In the first half of 1841, the young Karl Marx read the TTP in the Berlin university library and by hand copied a large selection of passages; extensive quotations from Spinoza’s letters can also be found in Marx’s notebooks from that time (albeit in a different handwriting, so most likely the notetaking was commissioned by Marx). Since this was an extremely formative time for Marx, leading up to the first formulation of his own political philosophy in his struggle with Hegel and Feuerbach only a few years later, it is tempting to assume that his encounter with Spinoza had a lasting impact.