He was widely condemned in his own lifetime as an atheist, a label that continued to adhere to him long after his death. In other circles he became known as the “God infatuated man”. Many looked upon him as a perverse individual, a corrupter of social morals. Others viewed him as the very model of the saintly philosopher. He was the mutual enemy of Church and Synagogue. He was the hero of those seeking to free themselves from the shackles of the clerical establishment and from adherence to religious “orthodoxy”. If from among the philosophers studied here, Maimonides is the one whose philosophy gave rise to the most conflicting interpretations, the 17th century Dutch Jewish philosopher, Spinoza (1632–1677), is the one whose philosophy elicited the most conflicting sentiments. It is easy to understand why he was so maligned at a time when the vast majority of the population still remained deeply committed to a religious creed. It is also easy to understand why he was viewed with growing admiration as the Western world became increasingly secular and liberal in its outlook.1
Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 208 citations exist upstream.
Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.