Spinoza's disturbing thesis: Power, norms and fiction in the tractatus theologico-politicus

Abstract

This paper treats a recalcitrant problem in Spinoza scholarship, namely, how to reconcile the conception of 'power' in his political writings with that found in his Ethics. Some have doubted the capacity of Spinoza's political philosophy to yield an adequate normative theory. If he is unable to provide a normative ground for political philosophy then perhaps this exposes a problem in Spinoza's philosophy taken as a whole. I argue that the considerable normative resources of his ethical and political philosophy, as well their continuing relevance today, are best appreciated through attending to his notion of the exemplar.

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