Spinoza after Marx

Spinoza after Marx

Online event, May 27-29 (11:30-2:30 EDT)

This conference will explore the encounter between the thought of Spinoza and Marx, posing the question of how to conceive the two bodies of thought as a joint project. Produced in tandem with new political formations and demands, the interpretations of Spinoza that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century sought a break with traditional western metaphysics, rethinking the very terms on which philosophical and political debates took place. This revival proved especially fruitful among Marxist theoreticians—yet their modes of reading Spinoza, and of combining his thought with Marx’s, have been heterogeneous and often conflictual. We seek to trace the traditions and faultlines this encounter has given rise to, internationally and across the disciplines. What about Spinoza’s thought lends itself to revival of Marxism? Is Marx’s thought necessary for reevaluation of Spinoza? What is the Marx-Spinoza encounter today?

REGISTER: https://bit.ly/3xGQO8T 

May 27 (11:30-2:30 EDT): Panels and Discussion

Panel A: Mariana Gainza (University of Buenos Aires), Gil Morejón (DePaul University)

Panel B: Vittorio Morfino (University of Milan-Bicocca), Alejo Stark (University of Michigan)

May 28 (11:30-2:30 EDT): Roundtable

Discussion on a pre-circulated propositions on the conditions of Marx-Spinoza encounter

Discussants: Siarhei Biareishyk (University of Pennsylvania), Bernardo Bianchi (Centre Marc Bloch), Cesare Casarino (University of Minnesota), Katja Diefenbach (European University Viadrina), Sandra Leonie Field (Yale-NUS), Eleanor Kaufman (UCLA), Jacques Lezra (UCR), Tracie Matysik (University of Texas at Austin), Warren Montag (Occidental College)

May 29 (11:30-2:30 EDT): Keynotes

A. Kiarina Kordela (Macalester College)

Jason Read (University of Southern Maine)

Organized by and in discussion with: Siarhei Biareishyk, Robin Manley (University of Pennsylvania), Megan Murray (University of Pennsylvania), Sam Samore (University of Pennsylvania), Tyler Re (University of Pennsylvania), Alejo Stark

Hosted by the Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, in cooperation with the Jewish Studies Program, and the Program in Comparative Literature & Theory, at the University of Pennsylvania.