Ethics

Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher born of Portuguese-Jewish parents. An independent thinker, Spinoza declined offers of academic posts and pursued his individual philosophical inquiry, earning his living as a grinder of lenses.

He was a major figure in 17th Century Rationalism and is regarded as the most eminent expounder of Pantheism. He believed that God, the Universe and Nature are one and everything in the Universe is part of God. Ethics was his major work and was published posthumously in 1677.