Progressive Commentary Hour - Lessons the 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza has to offer our modern society and the challenges ahead

Professor Steven Nadler is the William Hay Professor in Humanities at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he teaches early modern philosophy - primarily of the 17th century -- and Jewish philosophy. He is regarded as one of the foremost scholars focusing on the life and thought of the Dutch-Portugese philosopher Baruch Spinoza, who died rather young at age 44 in 1677. Prof. Nadler received his doctorate at Columbia, and has held visiting professorships at the University of Amsterdam, universities in Parish, Stanford and the University of Chicago. He has also been elected as a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Steven has written about a dozen books on Spinoza life and work. His latest is "Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die" published by Princeton University Press, which presents Spinoza's philosophy in a contemporary and practical context .