Carmack 1 Peter Carmack Brandeis University 5/01/18 Is Spinoza an Atheist? Introduction 1 In the early modern period, many philosophers in the Western world were often concerned about two developing phenomena: the effects of materialism and the seemingly related worry of atheism that the former might produce. 2 In a time of drastic change, the scientific revolution, the religious reformation, and the discovery and colonization of a ‘new’ world all coalesced into a frightening pattern of transformation. Fascinatingly, some of the prominent figures in philosophy and science may have even contributed to these sweeping alterations (perhaps for some inadvertently). 3 Many naturally feared what effects these would have on one’s way of life. Of paramount concern was religious orthodoxy and practice. Predominantly Christian, the West often took drastic measures to protect monotheistic conceptions of deity and its methods of worship. As such, many groups, individuals, and whole philosophical systems were routinely branded ‘Atheists.’ 4 Baruch Spinoza was one such philosopher. Thesis It would be an almost impossible task to define—with the appropriate scope—the concepts of theism and atheism as they do or do not apply to religious practice. Either it would 1 All references from Spinoza are taken from: Spinoza, Baruch. Ethics. Hackett, 1992. 2 This is especially true of philosophers such as Berkeley and Conway. There is a milder concern for Atheism in Descartes and Locke but not so much for materialism. Hume could be seen as a philosopher not really concerned with either. 3 Some examples might be Descartes, Locke, Boyle, Galileo, Leibniz, Newton, and Hume. 4 Of course, this did not have the same connotation that it has contemporarily.