Spinoza and Democracy as the Best Regime

Abstract

Several commentators have observed that Benedict (or Baruch) Spinoza was arguably “the first democrat in the history of philosophy” (Feuer 1980: 139; see also Rosen 1987: 456 and Smith 1997: 22). As we have seen, every major school of political philosophy prior to Spinoza was either reluctant to endorse, or openly hostile toward, the idea of democracy. Thus, it makes sense to begin our investigation of the philosophical origins of modern democracy with Spinoza. However, in order to understand his democratic political commitments and how they derive from his view of the theologico-political problem, it is first vital to examine Spinoza’s formative intellectual experiences in the unique historical context of seventeenth century Holland and his own family’s history of persecution and emigration.