Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom

Dan Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought at the Open University. He specialises in political theory and British politics. He’s the author of three books including Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), and Island Story: Journeys Through Unfamiliar Britain (shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2017). In 2023 he was awarded the title BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker.

• AbbreviationsIntroduction. Masaniello’s Moment 1. ServitudePrejudices of Nature Defining Servitude Political SlaveryTakeover2. Nature Natural Right Laws of Nature One with Nature The Black Jew Part 2. Desiring Freedom3. Power Potentia/Potestas Freedom ConatusMany Into One Infinite Space4. Desire Consciousness Akrasia Educating Joy Walking the Path Part 3. Commonality 5. Becoming Collective The Broken Middle CollectivityThe Unanimity Outline From Vulgus to PopulusInterdependence (or, on Sartre misreading Spinoza)6. We ImaginePhilosophy and Theology True Prophets Jesus Christ, Prophet–Philosopher A Collectivity to Come 7. The State Freedom is the State The Free Multitude Popular Government Becoming CivilThe Living StateCadenza. Prudentissimo Viro8. RevolutionIs it Reasonable to Rebel? Indignation EmulationPopulism for SpinozistsConclusion. For One and AllAcknowledgementsBibliography

This book by Dan Taylor, Lecturer at the Open University in England, is a testament to the growing dynamism of Spinoza studies in Britain in recent years, especially but not only in the political thought of the philosopher. … His emphasis on collectivity and on the collective character of freedom in particular gives the book its specificity. … The proposed analyses are precise, sometimes inventive, but always well grounded in the texts. … Taylor is indeed endowed with a real talent for narrating philosophy: he knows how to construct a narrative that reads with the ease of a novel without ever compromising the philosophical analysis. This is a rare ability that allows the reader to share with the author the obvious pleasure he took in writing his book, for this very reason destined to be well received by a much wider readership than that of "professional" Spinozists.