The publication of Garrett’s Nature and Necessity in Spinoza’s Philosophy is a major event in the study of modern philosophy and Spinoza in particular. The book collects most of Garrett’s articles on Spinoza which appeared between 1979 and 2017. During these four decades the study of Spinoza in the Anglo-American world has undergone a dramatic transformation, as the previously disreputable and poorly understood metaphysician has acquired preeminence and wide respect as a highly original, systematic, and audacious thinker. Currently, the study of Spinoza appears to be the most thriving and innovative of subfields within the wider discipline of the history of philosophy. Garrett deserves much of the credit for this present state of affairs, due both to his outstanding scholarship and to his influential mentorship and support of younger scholars.
In his introduction, Garrett identifies the problem-driven common feature of the eighteen studies comprising the book: “all are intended, at...
