Spinoza believed that there was only one substance in reality, which he called 'God or nature'. A number of leading contemporary philosophers have defended monism, this strange and beautiful idea that the cosmos is the source of all being. This book explores both the historical roots of the monism in Spinoza, and its flowering in the 21st century.

PHILIP GOFF is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, UK. His main philosophical aim is put consciousness back at the heart of metaphysics.