245 / 298
Vico’s Ring
245
the Bible
, cit., p. 226: «Judicious linguistic and philological study of the text is
an essential first step in rendering the meaning of a passage of Scripture. […]
The historical conclusions Spinoza draws from his rational exegesis of Scrip-
ture in the
TTP
appear strikingly familiar to students of contemporary biblical
scholarship». Some readers oscillate between polarities, as in M. Greschat, on
the one hand: «Dementsprechend steht hier mit einem Schlage [historisch-
kritisch] vor us, was grundsätzlich als wissenschaftliche Exegese und im ein-
zelnen als Einleitungswissenschaft bis heute geläufig ist (Accordingly we have
before us in succinct form [historical-criticism] what is still accepted as the
principle of scientific exegesis, and, in practice, as a preparatory science [to
biblical studies])», and on the other hand: «Der Exeget, der ausgezogen war,
die Offenbarung Gottes aus den biblischen Texten zu eruieren, endete somit
bei Unsicherheiten und Unverbindlichkeiten. Natürlich war das nicht Zufall,
sondern Spinozas Absicht (The exegete who embarked on a mission to deci-
pher the divine revelation in the biblical texts, thus ended up with uncertain-
ties and generalities. This was no coincidence, of course, but Spinoza’s inten-
tion)» (Id.,
Bibelkritik und Politik. Anmerkungen zu Spinozas Theologisch-politischem
Traktat
, in
Text – Wort
–
Glaube. Studien zur Überlieferung, Interpretation und Auto-
risierung Biblischer Texte
, ed. by M. Brecht, Berlin-New York, De Gruyter, 1980,
pp. 325-343, pp. 336, 337).
496
TTP
, p. 87.
497
So N. Maull: «Indeed, Spinoza lived and worked in an extraordinary
time and place. This Golden age of the Dutch Republic (1585-1695) boasted
not only Rembrandt, but Swammerdam, De Graaf, van Leeuwenhoek, and
Stevin» (Id.,
Spinoza in the Century of Science
, cit., pp. 3-13, p. 4). By the same to-
ken, one might be allowed to say, conversely, that it is these and other scien-
tists and artists who lived in a privileged cultural world by virtue of being con-
temporaries of Spinoza.
For a fuller account of Spinoza’s life and times, see the biography by M.
Gullan-Whur,
Within Reason: A Life of Spinoza,
New York, St. Martin’s Press,
2000.
498
We are not concerned here with the secondary question of the ultimate
scientific value of his contributions in any of these fields; historians of science
generally regard them as of (intellectual) historical interest, not necessarily as
substantive scientific results (see
ibid.
, p. 117).
499
D. J. Struik explained: «We should not think of Spinoza, the grinder of
lenses, as an old-fashioned craftsman, a colleague of the baker, the butcher
and the like candlestick maker. In Spinoza’s time the grinding of lenses was as
up-to-date as the making of electronic apparatus is at present» (Id.,
The Land of
Stevin and Huygens. A Sketch of Science and Technology in the Dutch Republic during the