Spinoza - Beyond Hobbes and Rousseau

Spinoza is again and again placed as a "political philosopher" on an intellectual line with Hobbes and Rousseau, in most cases closer to the latter. This manner of classifying these three philosophers, however, does not do justice to the specific achievments of Spinoza nor to those of the other two; and it arises, by the way, rather from an incorrect judgment on the work of Hobbes and Rousseau.