The sixth instalment of David's Jewish Philosophy lecture series considers two renowned, sometimes controversial, philosophers living during the Enlightenment:

- Baruch Spinoza, and
- Moses Mendelssohn.

In the first part of this Zoom lecture, David examines the ideas and impact of Baruch Spinoza, including the ultimate cause of his excommunication from the Jewish community. He explores concepts developed by Spinoza in his books:

- Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (Theologico-Political Treatise), which provides a defence of secular thought, and
- Ethics, which discusses:

- reality is God
- the universe (God) is necessary and determined
- miracles do not exist
- there is no free will
- the pursuit of reason leads to freedom.

For Moses Mendelssohn, David explains, the challenge was to reveal religion in the Age of Reason. Mendelssohn's book, Jerusalem, explores:

- the Torah as revealed law
- differences in nature and the laws of the Jewish people
- reason as the true religion of humanity
- the test of religious truth and its effect on conduct.

As with previous lectures, David provides historical context for both philosophers, describing their 17th and 18th century worlds. He also tackles some of the beliefs and misconceptions about these figures, many of which have carried through to today.

This fifth talk in David's eight-part series, A Journey Through Jewish Philosophy, was delivered on Zoom for Caulfield Shule in 2020. Other episodes can be found here:

Part One: https://youtu.be/byBHtiI7B0I
Part Two: https://youtu.be/PP7Bap8wm9o
Part Three: https://youtu.be/mTpmfoogge4
Part Four: https://youtu.be/V7RHs2u1V4g
Part Five: https://youtu.be/uZ0C8w28boc
Part Six: https://youtu.be/IC_bZTM55yA
Part Seven: https://youtu.be/4n5mShm2O5k
Part Eight: https://youtu.be/FQwN1_NKPOY

For a historical overview of the period, listen to:

#44 Communities in Search of Meaning: Jewish History of the 17th Century (part 4): https://youtu.be/ItV9NsCtPfg

#76 Revelation & Revolution: Jewish History of the 18th Century (3): https://youtu.be/qOON4x8koCs

David is also renowned for his Jewish history lecture, The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour https://youtu.be/GUlM2a2tsOM​

Find more of David Solomon's podcast, with dozens of lectures on Jewish history, the Bible, Jewish philosophy, and Kabbalah at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPZc8ZC7r568Er1pwL8ZiLbU1tV6PFf4L

Learn more at davidsolomon.online

Images used in this video -

The image of David above and those used in the video opening are by Stephan Rohl and available for use under CC licensing http://www.stephan-roehl.de​​

Large image: Spinoza Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. Public Domain.