Event Catch-up: Etienne Balibar in Conversation

We were delighted to host philosopher Etienne Balibar in a fascinating online conversation about his book, Spinoza: The Transindividual. Published in our Incitements series, it is one of the most important books published on Spinoza in the last 30 years.…

Photograph of the US Capitol at night

Spinoza and democracy in peril

By Dan Taylor In October 2020, in the days leading up to the US Presidential Election, over 130 leading historians of fascism signed an open letter. They warned that democracy today is deeply imperilled. It is either ‘withering or in…

The world of Spinoza's Theological–Political Treatise

The world of Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise

By Dan Taylor Baruch Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise, published anonymously in 1670, quickly turned Europe upside-down. Dismissed by one contemporary as a book ‘forged in hell by the Devil himself’, it argued that for societies to endure conflict and flourish, they…

Wonder was eclipsed by the Sublime in paintings such as The Great Day of His Wrath

Rediscovering the Wonder of Philosophy

Wonder is largely absent as a topic of concern to contemporary philosophers. Yet ancient philosophers saw it as the source of what was distinctive in their way of thinking. Plato and Aristotle thought that it was the stirrings of wonder…