Thinking With Spinoza: Politics, Philosophy and Religion
This conference, sponsored by the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study; the European Journal of Philosophy; the British Society for the History of Philosophy and the School of Philosophy, Birkbeck, took place on 7th and 8th May 2009 at Birkbeck College
A podcast of the conference is now available.
Does religious pluralism undermine political co-operation? Does religion differ from superstition? What is the scope of philosophical knowledge? Can it live alongside religious faith? How can states combine pluralism with solidarity? How deeply does political co-operation depend on imagined narratives? These and other themes of Spinoza’s seminal Theologico-Political Treatise will be discussed
Speakers:
Etienne Balibar (Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities), Spinoza’s Three Gods and the Modes of Communication
Aaron Garrett, (Boston University), Knowing the Essence of the State
Don Garrett (New York University), Spinoza’s ‘Promising’ Ideas: Hobbes and Contract in Spinoza's Political Philosophy
Moira Gatens (University of Sydney), Compelling Fictions. Spinoza and George Eliot on Belief and Faith
Susan James (Birkbeck College), When does Truth Matter? The Politics of Spinoza’s Philosophy
Warren Montag (Occidental College), Lucretius Hebraizant: Spinoza’s reading of Ecclesiastes
Lorenzo Vinciguerra (Université de Reims) The Prophet and his Sign
Further attraction:
Beth Lord (University of Dundee) will launch the Spinoza Research Network