Baruch Spinoza and the God in Nature

Baruch Spinoza was an 18th-century Dutch philosopher who famously claimed that nature and God are one and the same thing. He called on nations to exercise religious tolerance and permit free speech; as for individuals, he urged them to regulate their passions, to start wanting what is necessary, and to replace cravings for worldly goods with a love of the God that is nature. But can nature really be divine? Can God be no more than nature? And if there’s no free will, as Spinoza claims, what’s the point of all his exhortations? Josh and Akiba commune with Steven Nadler from the University of Wisconsin, author of Spinoza, Atheist.

Part of the Jewish Thinkers series.