Excerpt from Ethic: Demonstrated in Geometrical Order, and Divided Into Five Parts, Which Treat (1) Of God; (2) Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind; (3) Of the Nature and Origin of the Affects; (4) Of Human Bondage, or of the Strength of the Affects; (5) Of the Power of The
It is perhaps impossible to understand any philosophy without a knowledge of the life and personality of which it is the expression. Of Spinozism this is especially the case, for, whether we view it from the standpoint of the thought or that of the thinker of the thought, the two fuse into one organic and consistent...

The present collection of writings includes all the most critical works of Spinoza, including the Theologico-Political Treatise, the Political Treatise, the Ethics, "On the Improvement of the Understanding," and a collection of Spinoza's Correspondence. It was originally published as two volumes in 1884, and is here reformatted into a single volume. From the Introduction: "Spinoza conceived as a vast unity all existence actual and possible; indeed, between actual and possible he recognizes no distinction, for, if a thing does not exist, there must be some cause which prevents its existing, or...