Baruch Spinoza - Collected Works of Baruch Spinoza

The Collected Works of

BARUCH SPINOZA

(1632-1677)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2019

Version 1

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The Collected Works of

BARUCH SPINOZA

By Delphi Classics, 2019

Collected Works of Baruch Spinoza

First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2019.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 972 2

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Synagogue on Mr. Visserplein square, Amsterdam Spinoza was born on 24 November 1632 in the Jodenbuurt in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Spinoza lived where the Moses and Aaron Church is located today; it is likely that he was born there.

The Portuguese Synagogue in Jodenbuurt, Amsterdam, c. 1760

Die Jodenbreestraat, c. 1884

Statue of Spinoza, near his house on the Paviljoensgracht in The Hague

Translated by A. Wolf

This early work was never published in Spinozas lifetime, as he assumed with good reason that it would be suppressed. He began work on the small treatise in 1662, which I have written on the question of the origin of things and a first cause, as he explained to a correspondent in the early months of that year. During this formative time of the philosophers development, Spinoza had outlined the shape of a new philosophy regarding God, the human mind and nature. Recently, he had moved from Amsterdam to Rijnsburg, a small village just outside of Leiden, and he was enjoying the solitude of his new home. Rijnsburg was known for its religious tolerance, being located close to the university, where Spinoza had met friends and similar-minded thinkers. Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being was written during this new phase of the authors life at the time a devoted student of Cartesian philosophy, yet eager to set out on his own path of philosophical thought.

The only work by Spinoza to be written in Dutch, the rest being composed in Latin, the treatise foreshadows the structure of Spinozas masterpiece, Ethics , opening with metaphysics and theology, before turning to epistemology and psychology, and culminating with ethics and religion. The treatise begins by proving Gods existence, before discussing the roles of the senses, reason and the passions in human conduct, finally concluding with a eulogy to the life devoted to the love of God, while achieving a comprehensive understanding of Nature.

Portrait of Baruch de Spinoza by an unknown artist, c. 1665

Spinozas house in Rijnsburg from 1661 to 1663, which operates today as a museum

Portrait of Ren Descartes by Frans Hals, c. 1648 Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist, whose work had a major influence on Spinozas thinking.

P REVIOUSLY WRITTEN IN the Latin tongue by B.D.S. for the use of his disciples who wanted to devote themselves to the study of Ethics and true Philosophy. And now translated into the Dutch language for the use of the Lovers of Truth and Virtue: so that they who spout so much about it, and put their dirt and filth into the hands of simpletons as though it were ambergris, may just have their mouths stopped, and cease to profane what they do not understand: God , themselves , and how to help people to have regard for each others well-being, and how to heal those whose mind is sick, in a spirit of tenderness and tolerance, after the example of the Lord Christ, our best Teacher