Wikipedia - #Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese-Jewish community of #Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. #Jewish religious authorities issued a #herem (חרם) against him, causing him to be effectively expelled and shunned by Jewish society at age 23, including by his own family.
In June 1678—just over a year after Spinoza's death—the States of #Holland #banned his entire works, since they "contain very many profane, blasphemous and atheistic propositions." The prohibition included the owning, reading, distribution, copying, and restating of Spinoza's books, and even the reworking of his fundamental ideas. Shortly after (1679/1690) his books were added to the #Catholic Church's Index of #ForbiddenBooks.
Spinoza's #philosophy encompasses nearly every area of philosophical discourse, including #metaphysics, #epistemology, political philosophy, #ethics, #PhilosophyOfMind, and #PhilosophyOfScience. It earned Spinoza an enduring reputation as one of the most important and original thinkers of the #SeventeenthCentury. Spinoza's philosophy is largely contained in two books: the Theologico-Political Treatise, and the Ethics.
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