Biography

Baruch de Spinoza was born into a Jewish family in Amsterdam in 1632. His parents had moved from Portugal to Amsterdam in order to escape the Catholic Church's persecution of Jews. In Amsterdam the family joined a large Jewish community which was tolerated – within some sharp limits – by the surrounding Christian populace. Spinoza's mother died when he was almost six. His father was a moderately successful merchant. Spinoza grew up speaking Portuguese, Dutch and Hebrew, and proved to be one of the ablest young scholars in the Jewish schools. His elders expected him to become a great rabbi.

They were disappointed. In his early twenties, Spinoza began voicing serious doubts over the traditional concept of God, the afterlife and the veracity of the Bible. He was eventually excommunicated by the Jewish community in 1656, which meant that he was no longer free to live among its members, transact business with them, or come into any contact with them. Spinoza later claimed that the expulsion did not trouble him, since he had seen that such a break was inevitable. Besides, by this time his father had died (along with a sister, a brother and his stepmother), and he had no interest in continuing with the family business. Spinoza moved from Amsterdam, began calling himself “Benedict”, and set up shop as a lens-grinder, pursuing at the same time his philosophical vision.

Spinoza soon found himself with a circle of philosophical friends and admirers who sought out his advice and his incisive intellect.