A truly satisfactory edition of Spinoza’s works ought:-first, to provide translations that are as accurate as possible, which show good judgment, when something more than accuracy is required, which is as clear and readable as fidelity to the text will allow, and which leave the interpretation to the commentators, so far as this is possible;-second, to base those translations on the best available critical editions of the original texts; -third, to make the edition as comprehensive as possible so that readers of Spinoza will have conveniently available all the primary data for the interpretation of his philosophy; -fourth, to offer translations which are all by the same hand, in hopes of achieving the kind of consistency in the treatment of important terms that makes it easier to appreciate their importance and meaning, to compare passages in different works treating the same topic, and to form judgments about the possible evolution of Spinoza’s thought; -fifth, to arrange the texts in chronological order, so far as this can reasonably be determined, to make it easier to grasp the development of Spinoza’s thought in those areas where it changed over the course of his philosophical career; and finally, to supply the texts with editorial aids to assist in the understanding of Spinoza’s work: prefaces, annotation, indices, and, in a limited way, commentary.