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On 27 July 1656 the leaders of the Portuguese-Jewish congregation in Amsterdam pronounced a cherem, a ban, on a 23-year-old merchant’s son, Baruch Spinoza, for “abominable heresies” they did not specify. It was never lifted. Spinoza left the community, learned to grind lenses for microscopes and telescopes, and moved to Rijnsburg, then Voorburg, then The Hague, where he died in 1677 at the age of 44. Only two of his books appeared in his lifetime, one of them anonymously; his friends published the rest, including the Ethics, within a year of his death. This guide covers his 8 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 key books · 1663–1862 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Baruch Spinoza’s best-known books are the Ethics (1677), the Theological-Political Treatise (1670) and the unfinished Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (1677). Start with the Theological-Political Treatise, written in continuous prose rather than the geometric proofs of the Ethics; it is also the book that made his name, and his enemies, in the Dutch Republic.
Where to Start with Baruch Spinoza
If you want a way in written in ordinary prose
→ Theological-Political Treatise (1670) — the Bible, the state and freedom of thought.
If you want his defining book
→ Ethics (1677) — God, mind, emotions and freedom, in geometric order.
If you want the shortest introduction
→ Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (1677) — it opens with his own reasons for turning to philosophy.
If you want the man behind the system
→ Letters (1677) — his letters to scientists, friends and critics.
8 Baruch Spinoza Books, in Order
Principles of Cartesian Philosophy
A reworking of parts I and II of Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy (1644) in geometric form, which grew out of lessons Spinoza gave to a student, Johannes Casearius. It was published in Amsterdam by Jan Rieuwertsz, with a preface by his friend Lodewijk Meyer noting that the views set out were not all Spinoza’s own. It was his first publication, and a Dutch translation followed in 1664.
Theological-Political Treatise
Spinoza argues that the Bible must be read historically, from its own text, as a human document; he questions whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch and defends the freedom to philosophise as essential to a peaceful state. It appeared anonymously, under the false imprint of a Hamburg publisher, “Henricus Künraht”; the real publisher was Jan Rieuwertsz in Amsterdam. It was quickly attributed to Spinoza, and the Court of Holland banned it in July 1674.
Ethics
His main work, begun in the early 1660s and laid out like Euclid, with definitions, axioms, propositions and proofs. Its five parts move from God, identified with nature (Deus sive Natura), through the human mind and the emotions to human bondage and, finally, freedom through understanding. Spinoza went to Amsterdam to publish it in 1675 but withdrew it amid rumours that he was an atheist; it appeared in the Opera Posthuma after his death. George Eliot completed an English translation in 1856, which remained unpublished in her lifetime.
Political Treatise
Begun in 1676 and left unfinished at his death, it analyses how monarchy, aristocracy and democracy can be made stable, starting from people as they are rather than as moralists would like them to be. It breaks off in the chapter on democracy. It was first printed in the Opera Posthuma.
Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect
An early, unfinished essay on method: how the mind can correct itself and reach true ideas. It opens with an autobiographical passage in which Spinoza describes giving up the pursuit of wealth, honour and sensual pleasure in search of a lasting good. His friends printed it in the Opera Posthuma.
Letters
Spinoza’s correspondence with, among others, Henry Oldenburg, secretary of the Royal Society in London, the grain merchant Willem van Blijenbergh, who pressed him on the problem of evil, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The editors of the Opera Posthuma left out most personal matters; later finds have added letters to the collection.
Compendium of Hebrew Grammar
A Latin grammar of Hebrew, unfinished at his death; the second part was incomplete. It appeared in the Latin Opera Posthuma and is the least read of his works.
Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being
An early draft of the ideas of the Ethics, written around 1660–1661 but not published in his lifetime. The Latin original is lost; the text survived only in Dutch manuscripts found in the nineteenth century, and Johannes van Vloten first published it in 1862.
In What Order to Read Baruch Spinoza
Publication order is misleading with Spinoza, because five of his eight books appeared together after his death, and the Short Treatise not until 1862. The order in which he wrote them is roughly: the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and the Short Treatise (around 1660), the Descartes book (1663), the Ethics (worked on from the early 1660s to the mid-1670s, with a break for the Theological-Political Treatise), and finally the Political Treatise (1676).
Most readers do not start with the Ethics, whose geometric form takes getting used to. The Theological-Political Treatise and the opening of the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect are in ordinary prose; the Letters show him explaining his ideas to people who disagreed with him. Modern English translations of the complete works are by Edwin Curley (Princeton) and Samuel Shirley (Hackett).
A reading path
1. Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (1677)
2. Theological-Political Treatise (1670)
3. Letters (1677)
4. Ethics (1677)
5. Political Treatise (1677)
Other Editions Published in Spinoza’s Time
Beyond the 8 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Dutch editions
2
2 books · 1664–1677
- 1664Renatus Des Cartes Beginzelen der Wysbegeertethe Dutch translation of his Descartes book, translated by Pieter Balling
- 1677De Nagelate Schriftenthe Dutch edition of the posthumous works, published alongside the Latin Opera Posthuma
The years · 1632–2008
Quick facts about Baruch Spinoza
- Known for
- Spinoza is known for identifying God with nature and for arguing, in the Dutch Republic of the 1660s and 1670s, that the Bible should be read as a historical text and that a state should allow freedom of thought.
