Rationalist philosopher dude who lived a long time ago.
He basically said that substance is god, or nature, and that every existing thing is one. That kinda made Christian Europe mad and they actually started using the word "Spinozist" as almost a swear word for "atheist".
Then there was this huge intellectual controversy when Jacobi and Mendelssohn were both writing a book about Lessing, who had just died, and they started exchanging letters about it and things got kinda heated when Jacobi took things a little too seriously and competed to have his book printed first. Mendelssohn didn't get as aggresive as Jacobi, but the poor dude ended up dead when he caught a cold trying to send in his manuscript.
Anyway, the reason why this caused so much controversy was because Jacobi claimed that Lessing admitted to being a spinozist and Mendelssohn was friends with Lessing so everyone was like omg no way cause Mendelssohn was a leader of the Berlin Enlightenment and the starter of modern Judaism and being called an atheist or pantheist wasn't exactly a good thing back then.
Long story short, Jacobi's book got printed, in which he actually criticized Spinoza saying that yeah, Spinoza may be right in his ideas but reason leads to atheism and denial of free will so we should have faith. Or something like that. Bu interestingly enough, this criticism restarted an interest in Spinoza. And here we are today, still talking about the dude.
He basically said that substance is god, or nature, and that every existing thing is one. That kinda made Christian Europe mad and they actually started using the word "Spinozist" as almost a swear word for "atheist".
Then there was this huge intellectual controversy when Jacobi and Mendelssohn were both writing a book about Lessing, who had just died, and they started exchanging letters about it and things got kinda heated when Jacobi took things a little too seriously and competed to have his book printed first. Mendelssohn didn't get as aggresive as Jacobi, but the poor dude ended up dead when he caught a cold trying to send in his manuscript.
Anyway, the reason why this caused so much controversy was because Jacobi claimed that Lessing admitted to being a spinozist and Mendelssohn was friends with Lessing so everyone was like omg no way cause Mendelssohn was a leader of the Berlin Enlightenment and the starter of modern Judaism and being called an atheist or pantheist wasn't exactly a good thing back then.
Long story short, Jacobi's book got printed, in which he actually criticized Spinoza saying that yeah, Spinoza may be right in his ideas but reason leads to atheism and denial of free will so we should have faith. Or something like that. Bu interestingly enough, this criticism restarted an interest in Spinoza. And here we are today, still talking about the dude.
"What's up?"
"Oh not much. Just writing a paper on Jacobi and Spinoza for my philosophy class."
"Wait, why are you even taking philosophy?"
"So I can show off my mad knowledge on random websites."
"Oh not much. Just writing a paper on Jacobi and Spinoza for my philosophy class."
"Wait, why are you even taking philosophy?"
"So I can show off my mad knowledge on random websites."
by g f b February 27, 2008
Get the spinoza mug.Don't mean to be a stickler but a majority of definitions for this man appear to be gravely erroneous. He was a rationalist of Portuguese Jewish descent with a nascent philosophical background in the same vein as Descartes, Democritus and Epicurus. Stoicism if you will.
He was issued a Cherem and ostracized from the Jewish community in the Netherlands for his Theologico-Political Treatise which suggested that sacred works such as the bible be examined critically and rationally as opposed to arbitrarily treating such works as infallible works of a supreme being with a specific purpose for humans. Spent the rest of his life working as a lens grinder. What better way for the man who supposedly moved Einstein to bad poetry to live? Building tools to help us see the world better, and trying to understand the world? Wow. He dies in his mid-forties. His philosophy revolves around a deterministic monism.
Simply put, Spinoza advanced the proposition that there is only one eternal substance, nothing exists outside of it and this substance is God and everything including our thoughts are all in God. Deus sive Natura.
Last point of note: He spent a great deal of time in his work ethics, which was presented in geometric order, refuting the idea of an anthropomorphic deity. By the standards of the Abrahamic religions and probably all religions, this view would be atheistic, so be careful.
