Benedictus Spinoza (1632-77) was among the most important of the post-Cartesian philosophers of the second half of the seventeenth century and is still widely studied today. He made original contributions in every major area of philosophy and is best known for his Ethics, which is often held up as a supreme example of a self-contained metaphysical system intended to explain the universe.

The Bloomsbury Companion to Spinoza is the first to offer an accessible, encyclopaedic account of Spinoza's life and ideas, his influences and commentators, and his lasting...