ABSTRACT
By an odd historical coincidence, four of the major moral and political philosophers of the second half of the seventeenth century— Samuel Pufendorf, John Locke, Richard Cumberland, and Benedict Spinoza—were all born in 1632. Spinoza's naturalism was far, far more thoroughgoing than any seventeenth-century philosopher. His presentation of the natural law develops Grotian and Hobbesian themes but in a direction very different from his more voluntaristically minded cohorts. According to Spinoza's definition, a "natural law" is a law coextensive with or arising from a particular nature or nature as such. According to him, there are three proper objects of desire: knowledge of first causes or metaphysics; the governance of the passions; and seeking a secure and happy life. When something is said to arise from God's direction it is properly understood as following from the eternal and immutable order of nature, and Spinoza identifies this with being ordained by "divine decree" as well.
