Spinoza, the Epicurean : : Authority and Utility in Materialism / / Dimitris Vardoulakis.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• VerfasserIn: Vardoulakis, Dimitris,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Spinoza Studies : SPST
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (368 p.) :; 4 B/W illustrations

Argues that the Epicurean influence on Spinoza has profound implications for his conception of politics and ontologyRadically re-reads the Theological Political Treatise in relation to Spinoza’s other worksSets the book in the intellectual context of 17th-century approaches to religion, politics and societyDevelops a thorough and coherent interpretation of Epicurean themes in Spinoza’s thoughtMakes an important contribution to the understanding of the broader influence of Epicureanism in modern philosophyThrough a radical new reading of the Theological Political Treatise, Dimitris Vardoulakis argues that the major source of Spinoza’s materialism is the Epicurean tradition that re-emerges in modernity when manuscripts by Epicurus and Lucretius are rediscovered. This reconsideration of Spinoza’s political project, set within a historical context, lays the ground for an alternative genealogy of materialism. Central to this new reading of Spinoza are the theory of practical judgment (understood as the calculation of utility) and its implications for a theory of democracy that is resolutely positioned against authority.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Reference Guide to Spinoza’s Work -- Acknowledgements -- Preamble -- 1. Why Does it Matter to Read Spinoza as an Epicurean? -- 2. Authority and Utility: A Sketch -- 3. On Method -- Introduction: Why is Spinoza an Epicurean? -- Introduction -- 1. ‘The authority of Plato, Aristotle and Socrates carries little weight with me’: Spinoza and Epicureanism -- 2. The Three Themes of Spinoza’s Epicureanism: Authority, Monism and Judgement -- 3. The Dialectic of Authority and Utility: Spinoza’s Promise -- 1. Freedom as Overcoming the Fear of Death: The Dialectic of Authority and Utility in the Preface -- Introduction -- 1. ‘A free man thinks of nothing less than of death . . .’: Fear and Freedom in Epicurus -- 2. Ante-secularism: The Construction of Authority and Human Nature in Lucretius -- 3. ‘Fighting for their servitude as if for salvation’: Monarchy versus Democracy -- 2. The Power of Error: Moses, the Prophets and the People (chapters 1, 2 and 3) -- Introduction -- 1. Moses: Prophecy as Communication -- 2. ‘God has no particular style of speech’: The Error about God’s Potentia -- 3. Encountering the People: Causality and Instrumentality -- 3. Philonomianism: Law and the Origin of Finitude (chapter 4) -- Introduction -- 1. Ratio Vivendi: Law and Living -- 2. ‘You cannot make a republic without killing people’: The Tragedy of Legitimacy without Authority in Hannah Arendt -- 3. On the Origins of Finitude: History as Tragedy or Comedy? -- 4. Political Monism: The Primacy of Utility over Authority (chapters 5 and 6) -- Introduction -- 1. ‘Society is advantageous’: Utility and Social Formation -- 2. Natural and Agonistic Democracy -- 3. Political Monism: The Utility of Miracles -- 5. Love your Friend as Yourself: The Neighbour and the Politics of Biblical Hermeneutics (chapters 7 to 13) -- Introduction -- 1. Monism and Interpretation: No Meaning Outside the Text -- 2. Didactic Authority: The Universal as Communication -- 3. Universality without Transcendence: Levinas contra ‘Spinozism’ -- 6. The Freedom to Philosophize: The Two Paths to Virtue (chapters 14 and 15) -- Introduction -- 1. ‘Finally’? The Politics of the Distinction between Faith and Reason -- 2. The Necessary Rebel: The Transversal of Faith and Reason -- 3. The Freedom to Philosophize: Freedom from Personal Authority and the Freedom to Transverse -- 7. Fear and Power: Natural Right and Authorization in Spinoza and Hobbes (chapter 16) -- Introduction -- 1. Epicurean Communities: Fear and Utility -- 2. The Robber in the Night: On the Promise -- 3. The Right to Resist or the Fallibility of Judgement? On the Limits of Authorization -- 8. Theocracy: On the State of Authority (chapters 17 and 18) -- Introduction -- 1. Josephus: The Anti-authoritarianism of Theocracy -- 2. Between Tyranny and Revolution: The Limits of the State of Authority -- 3. The Fragmentation of Authority: On the Reasons for the Destruction of the Hebrew State -- 9. The Authority to Abrogate: The Two Paths to Virtue and the Internal Enemy (chapters 19 and 20) -- Introduction -- 1. The Path of the Emotions: Neighbourly Love as a Political Principle -- 2. The Path of Reason: The Unendurable in Politics -- 3. The Right to Abrogate: The Internal Enemy and Democracy -- Conclusion: The Limitation of Spinoza’s Epicureanism -- Bibliography -- Index