Spinoza

 

 

In his most important book – Ethics – Spinoza tries to answer the question of how someone can live a happy life. The answer seems simple. To live a good life, we must think. According to Spinoza, we must therefore acquire knowledge, follow our reason, and not be carried away by emotions. This idea contradicts things like tradition and religion. Because this is very important in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, he receives a lot of criticism. In addition, according to Spinoza, God is not a supernatural being, but coincides with nature. Everything that happens has a natural explanation, says Spinoza. There are no miracles.