Spinozism
Spinozism comprises historical interpretations of Spinoza rather than a single institution or a uniform doctrine. This entry begins with immanent causation, finite beings, and affects in the Ethics, then concentrates on Deleuze’s French reception.
Thinking humans within nature connects freedom and collective life with relations of power. Conatus, affectus, and potentia articulate distinct aspects of this investigation. Encounters alter capacities, and ethical inquiry examines the causes of these changes.
Deleuze’s 1968 study of expression and his expanded 1981 Practical Philosophy provide different approaches to this legacy. They open a passage towards questions of desire and assemblages without making Spinoza the retrospective author of Anti-Oedipus. The entry follows conceptual transformation between texts.
Baruch Spinoza, Ethica (1677), Pars I, Propositio XVIII; Pars III, Propositiones VI–XI.
Gilles Deleuze, Spinoza et le problème de l’expression (1968); Spinoza. Philosophie pratique (1981, expanded edition).