- 1632
- Born in Amsterdam
- 1677
- Dies in The Hague; Ethics published
- 1862
- Short Treatise first published
- 2008
- Monument by Nicolas Dings unveiled in Amsterdam
- Born
- 24 November 1632, Amsterdam, into a Portuguese-Jewish merchant family
- Cherem
- 27 July 1656, by the Talmud Torah congregation of Amsterdam; never rescinded
- Lived
- Amsterdam; Rijnsburg (1661); Voorburg (1663); The Hague (around 1670)
- Worked
- As a grinder of lenses for microscopes and telescopes
- Declined
- A chair in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, 1673
- Died
- 21 February 1677, The Hague, of a lung disease, probably tuberculosis
- Buried
- Nieuwe Kerk, The Hague
The red mark is 1677: Spinoza died in The Hague, and his friends published the Ethics in the Opera Posthuma.
How Baruch Spinoza Writes: Philosophy in Geometric Order
The Ethics is written “in geometrical order”, like a textbook of Euclid: each part begins with definitions and axioms, and every claim is a numbered proposition with a proof that cites earlier ones. He had already practised the form on Descartes in 1663. The longer explanations, and much of the argument with his readers, are in the scholia, the notes attached to the proofs.
His other books are in continuous Latin prose. The Theological-Political Treatise works through the Hebrew Bible chapter by chapter, drawing on his own knowledge of Hebrew, to argue that scripture teaches obedience and charity rather than philosophical truth. The Political Treatise starts from how people actually behave and asks what institutions can make a state stable.
He wrote for a small circle. Most of his friends were Amsterdam merchants and doctors, who read and discussed his drafts together, and his caution was practical: in 1669 his friend Adriaan Koerbagh died in prison after publishing radical ideas in Dutch. Spinoza wrote in Latin, published anonymously, and in 1675 withdrew the Ethics from publication.
Frequently asked questions about Baruch Spinoza’s books
How many books has Baruch Spinoza written?
Eight, counting three he left unfinished and his collected letters. Only two appeared in his lifetime: Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (1663), under his own name, and the Theological-Political Treatise (1670), anonymously. Five appeared in the Opera Posthuma of 1677, and the Short Treatise was first published in 1862.
What are Baruch Spinoza’s books in order?
Principles of Cartesian Philosophy (1663), Theological-Political Treatise (1670), Ethics (1677), Political Treatise (1677), Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect (1677), Letters (1677), Compendium of Hebrew Grammar (1677) and Short Treatise on God, Man and His Well-Being (1862).
Where should I start with Baruch Spinoza?
With the Theological-Political Treatise, which is written in ordinary prose and deals with questions that are easy to grasp: how to read the Bible, and why a state should allow freedom of thought. The opening pages of the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect are the shortest introduction to why he turned to philosophy.
What is Baruch Spinoza’s most famous book?
The Ethics (1677), in which he sets out, in the form of geometric proofs, that God and nature are one substance, and that human freedom comes from understanding the causes of our emotions. It was published after his death by his friends.
Why was Spinoza excommunicated?
On 27 July 1656 the leaders of the Talmud Torah congregation in Amsterdam issued a cherem against him for “abominable heresies” and “monstrous deeds”, without specifying them; he had not yet published anything. The ban was never rescinded. In December 2015 the Amsterdam community held a symposium on lifting it, and the congregation’s rabbi ruled that it should stand.
Was Spinoza an atheist?
He was widely accused of atheism in his own time: the Theological-Political Treatise was banned in 1674, and the posthumous works were suppressed in 1678. Spinoza himself did not reject God but identified God with nature, a God without will or purpose who does not intervene in human affairs. Whether that counts as atheism or pantheism is still debated.
What did Einstein mean by “Spinoza’s God”?
In a 1929 telegram to Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein, Albert Einstein said he believed in Spinoza’s God, revealed in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God concerned with the fates and actions of human beings. He named Spinoza as the philosopher who most influenced his worldview.
Where did Spinoza live in the Netherlands?
He grew up in Amsterdam’s Jewish quarter and stayed in the city after the 1656 ban. In 1661 he moved to Rijnsburg near Leiden, in 1663 to Voorburg, and around 1670 to The Hague, where he lived from 1671 in a rented room in the house of the painter Hendrick van der Spyck on the Paviljoensgracht. He was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague; a monument by Nicolas Dings has stood in front of Amsterdam’s city hall since 2008.
Which English translation of Spinoza should I read?
The standard modern translations of the complete works are Edwin Curley’s The Collected Works of Spinoza (Princeton, two volumes) and Samuel Shirley’s Complete Works (Hackett). George Eliot’s translation of the Ethics, completed in 1856, was published by Princeton in 2020 with an introduction by Clare Carlisle.
Is the Ethics difficult to read?
Its form is the main obstacle: definitions, axioms and numbered proofs that refer back to earlier ones. Many readers start with the prefaces, appendices and scholia, the notes in which Spinoza explains himself in ordinary prose, or read the Theological-Political Treatise first.
Footnotes
- Baruch Spinoza — Wikipedia
- Works — Spinoza Web
- The Hague, Stille Veerkade — Spinoza Web
- A Spinoza Chronology — Middle Tennessee State University
- Spinoza’s Ethics, translated by George Eliot — Labyrinth Books
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”
— Baruch Spinoza, Ethics (1677), the last line
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