Spinoza's Critique of Hobbes

Christian Lazzeri is Professor Emeritus of Political Philosophy at Paris Nanterre University. His books include Droit, pouvoir et liberté (PUF, 1998), Force et justice dans la politique de Pascal (PUF, 1993) and the edited volumes Spinoza: Puissance et impuissance de la raison (PUF, 1998), La reconnaissance aujourd’hui (CNRS, 2009) and Reconnaissance, identité et intégration sociale (Presses universitaires de Paris Ouest, 2009). He has published numerous translations in addition to authoring more than a hundred articles in political philosophy, philosophy of science and the philosophy of the social sciences. Nils F. Schott is an academic translator and editor. With Alexandre Lefebvre, he is the co-editor of three books: Henri Bergson’s lectures on Freedom at the Collège de France (Bloomsbury, 2024); a collection of essays, Interpreting Bergson: Critical Essays (Cambridge University Press, 2019); and a translation of Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Henri Bergson (Duke University Press, 2015). With Hent de Vries, he edited Love and Forgiveness for a More Just World (Columbia University Press, 2015). He has translated more than twenty books in philosophy and related fields, including, for Edinburgh University Press, Deleuze's Philosophy of Law by Laurent de Sutter.

This newly translated work of Christian Lazzeri's is a masterpiece of both interpretation and political philosophical reasoning. The depth, thoroughness and fairness of the analysis of both Hobbes and Spinoza is such that the result is more a comparison than a critique. From now on, anyone working seriously on the political philosophy of Hobbes or Spinoza, and the era in which they wrote, will need to consult Lazzeri's work.

• AbbreviationsIntroduction: Spinoza, a Disciple of Hobbes?1. Reason and Passions2. The Logic of Conflicts3. Natural Right and Natural Law4. What is a Transfer of Rights?5. The Formation of the State6. The Question of Sovereignty7. Regime and GovernmentPostface to the English EditionBibliographyIndex