Night School: Spinoza’s Artful Resignation

“Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many,” wrote Baruch Spinoza aka Benedict de Spinoza. This 17th century philosopher’s radical interpretation of the notion of God changed the very terms of the debate in the Western tradition. A len’s maker by profession, his embrace of science as a way to understand God, suggests the profound connection between philosophy and the world it inhabits.