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Reconceives human freedom in Spinoza as intrinsically social and politically committedOffers a reading fluent in Spinoza's Latin that presents new textual findings from recent critical editions of his works as well as emerging French scholarshipCritically engages with a diverse set of hermeneutic traditions in Spinoza studies, including historicist, continental and analytic approaches, as well as those of different political backgrounds like Marxism, feminism, liberalism and deep ecologyPresents a new analysis of key Spinozan and 'neo-Spinozist' concepts like the conatus, desire, freedom, collective power, the multitude, voluntary servitude and the politicisation of joyous affectsContextualises and debates Spinoza's accounts of collective power, democracy, agency and desire with past and present critical theoryCombining careful historical and textual analysis with comparisons across past and present political theory, this book re-establishes Spinoza as a collectivist philosopher.Taking as its starting point the formative role of fear in Spinoza's thought, Dan Taylor argues that Spinoza's vision of human freedom and power is realised socially and collectively. He offers a new critical study of the collectivist Spinoza, where we can become freer through desire, friendship, the imagination and transforming the social institutions that structure a given community. A freedom for one and all, attuned to the vicissitudes of human life and the capabilities of each one of us to live up to the demands and constraints of our limited autonomy.This book develops and enriches the continental tradition of Spinozism, drawing on a range of untranslated materials and bringing a fresh perspective to key debates. It repositions Spinoza as the central thinker of desire and freedom and demonstrates how the conflicts within his work inform contemporary theoretical discussions around democracy, the multitude, populism and power

A provocative study of the intersection of Spinoza and Marx that shows how their respective philosophies engage overlapping questions and problems Offers the first translation of Fischbach's work, and the most important book published in France on Spinoza and Marx, into EnglishPairs these philosophers of production who are both critical philosophers of subjectivityPresents a major study of the points of intersection in the thought of Spinoza and MarxDevelops original approaches to concepts such as alienation, history, and nature Spinoza and Marx would seem to be two very opposed philosophers. Spinoza was interested in contemplating eternal truths of nature while Marx was interested in the history of capital. Franck Fischbach suggests that by reading the two together we may better understand both history and nature, as well as ourselves, making possible a new understanding of human nature. Rather than see history and nature as opposed, history is nothing but the constant transformation of nature. Central to this transformation is a new understanding of alienation not as loss of the self in a world of objects, but as loss of objects in a world that disconnects us from nature and social relations, leaving us isolated as a subject. The isolated individual, the kingdom within a kingdom, as Spinoza put it, is not the condition of our liberation but the basis of our subjection

Ce volume se propose de rouvrir les recherches sur la confrontation entre Spinoza et Malebranche, à laquelle l'histoire de la philosophie s'est jusqu'ici peu livrée, ou dont elle ne s'est guère acquittée que sous les formes figées de la triangulation (la lecture croisée des deux auteurs dans leur rapport à Descartes) ou de la réfutation (de Spinoza seul, ou de Malebranche – voire de Descartes – compromis par la proximité du spinozisme). Ce livre fait d'abord un état des lieux de la question en situant les deux auteurs par rapport à l'héritage cartésien et en restituant les discussions polémiques autour du spinozisme de Malebranche. Les textes recueillis examinent ensuite de nouvelles pistes et effectuent des rapprochements inédits, afin d'accroître à la fois notre connaissance des deux systèmes que celle de leur réception : ils donnent lieu à un face à face spéculatif qui explore aussi bien l'ontologie et la théorie de la connaissance que l'éthique et la politique. [source éditeur]

This paper offers an interpretation of Spinoza's theory of ideas as a theory of power. The consideration of ideas in terms of force and vitality figures ideology critique as a struggle within the power of thought to give life support to some ideas, while starving others. Because ideas, considered absolutely on Spinoza's terms, are indifferent to human flourishing, they survive, thrive, or atrophy on the basis of their relationship to ambient ideas. Thus, the effort to think and live well requires attention to the collective dimensions of thinking life, where "collective" refers to a transpersonal accumulation of ideal power that includes human as well as nonhuman beings. Because it is a matter of force and power rather than truth and falsity, the project of thinking otherwise entails an effort to displace and to reorganize ideas that is best undertaken by coordinating and galvanizing many thinking powers.

Seventeenth-century Holland was a culture divided. Orthodox Calvinists, loyal to both scholastic philosophy and the quasi-monarchical House of Orange, saw their world turned upside down with the sudden death of Prince William II and no heir to take his place. The Republicans seized this opportunity to create a decentralized government favourable to Holland''s trading interests and committed to religious and philosophical tolerance. The now ruling regent class, freshly trained in the new philosophy of Descartes, used it as a weapon to fight against monarchical tendencies and theological orthodo