Spinoza Beyond Philosophy

Beyond the historical alternatives of materialism and idealism, these essays explore an ethics of affectivity, materiality and textuality. This wide-ranging collection is, in turns, fresh, ambitious, relevant, rich and engaged, capable of inspiring those who wish to live a thoughtful life that is fully integrated with all dimensions of experience.

Philip Goodchild, University of Nottingham

Reveals Spinoza's connections to architecture, literature, music, politics, ecology and beyond

This book brings Spinoza outside the realm of academic philosophy, and presents him as a thinker who is relevant to contemporary problems and questions across a variety of disciplines.

Discover how Spinoza's theory of bodies transforms our understanding of music, and how it grounds 'collective subjectivity' in contemporary politics. Learn how Spinoza's idea of freedom was instrumental to the Haitian revolution of 1791, and how it inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge's prose and George Eliot's novels. Find out how contemporary architecture, ecological activism, and the concept of human nature can be rethought through Spinoza's theory of affectivity.

This book of 10 engaging and original essays reveals that Spinoza is the interdisciplinary thinker for our times.

Beth Lord is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen.