Encounters with Spinoza

Compiled by: Eylem Canaslan, Güçlü Ateşoğlu

Spinoza is a contrarian figure in the history of philosophy. It is a weed that reveals the people of the ancient world, who escaped from captivity and found the exit in Plato's "cave analogy" and thus encountered the sun, that is, knowledge, in the very heart of the modern world, with all their negativities, failures, sorrows, positivity, successes and joys. We are faced with a thinker who was able to demonstrate the wisdom that remains one and the same not only in his thought but also in his life. This encounter surrounds us with different aspects of his philosophy and prompts us to think in "an age that has forgotten how to think." Referring to Spinoza's concepts, this strengthens us as any "good encounter" would. In an age where we are surrounded by "superstitions" and "prejudices" and "people fight for their slavery as if they are fighting for their freedom", it reintroduces us to our own power and the power of our mind to think and question. Going back to Plato's analogy, it says that we can only get out of the cave on our own, not by following a leader.

The articles in this compilation deal with various forms of "encounters with Spinoza" with a breadth of perspective that is not limited to classical philosophy but also extends to law, politics and art: Encounters in the history of philosophy, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Hegel and the relationship between Jellinek and Spinoza. Just as there are articles on the subject, there are also articles dealing with Macherey and Deleuze's encounters with Spinoza. As well as articles examining Spinoza's own encounters, concepts and works (Spinoza's concepts of body and thought, fortitudo and peace, image and reason, his way of establishing the relationship between right and law, his remarks on Jesus and the New Testament, his first works, Spinoza parallelism). There are also articles that bring Sheikh Bedreddin and Spinoza together and bring Spinoza together with art. There are also articles on the politics of liberation based on its ontology, and on the politics of humor based on the theory of passions. Özge Akarsu, Güçlü Atesoglu, Çetin Balanuye, Bir Güngören Bulgan, Eylem Canaslan, Özge Ejder, Bülent Eken, Savas Ergül, Reyda Ergün, Gaye Çankaya Eksen, Bülent Gözkân, Orkun Güner, Nazile Kalayci, Emre Koyuncu, Alber Nahum, Mehmet Siray and This compilation, prepared with the contributions of Çetin Türkyılmaz, is one of the original examples of the increasing number of studies on Spinoza in Turkey.
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 288

Year of Printing: 2015


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Details Publications

First Print Year: 2015

Number of Pages: 288

Language Turkish