The Courtier and the Heretic; Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World by Matthew Stewart

Two of the most prominent philosophers of the 1600s were Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz.

Spinoza was the heretic who was booted out of his Jewish community and generally referred to as an atheist. Really more of a mystical pantheist, Spinoza propounded an idea of God that was too different from that of his peers and he was thus an outcast. He led a quiet and proper life in The Hague earning his living by grinding lenses for microscopes and telescopes.

Leibniz was the German courtier, very social and usually looking for court appointments to provide him with a living. He met Spinoza in 1676 and seems to have spent the rest of his life both fascinated by Spinoza and struggling to "correct" the man's theology.

Stewart's description of these two philosophers is lively and entertaining, and the differences between their theologies is interesting. But what really grabbed me was the differences in their personalities. Spinoza quietly adhered to reasoning he felt to be true; Leibniz would bend to social pressure. Spinoza focused purely on knowing Truth, at least to the extent that it can be determined by reason. Leibniz was also in love with reason, but he focused more on worldly affairs. Leibniz traveled a lot in his goal to reunite European Christianity; Spinoza pretty much stayed put. I thought it ironic that huge numbers of people turned out for Spinoza's funeral in spite of his life as a relative hermit and the opprobrium brought on by his theology. There were few, if any, people at Leibniz's funeral; he had long since fallen out of favor with the court and seemed to be thought of as a pesky old man. The lesson I took from this was that it is better to be true to your own nature than to play courtier (popularity) games.

You might also conclude that it's better to die young, but I think I'll pass on that one.