Comfort without Hope. The Topicality and Relevance of Spinoza

There can be little doubt about the relevance of Spinoza's thinking. It is reflected in the fact that societies like the Dutch-International Spinoza House are flourishing, and by the continuing world-wide interest in Spinoza's philosophy in various media and the arts. But it would be doing Spinoza less than justice to confine his relevance to questions of ethics and the proper way to live. He is rightly being appreciated more and more as a political philosopher. Moreover, the author suggests that Spinozism, with its specific intellectual legacy and its partly Arabic-Jewish background, is particularly well suited not only for coming to terms with our Judaeo-Christian heritage, but also for playing a fruitful role in the philosophical-ideological dialogue with Islam.