$33.97 with 32 percent savings
List Price: $49.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 10 hrs 22 mins
In Stock
$$33.97 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$33.97
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Steven Nadler
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Spinoza: A Life 2nd Edition

by Steven Nadler (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 106 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$33.97","priceAmount":33.97,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"33","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"97","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"b%2BGC8bnrNAuPZ2ylMwCY5kA9dheC9b5n2bvf7heFM%2F%2FM6E590IuaAA934E0DmG1ncvicsDEBKERyQMhEai3Tn8KmqMXqIIokR4oBImwin56naXUpXnykTP9vzK47Xxqsps%2FAdTe501RUEEfZSheUlw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also one of the most radical and controversial. The story of Spinoza's life takes the reader into the heart of Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century and, with Spinoza's exile from Judaism, into the midst of the tumultuous political, social, intellectual, and religious world of the young Dutch Republic. This new edition of Steven Nadler's biography, winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award for biography and translated into a dozen languages, is enhanced by exciting new archival discoveries about his family background, his youth, and the various philosophical, political, and religious contexts of his life and works. There is more detail about his family's business and communal activities, about his relationships with friends and correspondents, and about the development of his writings, which were so scandalous to his contemporaries.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. ISBN-10
    1108425542
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1108425544
  3. Edition
    2nd
  4. Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
  5. Publication date
    September 27, 2018
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  8. Print length
    420 pages
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

Spinoza: A Life
$33.97
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Collected Works of Spinoza, Volume II
$44.68
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Collected Works of Spinoza, Volume I
$58.00
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

A fully updated new edition of the prize-winning and now standard biography of the great seventeenth-century philosopher Spinoza.

About the Author

Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay, II, Professor of Philosophy, Evjue-Bascom Professor in Humanities and Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, winner of the 2000 Koret Jewish Book Award for biography with Spinoza: A Life (Cambridge, 1999) and a Pulitzer Prize finalist with Rembrandt's Jews (2004). His books have been translated into over twenty languages.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (September 27, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 420 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1108425542
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1108425544
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.92 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 106 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Steven Nadler

Steven Nadler

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
106 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Phaustin
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2024
Verified Purchase
A definitive biography and philosophy of this throughly modern philosopher.
Helpful
 Report
Daniel Putman
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding biography of a brilliant and good man
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is in two parts which are almost equal in length. The first half covers the migration of the Sephardic Jews from Portugal to Amsterdam, Spinoza’s family background, details about some of the leaders in the Jewish community, a bit about Spinoza’s neighbor Rembrandt, and life for young Bento (or Baruch) growing up and as a merchant after his father died. The cut-off point is Spinoza’s excommunication (“herem”) at age 23 from the Jewish community in July 1656, and the author’s analysis of why that happened. Nadler’s extensive and detailed research gives the reader a deep context by which to understand Spinoza’s early life.

The second half, while also detailing Spinoza’s life after leaving the Jewish community, has much more about his philosophy. Nadler gives highly readable summaries of Spinoza’s two most important works, the Ethics and the Theological-Political Treatise. Though he worked on the Ethics before the Treatise, Spinoza published the Treatise first so that readers would have a better understanding of his metaphysical and moral analysis in the Ethics. But, with a few exceptions, the reading public did not care and did not want to understand (or detested) the Treatise. While the Dutch Republic has a reputation of being the most tolerant European country in the 1600’s, Nadler points out how in Spinoza’s lifetime religious absolutism was becoming (again) tied to the secular state and Spinoza, fearing for his safety, did not publish the Ethics during his lifetime. Nadler does a superb job of interweaving the changes in the government to Spinoza’s later life. The liberal leader, Johan De Witt, under whom the freedom to publish and discuss unorthodox ideas was acceptable, was taken by a mob, beaten to death, and his body hung by the feet and torn to bits. One of Spinoza’ closest friends who wrote in a similar vein as Spinoza was arrested and died in prison a year later. As Nadler shows, Spinoza was a fortunate man whose “atheism” was being condemned by official government bodies even as he lay dying of tuberculosis augmented by dust from his lens-grinding work.

