Spinozan Genealogies of Political Community

Time: 9.30am 

An international workshop organised by: 

the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales

Supported by:

the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry at the University of Sydney

Spinoza’s idea that ‘the right of the individual is co-extensive with its determinate power’ has influenced important strains of contemporary political thought including Deleuze and Foucault, the Althusser School with Negri and Balibar, and socialist theology after Feuerbach. However, the assertion of equivalence between rights and powers confounds classic conceptions of sovereignty and political justice. How is the protection of fragile bodies able to be secured, if the right to persevere is linked with a power of endurance? If the indivisible power of a sovereign state is aligned with its right, then how are we to think about contested sovereignties in jurisdictions after empire? Participants in this workshop consider how Spinozist genealogies of political community may provide resources for new thinking about pluralism, the political economy of corporeal capacity, and transformative sociality.

• Professor Warren Montag (Occidental College, Los Angeles)
• Dr Martin Saar (University of Frankfurt)

With the participation of

• Professor Moira Gatens (University of Sydney),
• Dr Aurelia Armstrong (University of Queensland),
• Dr Knox Peden (University of Queensland),
• Dr Dimitris Vardoulakis (UWS),
• Professor Miguel Vatter (UNSW),
• Professor Paul Patton (UNSW) and
• Dr Simone Bignall (UNSW).

Admission is free, but booking is essential. To reserve a place, please RSVP to

[email protected] by July 15.