  In is difficult to assess adequately the scope of influence of Spinoza’s political thought. Even where Spinoza’s influence on subsequent political thinkers is direct and indisputable, it is not always easy to tease out the extent to this influence is due to his own political philosophy, as opposed to his metaphysics. Further complicating the assessment is the fact that Spinoza and Spinozism remained a bugbear throughout Europe for much of the late 17th and 18th centuries, during which time Spinozism was widely associated with atheism. For this reason, even sympathetic philosophers often sought to distance their views from Spinoza’s, positioning themselves as critics or downplaying familiarity with his texts. Nevertheless, we find traces of the influence of Spinoza’s political writings throughout the Enlightenment, along with an array of hostile responses.