Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah by Ian Buruma review – a man of his time… and ours

[Nearly Sane]

Though the review, rightly I think, counsels against the approach of taking concepts from now and simplistically applying them retrospectively.




https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/09/spinoza-freedoms-messiah-by-ian-buruma-review-baruch-spinoza-a-man-of-his-time-and-ours

[SteveH]

Reginald Jeeves was an admirer of Spinoza. In the real world, I remember Bertrand Russell being full of praise for his attractive personality in his 'History of Western Philosophy'.
A 1907 review by Russell of a book about Spinoza's ethics: https://users.drew.edu/jlenz/br-review-of-spinoza1.html

[Nearly Sane]

There's a romanticism about Spinoza that others attribute that I've always struggled to see. It's not helped by his writing style which I've always wondered was in part because he was wary of the authorities reaction.