Ateismo e tolleranza in Spinoza

This paper aims to outline the close relationship between the problem of atheism and the concept of toleration in Spinoza. Even before it was perceived as a philosophical issue, the “atheism problem” entered Spinoza’s biographical and intellectual itinerary as a peculiar accusation against him. In this sense, through textual analysis of the occurrences of the term atheismus, found in the Theological-Political Treatise (1670) and the Spinozian epistolary, an attempt will be made to show how the problem of atheism is for Spinoza eo ipso a problem of toleration, even a personal one. In doing so, it will turn to the definition of the charge of atheism by one of the Dutch philosopher’s most fervent critics, the orthodox Calvinist and Cartesian physician Lambert van Velthuysen, who had a significant epistolary exchange with Spinoza. From the theoretical and practical assumptions of the critique analyzed, an attempt will be made to outline the dual defense strategy that Spinoza theorized in response to the charge of atheism, which will respond to two different levels of the Spinozian conception of toleration, one individual and speculative, and the other communal and practical.