Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays on the metaphysical, political, theological, ethical and psychological writings of Spinoza. Examines the ways in which his philosophy presents a resource for the re-conceptualization of friendship, sexuality, politics and ethics in contemporary life.
Trade Review“This volume makes a significant contribution, both to Spinoza studies and to feminist theory. This stimulating collection of essays offers readers in both fields some provocative, and sometimes controversial, new interpretations of the classic rationalist philosopher.”
—Michael Rosenthal,University of Washington
“This volume is an excellent contribution to Spinoza scholarship. Spinoza scholars will find that this book offers new angles from which to think through questions about Spinoza’s metaphysics, ethics, and politics. Feminist researchers will find it provides additional, perhaps surprising resources for considering a range of issues, such as autonomy, individuality, political organization, ethics, and sexuality and gender.”
—Deborah Boyle Philosophy in Review
Table of ContentsContents
Preface Nancy Tuana
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations and Notes on Translations
1. Introduction: Through Spinoza’s “Looking Glass”
Moira Gatens
2. Dominance and Difference: A Spinozistic Alternative to the Distinction Between “Sex” and “Gender”
Genevieve Lloyd
3. Autonomy and the Relational Individual: Spinoza and Feminism
Aurelia Armstrong
4. Spinoza on the Pathos of Idolatrous Love and the Hilarity of True Love
Amelie Rorty
5. Spinoza and Sexuality
Alexandre Matheron
6. Reason, Sexuality, and the Self in Spinoza
David West
7. What Spinoza Can Teach Us About Embodying and Naturalizing Ethics
Heidi Morrison Ravven
8. Adam and the Serpent: Everyman and the Imagination
Paola Grassi
9. The Envelope: A Reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, “Of God”
Luce Irigaray
10. Re-reading Irigaray’s Spinoza
Sarah Donovan
11. The Politics of the Imagination
Moira Gatens
12. Law and Sovereignty in Spinoza’s Politics
Susan James
Further Reading
List of Contributors
Index
