From the Publisher: Father of the Enlightenment and the last guardian of the medieval world, Spinoza made a brilliant attempt to reconcile the conflicting moral and intellectual demands of his epoch and to present a vision of man as simultaneously bound by necessity and eternally free. Ostracized by the Jewish community in Amsterdam to which he was born, Spinoza developed a political philosophy that set out to justify the secular state ruled by a liberal constitution, and a metaphysics that sought to reconcile human freedom with a belief in scientific explanation. Here, Roger Scruton presents a clear and systematic analysis of Spinoza's thought and shows its relevance to today's intellectual preoccupations.

Preface -- Abbreviations -- List of illustrations -- 1: Life and character -- 2: Background -- 3: God -- 4: Man -- 5: Freedom -- 6: Body politic -- 7: Spinoza's legacy -- Further reading -- Glossary -- Index.