The importance of Spinoza for the modern philosophy of science : can the revival of Spinoza's naturalism refute cultural relativism?

The question raised in this book is why Spinozas work which comes so close to the modern view of natural science, is not prominent in the social sciences. The answer suggested is that this is due to the lingering influence of the Cartesian differentiation between the domain of science, dealing with material bodies in space and time, and the realm of thought to which the mind belongs. The book examines whether the history of the philosophy of science supports this explanation.