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Baruch Spinoza (November 24, 1632 - February 21, 1677) was a Jewish-Dutch philosopher. He worked as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, and gave his family inheritance to his sister. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. The Jewish religious authorities issued a cherem against him, excluding him from Jewish society at age 23. His books were put on the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books. By laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy. His magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes's mind-body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophy's most important contributors. His most notable contributions to philosophy include: Pantheism, Determinism, neutral monism, intellectual and religious freedom and separation of church and state. He died in 1677 at the age of 44 allegedly of a lung illness, perhaps tuberculosis or silicosis exacerbated by fine glass dust inhaled while grinding optical lenses.
