Spinoza: A Life

Steven Nadler's biographical work does not only tell about Spinoza; It depicts Dutch history, Jews, European scientists who want to get to know each other with interest and excitement, religious and sectarian fights, violence and all kinds of intolerance.
Spinoza, as one of his contemporary commentators, Antonio Negri, wrote, is an "anomaly" of his age. Moreover, he lives in another anomaly like the 17th century Netherlands: the "freest" and therefore most tolerant land of Europe, shaken by religious wars and under the rule of despotic-mercantilist regimes... Spinoza is an anomaly for the third time: He is not that long, 23 years old, religious and is expelled from the synagogue school where he received commercial education, and furthermore, from the community and from life. It is an anathema, and it is terrible because no Jew will be able to have any contact with him, will not come closer than four meters to him on the street, will not attempt to read anything he writes. Now he is alone, he first approaches the groups that can taste the bourgeois chances that the Netherlands offers; and then to some intellectual circles influenced by Descartes' philosophy... He left Amsterdam, especially after a dagger attack by a Jewish fanatic. It is said that he carries his coat torn with a dagger, so that he can always remember "what intolerance is."
ULUS BAKER



Number of Pages: 520

Year of Printing: 2008


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Iletisim Publishing

Number of Pages: 520

First Printing Year: 2008

Language Turkish