Not sure if he was somewhat of a neo-stoic or not, but for some ideas he developed the stoic ideas further. For example the 4 basic emotions, he considered desire a positive emotion, as long as it is tempered. Desire is what drives a human, without desire there is no will or power. And his idea about fear was most remarkable, it's about choosing between two options that are both undesirable.
He had strong ideas how to live a good and happy life. These ideas are not that far from stoic ideas. There are values in life that far exceed our individual life. And we are more together than alone, even though we don't feel it that way.
His thoughts about state and society were valuable and quite original in the 17th century. State and church should be separate. State should be about freedom and serving the people.
Just some ideas, worded sloppily by me :) He had strong ideas about how you should live your life. Unlike many other philosophers who only could tell how not to live. Not to be rude to anyone, but Nietzsche and Arendt come to mind here.
In the spirit of enlightenment and the continuing progress of science I would just add to this that current thinking is there are 25 identifiable emotions which are often experienced in combinations together:
He had strong ideas how to live a good and happy life. These ideas are not that far from stoic ideas. There are values in life that far exceed our individual life. And we are more together than alone, even though we don't feel it that way.
His thoughts about state and society were valuable and quite original in the 17th century. State and church should be separate. State should be about freedom and serving the people.
Just some ideas, worded sloppily by me :) He had strong ideas about how you should live your life. Unlike many other philosophers who only could tell how not to live. Not to be rude to anyone, but Nietzsche and Arendt come to mind here.