The Actuality of Spinoza
- Andrea Sangiacomo
- Sep 18
- 2 min read
On Friday 3rd October 2025, in the Aula of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, starting at 16:00 CET, I'll deliver my inaugural lecture as professor by special appointment on the chair "The Actuality of Spinoza".
It sounds very formal, and in fact it is, but I hope to handle it with some subtle humor. The event is public but it will also be accessible remotely and the same link used for the live stream can be used at any later time to listen to the recording. Here's the link:
And here the title and abstract of my lecture:
The Actuality of Spinoza: A Spiritual Drug
At the beginning of the 21st century Spinoza enjoys a popularity that he never had before. His name is mentioned in a number of academic fields outside of the history of philosophy, from cognitive sciences to politics; academia produces yearly a flood of books and papers about his thought, while lay associations prosper in several countries and popularizing publications abounds. In a recent publication, I argued that Spinoza’s thought can establish a fruitful dialogue with Asian contemplative traditions about the fundamental problems of human existence and their possible solution. In this oration, I’d like to complement that discussion by sketching a dialogue between Spinoza’s thought and Christianity. Instead of trying to adjudicate who is right and who is wrong, I’d like to suggest that Spinoza can offer to Christianity helpful remedies against certain distortions that emerged throughout its history—such as atheism, superstition, anthropomorphism, or a dualistic mistrust of the body—while also re-evaluating neglected antidotes that the Christian tradition itself at some point developed. At the same time, a Christian perspective can help Spinozist thought to gain perspective about some of its limitations, above all its inability to articulate the meaning of suffering and the possibility of salvation. In this sense, I suggest to consider Spinoza as a ‘spiritual drug’, which can be healing in the right dose, but might have side-effects if taken in the wrong dose.
