Materialist Variations on Spinoza: Theoretical alliances and political strategies

Abstract

Common assertions suppose an incompatibility between critical-dialectical philosophies and Spinozist political ontologies, and allow for an Adornian critique of Spinoza’s Ethics: to live in accordance with one’s own being is a form of compliance to dominant values. By mapping contemporary Spinozism I show that within its tensions there is a place for dialectics, one which can be read in dialogue with the Adornian gesture denouncing the purported identity between particular and universal.