Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch Spinozawas a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin. By laying the groundwork for the 18th-century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth24 November 1632
mind wish lasts
In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.
men sides action
Men will find that they can ... avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides by united action.
beauty beautiful nature
I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.
silence peter
What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.
freedom determined action
Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
men essence desire
Desire is the essence of a man.
ignorance men thinking
Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.
mind weakness morality
He that can carp in the most eloquent or acute manner at the weakness of the human mind is held by his fellows as almost divine.
mind unions whole
The greatest good is the knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole nature.
common sin natural
Sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only in a civil state, where it is decreed by common consent what is good or bad.
thinking
God is a thing that thinks.
jesus men mind
The eternal wisdom of God ... has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.
thinking mind three
The things...are esteemed as the greatest good of all...can be reduced to these three headings: to wit, Riches, Fame, and Pleasure. With these three the mind is so engrossed that it cannot scarcely think of any other good.
God is not He who is, but That which is.