ABSTRACT
According to Baruch Spinoza, reality marked by rigid determinism seems to exclude every form of freedom. The essence and limits of human freedom must be deduced from the definition of human essence. In God, by nature of His own essence, freedom and necessity are immediately identified, whereas, in man – a modification of reality, i.e. a partial aspect of it – this identification occurs through scientific mediation. The freedom which the Spinozan state defines as its purpose, is defined as freedom of thought, criticism, judgment and the expression of one’s own ideas with respect to authority, be it civil or ecclesiastical. The realm of necessity is defined as obedience to the laws of the state, which by repressing and regulating irrational impulses, offer themselves as guarantors of freedom, the state having been constituted to ensure their operation.
