Spinoza
By Carol Brown
@blitzfrick (2890)
United States
November 12, 2015 11:26pm CST
Nov 12, 2015
I'm listening to Philosophy Talk on Oregon public broadcasting. The subject is Spinoza. I've heard of Spinoza but knew nothing about him. I didn't know: That he was Jewish. A pantheist. And tossed out of Israel in his early 20s, permanent cherem, something like being excommunicated but far more severe. And that he hasn't been reinstated, not even postmortem, not that he would want that anyway. They are calling him the renegade Jew who gave us modernity. What do you think?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Spinoza" redirects here. For other uses, see Spinoza (disambiguation). Baruch Spinoza Born (1632-11-24)24 November 1632 Amsterdam, Dutch Republic Died 21 February 1677(1677-02-21) (aged 44)
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3 responses
@blitzfrick (2890)
• United States
13 Nov 15
One of the GOP candidates during the most recent debate said something like We need more welders and less philosophers. The program I was listening to was a discussion about God so I kind of tuned it out after the intro. Here's a link:
I usually pay closer attention to this show, and I really wanted to know more about Spinoza, but my attention wandered. The last thing I remember them talking about was a string theory analogy. Good thing there's no test later, lol.
Skip to main content Search form Search Show Spinoza Week of: November 8, 2015Tags: EnlightenmntEthicsJudaismGodRationalism Video of nrlYmRlRiW8 What is it: Baruch Spinoza was a 17th century Dutch philosopher who laid the foundations for the Enlightenment.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
13 Nov 15
@blitzfrick Oh, now I'm glad I admitted my ignorance and gave you a chance to admit you weren't really listening either.
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@blitzfrick (2890)
• United States
14 Nov 15
@boiboing The drier the subject, the more my mind wants to wander. This show about Spinoza piqued my interest but then ...something else caught my attention (a bright shiny object maybe?).
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
13 Nov 15
He wasn't expelled from Israel, as that didn't exist until 1947, but from the Jewish community in Amsterdam as his writings amounted to atheism. The hostility he faced never drove him to turn to the Christian faith.
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@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
14 Nov 15
@blitzfrick the Jewish people were scattered from the original nation of Israel by Babylonian invaders though they still saw it as their spiritual homeland until the post-war settlement made it so - they have always seen themselves as children of Israel
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@blitzfrick (2890)
• United States
14 Nov 15
Here's the quote from the cherem: "...the Lord will separate him to his injury from all the tribes of Israel with all the curses of the covenant, which are written in the Book of the Law."
I think Israel here doesn't refer to the modern-day political entity but to the broader sense/meaning of Israel.
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@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
13 Nov 15
The prince' of philosophers is new to me. Philosophy was not a subject I even looked at while getting an education. The fights between religions today I find fascinating.Especially when you remember that God, didn't write the Bible, humans did. He sounds like an interesting story but I'm afraid my mind would have drifted away too.
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@blitzfrick (2890)
• United States
14 Nov 15
I didn't study philosophy in college either, too mind-boggling. I do listen to Philosophy Talk now and then, but this one got so convoluted I sort of tuned out, even though Spinoza was important in changing the way people thought. It all seems to me like arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But in his day, his arguments were considered radical.
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