Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) was a Dutch philosopher born in Amsterdam to a family of Portuguese-Jewish merchants. Raised in the city's Portuguese Jewish congregation, he challenged rabbinic authority and was expelled from it in 1656. He then lived quietly, earning a living by grinding lenses and publishing sparingly to avoid persecution.

His Tractatus Theologico-Politicus questioned the divine origin of the Hebrew Bible and defended freedom of thought, while his Ethics, identifying God with nature, appeared only after his death. He declined a chair at Heidelberg to guard his independence, and died at The Hague in 1677.