Publicaties

In this paper I offer three main challenges to James (2011). All three turn on the nature of philosophy and secure knowledge in Spinoza. First, I criticize James's account of the epistemic role that experience plays in securing adequate ideas for Spinoza. In doing so I criticize her treatment of what is known as the ‘conatus doctrine’ in Spinoza in order to challenge her picture of the relationship between true religion and philosophy. Second, ...

This article investigates the contribution of Spinoza and some authors of his circle (Antistius Constans, Van den Enden and Koerbagh) on the modern conception of tolerance. In his Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670), Spinoza launches the libertas philosophandi-question integrating two kinds of freedom between which there is a tension: freedom of thought and speech and freedom of religious conscience. As freedom means living and acting in ...

In the latter half of the seventeenth century, Spinoza effected a reversal in the relationship between philosophy, politics, and religion, thereby laying the foundation for modern democracy. This shift, and his plea for philosophical critique, did not pass unchallenged. The idea that there is no equality without freedom, and no freedom without equality, was maligned by those who insisted it would lead to rebellion and anarchy. Still, Spinoza was ...

With his treatises on politics and the freedom to philosophize, Spinoza in the second half of the seventeenth century revolutionized the relationship between philosophy, politics and religion and thus laid the foundations for modern democracy. This did not happen without a struggle. The idea that there is no equality without freedom but also no freedom without equality was vilified as leading to revolt and anarchy. His plea for philosophical ...

In this essay is explored the relationship between Spinoza's philosophy and the aesthetic theory and artistic practice of Mondrian and the avant-garde movement of De Stijl. First, Spinoza's explicit presence in the texts published in the journal in the early years and his implicit presence in tacit paraphrases, in the analogy with the geometric method and the ontological and epistemological ideas set forth in the Ethics are examined. ...

This article investigates the anthropology of Spinoza as a strategy for happiness, political as well as individual. Inspired by the readings, comments, and perspectives of Matheron, Deleuze, and Balibar, I will analyze Spinoza’s theory of the affects as the basis for this strategic anthropology. These authors all share an ontological and political vision organized around the concepts of multitude and the transindividual which result directly ...

This contribution investigates Spinoza’s concepts and reasoning from two crucial places, namely, firstly, the propositions 15 to 33 and the definitions of affects 8 and 33 in part three of the Ethics, and, secondly, propositions 29 to 37 in part four. These are two lines of thought that go hand in hand, that refer to each other and in which Spinoza tries to do something radically new. In the first, he wants to show that under the concept of ...

In letter 37 to Johannes Bouwmeester, Spinoza identifies a historiola mentis a la Bacon as an important tool for distinguishing more easily between adequate and inadequate ideas. This paper contends that Spinoza's advice is to take into account Baconian-style 'Civil History' as providing instructive material for contemplating the variety, complexity, and persistency of human passionate behaviour. Specifically, it argues that Baconian civil ...