Spinoza's Political Philosophy

Abstract

Riccardo Caporali makes a close and circular connection between metaphysics, ethics and politics in Spinoza’s thought. He offers an examination of all of Spinoza’s works while addressing the challenges imposed by the historical curcumstances at the time. As a result, Spinoza’s work and its author, the philosopher and the man, go hand in hand. Focusing on Spinoza’s constant preoccupation with the relationship between metaphysics and politics, Caporali shows that it takes different forms in his various major works. He highlights specific moments of this discontinuity, particulary in the transition between the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and the Tractatus Politicus. Caporali’s reconstruction of Spinoza’s political philosophy, alongside the historical context and events, is interwoven with with comparisons and references to Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Vico and Hegel, as well as to many contemporary interpretation of Spinoza’s thought.