Through newly transcribed and translated lectures, Deleuze explores Spinoza’s philosophy concerning questions of good and evil and humanity’s potential for realizing a full life
Available for the first time in English, On Spinoza presents the annotated transcripts of Gilles Deleuze’s fifteen seminars on the seventeenth-century philosopher’s Ethics, delivered at the experimental University of Vincennes at the behest of Michel Foucault. Spinoza’s ambitious treatise was central to Deleuze’s thought, and his course provides an accessible framework for understanding the vitality of Spinoza’s philosophy.
In an informal classroom setting, Deleuze addresses fundamental aspects of Spinoza’s thought: How does one undo the negativity of harmful passions such as hate, resentment, and envy? How can a system of moral judgment based on good and evil be replaced by a more sophisticated ethics of the good and the bad? And since such questions commit Spinoza to a new theory of signs, Deleuze also delves into his thinking on how these signs should guide human existence and the differences between concepts of eternity, experienced in the here and now, and the immortality promised by philosophy and religion.
Building gradually from session to session, Deleuze shows how Spinoza rejects a hierarchical reality dominated by an authoritarian and impenetrable God, instead proposing a world ruled by light and reason in which all beings are equal. Annotated by David Lapoujade and including recorded exchanges with Deleuze’s students, On Spinoza offers a rare window into Deleuze’s teaching, offering readers a guide for linking Spinoza to other philosophers—including Deleuze himself.
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