Body, Sociability and the Construction of the Polis in Spinoza: Consequences for Education

Abstract

According to Dutch philosopher Spinoza (1631-1677), the body is a power of acting. This force of existence can be affected (checked or stimulated) by the mechanisms of subjection that discipline the body, with obvious consequences for our development and well-being. These were the questions for inquiry: what importance should be attributed to Spinoza in the ecology of existential knowledge? What kind of body experience does he advocate? What lessons for education can be drawn from his thinking? In this sense, we highlight as an axial objective: To discuss Spinoza’s importance in the idea of body as ecology of knowledge. As sources we used the published works of Spinoza. To achieve our goals, we adopted a methodological strategy that is enacted in an approximation between phenomenology and historical hermeneutics (in the wake of Husserl, Heidegger and Gadamer). It is a question of inquiring how the body is revealed to consciousness (disconcealment), because it plays an important role in the production of truth. As a conclusion we will say that Spinoza knew how to distance himself from the legacy of the process of body mortification and he also knew how to position himself critically vis-à-vis the ideas of modernity. He helps us find a more ecological type of education so we can establish healthier relationships.