The Enlightenment philosopher Baruch Spinoza almost died for his ideals one day in 1672. Spinoza, a Sephardic Jew born in Amsterdam in 1632, was a passionate and outspoken defender of freedom, tolerance and moderation. Only one of his books, about the French philosopher Descartes, could be published under his own name during his lifetime. This is perhaps why new books about him are coming out all the time, including Jonathan Israel’s 2023 magnum opus “Spinoza, Life and Legacy” and even a best-selling French novel, “Le Problème Spinoza,” by Irvin Yalom. And all that for a philosopher who was denounced by Christians and Jews as the devil’s disciple long after his own time.

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Persons: Baruch Spinoza, Spinoza, Johan de Witt, ”, rousers, hadn’t, Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, demagoguery, Jonathan Israel’s, “ Le Problème Spinoza, Irvin Yalom, George Eliot, unreservedly Locations: Amsterdam, Dutch Republic, British