With Hobbes and Locke, Spinoza is arguably one of the most important political philosophers of the modern era, a premier theoretician of democracy and mass politics. In this revised and augmented English translation of his 1985 classic,
Spinoza et la Politique, Etienne Balibar presents a synoptic account of Spinoza’s major works, admirably demonstrating relevance to his contemporary political life.
Balibar carefully situates Spinoza’s major treatises in the period in which they were written. In successive chapters, he examines the political situation in the United Provinces during Spinoza’s lifetime, Spinoza’s own religious and ideological associations, the concept of democracy developed in the
Theologico-Political Treatise, the theory of the state advanced in the
Political Treatise and the anthropological basis for politics established in the
Ethics.
Über den Autor
Peter Snowdon is a filmmaker and researcher. His feature-length film The Uprising, based entirely on You Tube videos from the Arab revolutions, was awarded the Opus Bonum Award for best world documentary at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and has screened at more than 30 festivals around the world. From 1997 to 2000 he lived in Cairo, where he was on the staff of Al-Ahram Weekly, and his writing on Arab politics and film has appeared in Open Democracy and Le Monde diplomatique. Peter has lived and worked in Egypt, Palestine, and France, and is currently based in Belgium, where he teaches filmmaking in the visual anthropology programme at Leiden University.