Synopses & Reviews
Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677)often recognized as the first modern Jewish thinkerwas also a founder of modern liberal political philosophy. This book is the first to connect systematically these two aspects of Spinoza's legacy. Steven B. Smith shows that Spinoza was a politically engaged theorist who both advocated and embodied a new conception of the emancipated individual, a thinker who decisively influenced such diverse movements as the Enlightenment, liberalism, and political Zionism.
Focusing on Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise, Smith argues that Spinoza was the first thinker of note to make the civil status of Jews and Judaism (what later became known as the Jewish Question) an essential ingredient of modern political thought. Before Marx or Freud, Smith notes, Spinoza recast Judaism to include the liberal values of autonomy and emancipation from tradition. Smith examines the circumstances of Spinoza's excommunication from the Jewish community of Amsterdam, his skeptical assault on the authority of Scripture, his transformation of Mosaic prophecy into a progressive philosophy of history, his use of the language of natural right and the social contract to defend democratic political institutions, and his comprehensive comparison of the ancient Hebrew commonwealth and the modern commercial republic. According to Smith, Spinoza's Treatise represents a classic defense of religious toleration and intellectual freedom, showing them to be necessary foundations for political stability and liberal regimes. In this study Smith examines Spinoza's solution to the Jewish Question and asks whether a Judaism, so conceived, can long survive.
Synopsis
Steven Smith's lucid and compelling argument for writing Spinoza into the political theory canon is also a profound meditation on the Spinozan theme of religion and republican liberty.--Michael Walzer
An important book, elevating Spinoza to a deserved place beside Hobbes and Locke as one of the founders of modern political philosophy and showing the importance of 'the Jewish Question' for the whole meaning of modern liberalism.--Nathan Tarcov
A compelling book . . . a searching exposition of what was overthrown and what was built, what sacrificed and what gained, by the theological-political revolution Spinoza championed.--Peter Berkowitz, Wilson Quarterly
The book is clearly written and reveals a mastery of the writings of classical political theory. No other book covers this ground.--Choice
Baruch Spinoza (1632-77)--often recognized as the first modern Jewish thinker--was also a founder of modern liberal political philosophy. This prize-winning book is the first to connect systematically these two aspects of Spinoza's legacy. Smith shows that Spinoza was a politically engaged theorist who both advocated and embodied a new conception of the emancipated individual, a thinker who decisively influenced such diverse movements as the Enlightenment, liberalism, and political Zionism.
Winner of the 1997 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award given by the Phi Beta Kappa for scholarly studies of the intellectual and cultural condition of man.
Steven B. Smith is professor of political science and master of Branford College at Yale University.