•  164
    The philosophical innovations of Margaret Cavendish
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 7 (2). 1999.
    No abstract
  •  3
    Life and Death in Early Modern Philosophy (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2021.
    This book explores the breadth of philosophical interest in life and death during the early modern period. It connects debates in philosophy with the life sciences, linking the study of organisms to the practical aspect of philosophy, and reminding us that that philosophers were concerned with learning how to live and how to die.
  •  13
    Margaret Cavendish: Political Writings (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2003.
    Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, published a wide variety of works including poems, plays, letters and treatises of natural philosophy, but her significance as a political writer has only recently been recognised. This major contribution to the series of Cambridge Texts includes the first ever modern edition of her Divers Orations on English social and political life, together with a new student-friendly rendition of her imaginary voyage, A New World called the Blazing World. Susan Jame…Read more
  •  9
    Spinoza on Learning to Live Together
    Oxford University Press. 2020.
    Philosophising, as Spinoza conceives it, is the project of learning to live joyfully. This in turn is a matter of learning to live together, and the most obvious test of philosophical insight is our capacity to sustain a harmonious way of life. Susan James defends this interpretation and explores Spinoza's influence on contemporary debates.
  • GATENS, M. and LLOYD, G.-Collective Imaginings
    Philosophical Books 42 (3): 201-202. 2001.
  •  81
    To become more free, Spinoza argues, we need to develop the virtue of fortitudo - the determination to enlarge our understanding and live as it dictates. In an era of post-factual politics, there is arguably a need for this virtue, and in this piece I examine Spinoza's account of the process by which it is acquired. As he sees it, I argue, the process is gradual and is always a collective one. Part of the task of politics is therefore to cultivate fortitudo.
  •  65
    Why 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
  •  87
    When Does Truth Matter? Spinoza on the Relation between Theology and Philosophy
    European Journal of Philosophy 20 (1): 91-108. 2012.
    One of the aims of Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus is to vindicate the view that philosophy and theology are separate forms of enquiry, neither of which has any authority over the other. However, many commentators have objected that this aspect of his project fails. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Spinoza implicitly gives epistemological precedence to philosophy. I argue that this objection misunderstands the nature of Spinoza's position and wrongly charges him with inconsist…Read more
  •  42
    The Politics of Emotion: Liberalism and Cognitivism
    Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 58 231-244. 2006.
    Liberal political theorists commend a comparatively orderly form of life. It is one in which individuals and groups who care about different things, and live in different ways, nevertheless share an overriding commitment to liberty and toleration, together with an ability to resolve conflicts and disagreements in ways that do not violate these values. Both citizens and states are taken to be capable of negotiating points of contention without resorting to forms of coercion such as abuse, blackma…Read more
  •  63
    The Content of Social Explanation
    Cambridge University Press. 1984.
    This is a study of the central questions of explanation in the social sciences, and a defence of 'holism' against 'individualism'. In the first half of the book Susan James sets out very clearly the philosophical background to this controversy. She locates its source not at the analytical level at which most of the debate is usually conducted but at a more fundamental, moral level, in different conceptions of the human individual. In the second half of the book she examines critically three case…Read more
  •  3
    The passions in metaphysics and the theory of action'
    In Daniel Garber & Michael Ayers (eds.), The Cambridge History of Seventeenth-Century Philosophy, Cambridge University Press. pp. 1--913. 1998.
  •  94
    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.
  •  37
    Spinoza on the Politics of Philosophical Understanding
    Proceedings 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
  •  49
    Spinoza on the Passionate Dimension of Philosophical Reasoning
    In Sabrina Ebbersmeyer (ed.), Emotional Minds, De Gruyter. pp. 71. 2012.
    Book synopsis: The thoroughly contemporary question of the relationship between emotion and reason was debated with such complexity by the philosophers of the 17th century that their concepts remain a source of inspiration for today’s research about the emotionality of the mind. The analyses of the works of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and many other thinkers collected in this volume offer new insights into the diversity and significance of philosophical reflections about emotions during the ear…Read more
  •  3
    Spinoza and Other Heretics
    Philosophical Books 32 (2): 80-82. 1991.
  •  3
  •  44
    In the TTP Spinoza addresses in its full complexity the question of whether a republican theorist, committed to the view that the primary goal of political life is freedom conceived as the absence of slavery or dependence on arbitrary will, has any need for the notion of a right. His answer is designed to draw us away from many of the assumptions that run through the natural law tradition. Rather than accepting that our rights are stable, located in individuals, and absolute, we should be prepar…Read more
  •  15
    In 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.
  •  16
    Power and Difference: Spinoza's Conception of Freedom
    Journal of Political Philosophy 4 (3): 207-228. 1996.
  •  389
    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
  •  51
    Law and sovereignty in Spinoza's politics
    In 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
  •  59
    Freedom, slavery and the passions
    In 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
  •  157
    I—Susan James: Creating Rational Understanding: Spinoza as a Social Epistemologist
    Aristotelian 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
  •  55
    Benedict de Spinoza
    The Philosophers' Magazine 58 57-59. 2012.