斯宾诺莎(1632～1677年)

Spinoza, Benedict de

希伯来语作Baruch Spinoza

荷兰犹太人哲学家，17世纪理性主义的主要代表人物。出生於阿姆斯特丹，其父母为逃避葡萄牙的天主教迫害而来到这儿。早期对新科学和哲学思想的兴趣使他在1656年被逐出犹太教，其後靠磨镜片和抛光工作来谋生。他的哲学代表了对笛卡儿哲学的发展和否定，其大多数震撼性的学说中很多都是对笛卡儿哲学难题的解决。他在笛卡儿形上学中发现了三个不足之处：上帝的超然存在、心灵和身体二元论、归属於上帝和人类的自由意志。斯宾诺莎认为那些学说使世界变得难於理解，因为这不可能解释上帝和世界、心灵和身体的关系以及说明由自由意志引起的事件。在他的巨着《伦理学》（1677）中，他试着用极易理解和充分确定的方式来建构能解决这些问题的形上学一元论体系。他拒绝了在海德堡大学的哲学教授职位，以追求自身独立。其他主要着作有《神学政治论》（1670）和未完成的《政治论》。

English version：

1632～1677年

Spinoza, Benedict de

Dutch Jewish philosopher, a major exponent of 17th-century rationalism. He was born in Amsterdam to parents who had fled Catholic persecution in Portugal. His early interest in new scientific and philosophical ideas led to his expulsion from the synagogue in 1656, and he thereafter made his living as a lens grinder and polisher. His philosophy represents a development of and reaction to that of Rene Descartes, and many of his most striking doctrines are solutions of Cartesian difficulties. He found three unsatisfactory features in the Cartesian metaphysics: the transcendence of God, mind-body dualism, and the ascription of free will both to God and to human beings. To Spinoza, those doctrines made the world unintelligible, since it was impossible to explain the relation between God and the world or between mind and body or to account for events occasioned by free will. In his masterpiece, Ethics (1677), he tried to construct a monistic system of metaphysics that would solve these problems in a fully intelligible and certain manner. Offered the chair of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, he declined it, seeking to preserve his independence. His other major works are the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) and the unfinished Tractatus Politicus.