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.

• 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

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