics?
How did Amsterdam become a refuge for Spinoza’s Jewish community?
How did Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz respond to Spinoza’s ideas?
How did Spinoza argue for freedom of thought and speech?
How did Spinoza become associated with the Collegiants after leaving the Jewish community?
How did Spinoza connect God, nature, and everything that exists?
How did Spinoza explain physical objects and minds as modes of the same substance?
How did Spinoza remain connected to some Jewish people after his excommunication?
How did Spinoza support himself while living in Rijnsburg and The Hague?
How did Spinoza use the account of Moses’s death to question Mosaic authorship of Deuteronomy?
How did Spinoza’s ideal government relate to religious tolerance in Amsterdam?
How did later writers such as Novalis describe Spinoza’s religious outlook?
How was Ethics published after Spinoza’s death?
How were the leaders of Amsterdam’s Jewish community involved in carrying out an excommunication?
What beliefs did the Collegiants reject about formal religious creeds and ceremonies?
What did Spinoza mean by the attributes of thought and extension?
What ideas in Isaac La Peyrère’s Prae-Adamitae challenged traditional interpretations of the Bible?
When and where was Benedict de Spinoza born?
Which major thinkers visited or corresponded with Spinoza during his later years?
Which parts of Descartes’s philosophy did Spinoza reject?
Which work by René Descartes did Spinoza explain in his 1663 book?
Why did Baruch Spinoza change his given name to Benedictus?
Why did Spinoza argue that miracles cannot violate the laws of nature?
Why did Spinoza delay publishing Ethics after completing it in 1675?
Why was Spinoza excommunicated from Amsterdam’s Jewish community in 1656?
Why was Spinoza widely denounced as an atheist after his death?
Who was Democritus?
What is Democritus known for?
Who was Emanuel Swedenborg?
Why did Emanuel Swedenborg study theology?
What is the ‘brains in a vat’ thought experiment?
Where was Martin Heidegger educated?
What did Martin Heidegger write?
Why was Martin Heidegger significant?
What is Martin Heidegger’s legacy?
Who were Søren Kierkegaard’s parents?

Philosophy & Religion Philosophers

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External Websites

The National Endowment for the Humanities - Why Spinoza Was Excommunicated
Great Thinkers - Baruch Spinoza, 1632 - 1677
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Benedict de Spinoza: Religion
National Center for Biotechnology Information - Pubmed Central - Baruch Spinoza
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Baruch Spinoza
ABC News - The Jewish philosopher Spinoza was one of the great Enlightenment thinkers. So why was he 'cancelled'?
World History Encyclopedia - Baruch Spinoza

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Baruch Spinoza - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Benedict de Spinoza

Dutch-Jewish philosopher

Also known as: Baruch Spinoza, Bendictus Spinoza, Bento de Espinosa(Show More)

Written by

Richard H. Popkin

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. Adjunct Professor of History and Philosophy, University of California, Los Angeles. Author of History of Scepticism from...

Richard H. Popkin

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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Last updated

Oct. 9, 2026 •History

Benedict de Spinoza (born November 24, 1632, Amsterdam—died February 21, 1677, The Hague) was a Dutch Jewish philosopher, one of the foremost exponents of 17th-century Rationalism and one of the early and seminal figures of the Enlightenment. His masterwork is the treatise Ethics (1677). Spinoza’s Portuguese parents were among many Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism in secret (see Marranos). After being arrested, tortured, and condemned by the inquisition...

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