Spinoza, the Epicurean

Dimitris Vardoulakis is Professor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University. He is the author of The Doppelgänger: Literature’s Philosophy (2010), Sovereignty and its Other: Toward the Dejustification of Violence (2013), Freedom from the Free Will: On Kafka’s Laughter (SUNY, 2016) and Stasis Before the State: Nine Theses on Agonistic Democracy (2018). He has edited or co-edited numerous books, including Spinoza Now (2011) and Spinoza’s Authority (two volumes, 2018). He is co-series editor of Incitements and founding editor of the journal Philosophy, Politics and Critique, both at Edinburgh University Press.

An engagingly provocative and suggestive contribution to contemporary political theory and philosophy. [...] Summing Up: Recommended.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Why is Spinoza an Epicurean?Freedom as Overcoming the Fear of Death: The Dialectic of Authority and Utility in the PrefaceThe Power of Error: Moses, the Prophets and the PeoplePhilonomianism: Law and Origin of FinitudePolitical Monism: The Primacy of Utility over AuthorityLove Your Friend as Yourself: The Neighbor and the Politics of Biblical HermeneuticsThe Freedom to Philosophise: The Two Paths to VirtueFear and Power: Natural Right and Authorisation in Spinoza and HobbesTheocracy: On the State of AuthorityThe Authority to Abrogate: The Two Paths to Virtue and the Internal EnemyConclusion: The Limitation of Spinoza’s Epicureanism