Nadler points out that Spinoza was not the loner often associated with his image. Nor was he always quiet and unassuming which is another part of the common image of the man. But what Nadler does show unmistakably is the genius and breadth of mind of this remarkable man in the 1600’s. With modifications today based on current science, Spinoza’s goal of understanding and incorporating into the mind as many causes in the universe as possible (including understanding causes of our own emotions) continues to be a goal worthy of any human being if we are to have a future together. His criticisms of narrow-minded religions and authoritarian governments are as relevant today as in 1670. And, unlike many thinkers and philosophers, Spinoza lived what he taught – toleration, open-mindedness, and constant attempts to expand his understanding. Nadler’s biography gives full justice to this extraordinary man.
14 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
GM
4.0 out of 5 stars A double biography, of Spinoza and of the Sephardic community he was born into
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
For the first 117 pages of this biography you are emmeshed in the micro-history of a struggling and ultimately successful Sephardic community in Amsterdam-- Spinoza doesn't even get born until chapter 3 and doesn't really enter history until he is anathemized in chapter 6. The net effect of this focus on the Amsterdam synagogue is to root Spinoza in his Jewishness--they kicked him out and he renounced them but in this book he remains Bento and Baruch much more than Benedictus. (Nadler p.388 suggests Spinoza "may have even had a mind to be present" at the consecration of the community's new synagogue in 1675--a delightful but very unlikely speculation that tells us more about this book's strategy than about Spinoza).
Bringing that community back to life is a real achievement and I for one found it a unique window into the birth struggles of capitalism and the modern liberal state (it sounds a lot like today). As far as laying out Spinoza's story, Nadler has a lifetime of study behind him and this is the standard biography in English. If the Sephardic rabbis in their disputes and foibles come across as more lively than Bento, that may be what happens when you cultivate equanimity (and also perhaps a result of most of Spinoza's personal correspondence being destroyed, to avoid incriminating others).
Nadler lets you know in the preface that this is not an "intellectual" biography. Nevertheless he could have done more to tell the reader about the Ethics (p. 265ff). The Tractatus gets fuller coverage (but if religion is so bad, why do are Nadler's Amsterdam Sephardim so sympathetic?). I would have been curious to know more about Spinoza's opinions about Jesus, whom he apparently calls "Christ" in his writings (we get a paragraph p.337 and there is no Jesus or Christ in the Index). Supplementing this book with the recent Spinoza's Religion, by Claire Carlisle, may provide a more rounded view of what Leibnitz called Spinoza's "strange metaphysics."
In the end it isn't the metaphysics that fascinates but the fact that this man in the mid 1600s sounds so 22d century. Like our celebrity atheists he reduces religion to morality (he sees the cultural and community aspects of religion as not only irrational, as they certainly are, but pernicious, which is more arguable). In a universe with no goal, run by a "philosophical" God who does not know your name (or apparently anything beyond physics equations), where everything you do is predetermined by rigid causality, Spinoza managed not only to be cheerful and positive but also found meaning in his work. In the special sense the word carries in his system, but also perhaps in the usual sense of the word, he was truly blessed.
8 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of good info
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2022
Verified Purchase
Used this book for a paper on Spinoza. Super knowledgeable and interesting. Plus gave me all the background info I needed to write.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Neil S. Rieck
5.0 out of 5 stars What an intellectual treat!!!
Reviewed in Canada on March 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
Excerpt from Chapter 1 - Paragraph 1: "On March 30, 1492, Spain committed one of those acts of great self-destructive folly to which superpowers are prone: it expelled its Jews." After watching an interview with the author last week on FFRF, I came here, read the line I just quoted, then bought the book. What an intellectual treat!!! My only question now is this: would "the enlightenment" still have occurred without Spain's expulsion (perhaps Spinoza's ancestors might not have survived "the numerous inquisitions") or would it have only been delayed?
Report
YaYaReviews
5.0 out of 5 stars a God intoxicated man
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 4, 2024
Verified Purchase
as he was described by a German romantic a century later. An advocate of freethinking whilst loving one's neighbour as oneself, a dislike for organised religion coupled with a respect for civil authority and social cohesion, and the forerunner of liberalism and democracy. This book has great insights into his life and his thinking and deserves to be widely read.
Report
鳥頭
4.0 out of 5 stars SpinozaのBiography
Reviewed in Japan on April 24, 2022
Verified Purchase
起伏に富んだヒュームの人生などに比べると、スピノザの人生にはそれほど大きな起伏はなかったもののようで、比較的静かな人生だったように読みました。私的な面での記載はあまりなかったように思います。確かスピノザの私的な手紙はすべて死後破棄された（Condemnation対策？）というような話を聞いたことがあるので、私的な生活史の面で記載できる内容はあまりないのかもしれません。
Report
J. Goddard
4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is a properly academic treatment of the life of Spinoza and all the better for it. The level of research is impressive, especially given the paucity of material on Spinoza's early life. That being said, I could have done without the long back-story of the development of Jewish life in Amsterdam. At times, the level of detail on this topic made me feel as though I was reading another book, one on wider cultural history. It probably needed one final edit, as well, to pick up occasional repetition and some infelicities in the writing. Those minor points aside, this is a book with many strengths. The author's interweaving of the details of Spinoza's life and views with the intellectual life of the Dutch Republic and wider Europe is rich and seamless. The coverage of his friendships, social networks and writing gives us a rounded picture to compliment a reading of Spinoza's works. This is an immensely valuable book for those interested in Spinoza's life and character. It is substantial, balanced and erudite.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Alok
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Loved the book
Reviewed in India on May 21, 2019
Verified Purchase
Absolutely Loved the book
Report