Time, Duration and Eternity in Spinoza

Chantal Schütz is Head of Department of Languages and Cultures at the École Polytechnique, Paris. Her recent work is on early modern broadside ballads; Thomas Middleton; Shakespeare; and performances history Alexandre Matheron was formerly Professor of Philosophy at the Ecole normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud and the CNRS. His key works include The Individual and Community in Spinoza (Éditions de Minuit, 1968), Christ and the Salvation of the Ignorants in Spinoza (Éditions Aubier-Montaigne, 1971) and Anthropology and Politics in the 17th Century (Vrin, 1985). Eric Aldieri is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University. He is a translator of French Spinozism and author of several articles on both early modern philosophy and 20th century continental philosophy.

• Abbreviations 2Notes on Translation and Acknowledgements 3Eternity: A Problem ‘that Remains’ by Eric Aldieri 5Foreword 10Preface by Alexandre Matheron 11Introduction 13Part One: Eternity or Eternities? 19Chapter One: The Ontological Status of Eternity from the Short Treatise to the Ethics 19Chapter Two: Eternity, Coeternity, and Aeviternity: The Status of Infinite Beings 42Chapter Three: Eternity and Immortality: The Status of Finite Modes 57Chapter Four: Sub Specie Aeternitatis 80Part Two: From Eternity to Duration 91Chapter Five: Eternity and Temporality 91Chapter Six: The Nature and Origin of Duration 104Chapter Seven: The Sphere of Extension of Duration 129Conclusion 139Bibliography

Chantal Jaquet's impressive book decodes some of the most challenging concepts in Spinoza's philosophy. Her meticulous analysis of terms from across Spinoza’s corpus untangles the tightest knots in the final part of his Ethics. Jaquet's precision and care for philosophical language shine though in Aldieri’s translation.