Philosopher Jonathan Rée unravels the story within Spinoza's knotty work of 17th century rationalism, the Ethics.

Read more on Spinoza in the LRB:

Jonathan Rée: Spinoza's Big Idea https://lrb.me/8x8
Richard Popkin: Spinoza v the Synagogue https://lrb.me/kx8
George Steiner on 'Spinoza and Other Heretics' https://lrb.me/cx8
Jonathan Rée: Exit Cogito https://lrb.me/5x8
Stuart Hampshire: Small Creatures https://lrb.me/hx8
Frank Kermode: Theory and Truth https://lrb.me/3x8
Margaret Jacob: Radical Enlightenment https://lrb.me/ux8

Find more philosophy essays in the LRB: https://lrb.me/nx8

Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://lrb.me/ytsub

ABOUT THE LRB

The LRB is Europe’s leading magazine of books and ideas. Published twice a month, it provides a space for some of the world’s best writers to explore a wide variety of subjects in exhilarating detail – from culture and politics to science and technology via history and philosophy. In the age of the long read, the LRB remains the pre-eminent exponent of the intellectual essay, admired around the world for its fearlessness, its range and its elegance.

As well as essays and book reviews each issue also contains poems, an exhibition review, ‘short cuts’, letters and a diary, and is available in print, online, and offline via our app. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to almost 15,000 articles in our digital archive. Our website features a regular blog and a channel of audio and video content, including podcasts, author interviews and highlights from the events programme at the London Review Bookshop.