Affects, Actions and Passions in Spinoza: The Unity of Body and Mind

by Chantal Jaquet, Tatiana Reznichenko (Translator)

Overview

It is widely recognised that Spinoza ended the Cartesian dualism of body and mind by thinking through the possibility of their unity. Revisiting this generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through the affects that bring together a body's affection and the idea of this affection. Jaquet reveals that understanding affects, actions and passions provides the key to how the mind and body are the same individual expressed in two different ways. She presents the Spinozist model in all its complexity, illuminating its potentialities for contemporary debates on the nature of the mind-body problem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474433198
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/07/2019
Series:	Spinoza Studies
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Chantal Schütz is Head of Department of Languages and Cultures at the École Polytechnique, Paris. Her recent work is on early modern broadside ballads; Thomas Middleton; Shakespeare; and performances history

Tatiana Reznichenko is a freelance translator and conference interpreter based in Paris.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The Nature of the Union of Mind and Body in Spinoza; 2. Spinoza's Break with Descartes Regarding the Affects in Ethics III; 3. The Different Origins of the Affects in the Preface to the Theological-Political Treatise and in the Ethics; 4. The Definition of Affect in Ethics III; 5. Variations of the Mixed Discourse; Conclusion; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"The discussion is technical but rewarding … The volume is the first in the Spinoza Studies series, which is intended to make the work of Continental scholars available in English. This first volume bodes well. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty."—C. A. Colmo, Dominican University, Choice

From the Publisher

The discussion is technical but rewarding … The volume is the first in the Spinoza Studies series, which is intended to make the work of Continental scholars available in English. This first volume bodes well. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice - C. A. Colmo