When should you share your thoughts? Which thoughts should you share and which should you keep to yourself? These questions were already on the mind of the philosopher Baruch de Spinoza, after whom the Spinozalens is named. During his lifetime, he carefully hid the manuscript of his Ethics in a desk drawer. According to Spinoza, we can do nothing other than think and judge freely. Yet he did not feel free enough to make his ideas known to the world; his magnum opus was published posthumously.
Questions surrounding free thinking remain as urgent as ever, 350 years after the publication of the Ethics. How should we understand free thinking in the year 2027? Is there such a thing as the right to remain silent? And what does free thinking mean for people who have never lived in a democracy?
In Western countries too illiberal forces are on the rise. In the name of freedom of expression, they incite hatred and violence against minorities with different religious beliefs or sexual orientations. Women’s rights are under attack. And public debate seems to have turned into a contest of humiliation. What forms of free thinking can we set against this? And how tolerant should we be towards intolerant citizens, groups and parties?
Based on the theme ‘Free Thinking in 2027’, the jury, chaired by the Dutch novelist and essayist Arnon Grunberg, will nominate a laureate to the board of the International Spinoza Prize Foundation. Click here for the jury’s composition. The laureate will be announced on November 24, 2026, during a public event in The Hague. More information about the event will follow.
