Abstract

This article aims at exploring the exchange of views between Spinoza and Oldenburg on the beginning of the second Anglo-Dutch War, providing some preliminary clues about the former’s political (and philosophical) attitude towards the nature of war. Secondly, this study will focus on the way Spinoza articulated the relationship among domestic order and foreign policy of different imperia. A quite original portrait of Spinoza as a thinker of war and peace may result from the way in which the philosopher tackled these ‘pre-international’ issues.