Spinoza, the Epicurean: Authority and Utility in Materialism

Argues that the Epicurean influence on Spinoza has profound implications for his conception of politics and ontology. Radically re-reads the Theological Political Treatise in relation to Spinoza's other works. Sets the book in the intellectual context of 17th-century approaches to religion, politics and society. Develops a thorough and coherent interpretation of Epicurean themes in Spinoza's thought. Makes an important contribution to the understanding of the broader influence of Epicureanism in modern philosophy. Through a radical new reading of the Theological Political Treatise, Dimitris Vardoulakis argues that the major source of Spinoza's materialism is the Epicurean tradition that re-emerges in modernity when manuscripts by Epicurus and Lucretius are rediscovered. This reconsideration of Spinoza's political project, set within a historical context, lays the ground for an alternative genealogy of materialism. Central to this new reading of Spinoza are the theory of practical judgment (understood as the calculation of utility) and its implications for a theory of democracy that is resolutely positioned against authority.