An audience exceeding 3,300, which packed Cass Technical High School to capacity, paid tribute to Baruch Spinoza on the occasion of the tercentenary of his birth.
Under the chairmanship of Frank Cody, superintendent of schools of Detroit, addresses were delivered by Mayor Frank Murphy, Dr. Noah E. Aronstam, chairman of the committee which had charge of arrangements for the meeting; W. G. Bryant, consul for the Netherlands, who read a letter of appreciation to the meeting from the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Will Durant.
Speaking on “Spinoza and Our Contemporary World,” Dr. Durant traced the career of Spinoza and declared that this Dutch Jew was not only the greatest Jewish philosopher but the greatest of all philosophers.
“Of all the philosophers, he alone lived his philosophy,” Dr. Durant said.
Dr. Durant added that the modern world is coming to place a higher value on the writings of Spinoza. The whole modern scientific structure, he added, is founded on “The Ethics,” and he pointed out that Dr. Albert Einstein, the greatest of the scientists, is a devoted follower of the teachings of Spinoza.
Honoring the name of Spinoza, the City Council of Detroit recently named a street in Rouge Park as Spinoza Drive.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