He was issued a Cherem and ostracized from the Jewish community in the Netherlands for his Theologico-Political Treatise which suggested that sacred works such as the bible be examined critically and rationally as opposed to arbitrarily treating such works as infallible works of a supreme being with a specific purpose for humans. Spent the rest of his life working as a lens grinder. What better way for the man who supposedly moved Einstein to bad poetry to live? Building tools to help us see the world better, and trying to understand the world? Wow. He dies in his mid-forties. His philosophy revolves around a deterministic monism.
Simply put, Spinoza advanced the proposition that there is only one eternal substance, nothing exists outside of it and this substance is God and everything including our thoughts are all in God. Deus sive Natura.
Last point of note: He spent a great deal of time in his work ethics, which was presented in geometric order, refuting the idea of an anthropomorphic deity. By the standards of the Abrahamic religions and probably all religions, this view would be atheistic, so be careful.
Fun Facts: Spinoza posited that a life devoted trying to understand the universe and everything in it and ignoring ephemeral goods like paris hilton and the new iphone was the true path to immortaility. He called this filling the mind, which is a mode of the attribute of thought (God has infinite attributes) with adequate ideas.
His ideas were considered heretical so he was extremely careful. People were being slaughtered for much less in his time and still are. "Sub Rosa" was an emblem on a ring he allegedly wore.
Last factoid: He solved Descartes notorious mind/body problem by positing that mind and body were two modes of expression of the same substance, God, under two distinct attributes: Thought and Extension.
His ideas were considered heretical so he was extremely careful. People were being slaughtered for much less in his time and still are. "Sub Rosa" was an emblem on a ring he allegedly wore.
Last factoid: He solved Descartes notorious mind/body problem by positing that mind and body were two modes of expression of the same substance, God, under two distinct attributes: Thought and Extension.
by The Bench Stability Tester August 16, 2010
Get the Spinoza mug.Related Words
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• Lord Spinoza
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The sexiest philosopher to have ever lived. That fact was confirmed by the Romanian Sex God. His work is not meant for light reading, but is possibly good while drunk.
by MethanBetney September 23, 2004
Get the Spinoza mug.As Spinoza puts it: the belief in our liberty is only the flaw of the knowledge we have of our limitations and determinations.
by Ysengrim January 1, 2004
Get the Spinoza mug.A dude who likes to lay in the bushes and paint his balls on easter in hopes that someone will mistake em.
Wow, look at the person in the van driving around schools, better watch out, he might be a Lord Spinoza.
by what now11 September 29, 2011
Get the Lord Spinoza mug.A theropod that lived in Africa and Morocco 112.03 million years ago to 72. 1 million years ago in the Creatatious period. At first it was thought to be a full land dweller and with a build similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex (Tyrant Lizard King) with a spine, but studies later found that Spinosaurus had a more crocodile like snout and most likely lived and hunted near water. But the same "closer to a T-Rex and mainly lived on land" idea was kept. As more more information was gathered, a new image of the Spinosaurus was made. The Spinosaurus was changed phenomenally from the first idea. Now it is thought to be pretty much a full water dweller only occasionally going out on land. Its arms were long with sharp, hook-like claws to snag fish. And it did not walk almost upright (the first idea of how the T-Rex walked, now proved wrong) it probably walked mostly on all fours (of course it would mostly swim). Its tail was also not thin and lizard-like. Instead it's tail was more like a paddle to help it swim, like a crocodile. It also hunted mainly fish, leaving less encounters with the Carcharodontasaurus, the other large predatory dinosaur that shared Spinosaurus's habitat. Though Carcharadontasaurus looked closer to a T-Rex. The end of Spinosaurus was caused by the earth warming up, the lakes and rivers that the Spinosaurus lived in dried up leaving no place for it to live and hunt.
I think Spinosaurus is the coolest dinosaur!
Yha, it is pretty cool, it acctually my second favorite dino
What is your first?
NANUQSAURUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yha, it is pretty cool, it acctually my second favorite dino
What is your first?
NANUQSAURUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by MOSASAURUS IS NOT A DINOSAUR December 17, 2020
Get the Spinosaurus mug.A cute, sexy and saucy boy. Is a great person but has a questionable taste in girls but nonetheless is an allround catch.
by calthedragon123 January 25, 2023
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