The Oxford Spinoza Conference 2026

Oxford Spinoza Conference 2026

Spinoza in Context: War, Peace, Colonialism & Slavery

7 May 2026

8.30-9.00

Coffee Reception in the Harold Lee Room

Welcome by

James Read (Pembroke)

Part One — War & Conflict

Chair: Olivier Yasar de France (Pembroke)

9.00-10.15

Opening Keynote

Jonathan Israel (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton)

Spinoza on War & Peace in the Midst of the Anglo-Dutch Wars

10.15-11.00

Jack Stetter (Louisiana State)

‘Duae civitates natura hostes sunt’: States as Enemies in Spinoza’s Political Treatise 

11.00-11.30

Refreshments on the Isaacson Terrace

11.30-12.15

Mark Markovich (Sofia St. Kliment)

Two Realisms in Dialogue: Spinoza, Condé, & the Desacralization of War in 1672

Part Two — Concord & Democracy

Chair: Susan James (Birkbeck)

12.15-1.00

Ericka Tucker (Marquette)

Epistemic Democracy & Spinoza’s Political Epistemology

1.00-2.30

Lunch for speakers

2.30-3.15

Antonio Borge (Nottingham)

Towards an Objectivist Reading of Spinoza’s Panpsychism

Part Three — Slavery & Colonialism

Chair: Mogens Lærke (CNRS, MFO)

3.15-4.00

Bernardo Bianchi (Centre Marc Bloch)

Republicanism & the Figure of the ‘Indian’: Van den Enden in Spinoza’s Political Milieu

4.00-4.30

Refreshments on the Isaacson Terrace

4.30-5.15

Ruben Noorloos (UCD)

Van den Enden on Slavery & Equality

5.15-6.30

Closing Keynote

Hasana Sharp (McGill)

Spinoza & Slavery

Concluding words by

The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder, Master of Pembroke