Spinoza for Our Time: Politics and PostmodernityAntonio Negri, a leading scholar on Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) and his contemporary legacy, offers a straightforward explanation of the philosopher’s elaborate arguments and a persuasive case for his ongoing utility. Responding to a resurgent interest in Spinoza’s thought and its potential application to contemporary global issues, Negri demonstrates the thinker’s special value to politics, philosophy, and a number of related disciplines. Negri’s work is both a return to and advancement of his initial affirmation of Spinozian thought in The Savage Anomaly. He further defends his understanding of the philosopher as a proto-postmodernist, or a thinker who is just now, with the advent of the postmodern, becoming contemporary. Negri also deeply connects Spinoza’s theories to recent trends in political philosophy, particularly the reengagement with Carl Schmitt’s “political theology,” and the history of philosophy, including the argument that Spinoza belongs to a “radical enlightenment.” By positioning Spinoza as a contemporary, revolutionary intellectual, Negri addresses and effectively defeats critiques by Derrida, Badiou, and Agamben. |
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absolute acosmism Alain Badiou amor Antonio Negri Badiou Baruch Spinoza being-multitude being-with biopolitical common conatus conceive conception constitutive construction contrary creative critical critique cupiditas Da-Sein defined democracy democratic Descartes desire dialectical dimension Emanuele Severino emotions essence eternity Étienne Balibar existence Foucault Gilles Deleuze Giorgio Agamben Hegel Heidegger Hobbes horizon human immanence immanentism individual individualistic institutions interpretation of Spinoza Italian Judith Revel juridical liberty Machiavelli man’s materialism materialist Matheron meaning metaphysics Michael Hardt mind modern multitude nature Nietzsche nothingness noza ofthe ontological Paris perspective phenomenological philosophy political thought possible postmodern potency potentia and potestas praxis present production of subjectivity prop radical rapport reactionary reading of Spinoza resistance Savage Anomaly seditio singularities Slavoj Žižek social sociology sovereign sovereignty Spinoza’s Ethics Spinoza’s thought Spinozan sociology struggle subversive teleology terrain theory things thought of Spinoza tion tive Tractatus politicus trans transcendence translation