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21Power and Difference: Spinoza's Conception of FreedomJournal of Political Philosophy 4 (3): 207-228. 1996.
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68Freedom, slavery and the passionsIn Olli Koistinen (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza's Ethics, Cambridge University Press. pp. 223--241. 2009.Book synopsis: Since its publication in 1677, Spinoza’s Ethics has fascinated philosophers, novelists, and scientists alike. It is undoubtedly one of the most exciting and contested works of Western philosophy. Written in an austere, geometrical fashion, the work teaches us how we should live, ending with an ethics in which the only thing good in itself is understanding. Spinoza argues that only that which hinders us from understanding is bad and shows that those endowed with a human mind should…Read more
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80Why Should We Read Spinoza?Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 78 109-125. 2016.Historians of philosophy are well aware of the limitations of what Butterfield called ‘Whig history’: narratives of historical progress that culminate in an enlightened present. Yet many recent studies retain a somewhat teleological outlook. Why should this be so? To explain it, I propose, we need to take account of the emotional investments that guide our interest in the philosophical past, and the role they play in shaping what we understand as the history of philosophy. As far as I know, this…Read more
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60Rights, moral and enforceable: A reply to Saladin meckled-GarciaProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 105 (1). 2005.
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60Narrative as the means to freedom: Spinoza on the uses of imaginationIn Yitzhak Y. Melamed & Michael A. Rosenthal (eds.), Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press. pp. 250. 2010.
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174The philosophical innovations of Margaret CavendishBritish Journal for the History of Philosophy 7 (2). 1999.No abstract
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22In the Tractatus Politicus Spinoza argues that politically unequal societies can be extremely stable. This feature of his work is at odds with a view, common in the literature, that Spinoza is a democratically-minded author who defends inclusive political systems, and in this paper I consider how he thinks inequality can be sustained. I focus on his discussion of the ways in which envy can be offset or redirected; and I apply my conclusions to his notorious claim that women are not fit to rule.
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178I—Susan James: Creating Rational Understanding: Spinoza as a Social EpistemologistAristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 85 (1): 181-199. 2011.Does Spinoza present philosophy as the preserve of an elite, while condemning the uneducated to a false though palliative form of ‘true religion’? Some commentators have thought so, but this contribution aims to show that they are mistaken. The form of religious life that Spinoza recommends creates the political and epistemological conditions for a gradual transition to philosophical understanding, so that true religion and philosophy are in practice inseparable
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118Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics: The Theologico-Political TreatiseOxford University Press. 2012.Susan James explores the revolutionary political thought of one of the most radical and creative of modern philosophers, Baruch Spinoza. His Theologico-Political Treatise of 1670 defends religious pluralism, political republicanism, and intellectual freedom. James shows how this work played a crucial role in the development of modern society.
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394Passion and action: the emotions in seventeenth-century philosophyOxford University Press. 1997.Passion and Action is an exploration of the role of the passions in seventeenth-century thought. Susan James offers fresh readings of a broad range of thinkers, including such canonical figures as Hobbes, Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Pascal, and Locke, and shows that a full understanding of their philosophies must take account of their interpretations of our affective life. This ground-breaking study throws new light upon the shaping of our ideas about the mind, knowledge, and action, and pr…Read more
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53Event synopsis: The Society for Women in Philosophy, Ireland, in conjunction with UK Society for Women in Philosophy, are hosting their first joint conference. The conference aims to explore the broad theme of Politics and Women across philosophical traditions. 2012 marks the 90th anniversary of full women's suffrage in Ireland when all women over 21 were given the right to vote. Even so only around 15% of Irish politicians are women. In recognition of the continuing disparity between the promis…Read more
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13Event synopsis: The conference becomes a major academic event for republican studies in Russia and a meeting point with the leading European scholars in this field. In recent decades republicanism has become one of the central concerns in political theory and history, with studies exploring both republicanism as ‘a shared European heritage’ and reviving republican political thought to contribute to current debates on issues such as freedom, citizenship, equality, governance and international rel…Read more
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61Law and sovereignty in Spinoza's politicsIn Moira Gatens (ed.), Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza, Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 211--28. 2009.Book synopsis: This volume brings together international scholars working at the intersection of Spinoza studies and critical and feminist philosophy. It is the first book-length study dedicated to the re-reading of Spinoza’s ethical and theologico-political works from a feminist perspective. The twelve outstanding chapters range over the entire field of Spinoza’s writings—metaphysical, political, theological, ethical, and psychological—drawing out the ways in which his philosophy presents a ric…Read more
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189Beyond Equality and Difference: Citizenship, Feminist Politics and Female Subjectivity (edited book)Routledge. 1992.Historically, as well as more recently, women's emancipation has been seen in two ways: sometimes as the `right to be equal' and sometimes as the `right to be different'. These views have often overlapped and interacted: in a variety of guises they have played an important role in both the development of ideas about women and feminism, and the works of political thinkers by no means primarily concerned with women's liberation. The chapters of this book deal primarily with the meaning and use of …Read more
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45Spinoza on the Politics of Philosophical UnderstandingProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111 (3pt3). 2011.In this paper I offer three main challenges to James (2011). All three turn on the nature of philosophy and secure knowledge in Spinoza. First, I criticize James's account of the epistemic role that experience plays in securing adequate ideas for Spinoza. In doing so I criticize her treatment of what is known as the 'conatus doctrine' in Spinoza in order to challenge her picture of the relationship between true religion and philosophy. Second, this leads me into a criticism of her account of the…Read more
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102Power and difference: Spinoza's conception of freedomJournal of Political Philosophy 4 (3). 1996.
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27Democracy and the good life in Spinoza's philosophyIn Charles Huenemann (ed.), Interpreting Spinoza: Critical Essays, Cambridge University Press. 2008.
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Johns Hopkins UniversityRegular Faculty
Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
17th/18th Century Philosophy |