Spinoza‘s Paradoxical Conservatism

Zourabichvili‘s interpretation of Spinoza‘s political philosophy is radically unlike the established tradition. He explores Spinoza‘s philosophical theory of change across three different studies: one on ethical conversion and becoming wise, one on childhood and growing up and one on absolute monarchy and the free multitude. This edition includes a substantive Introduction situating and contextualising the book, laying out the major themes of Zourabichvili‘s analysis, as well as an exchange between Pierre Macherey and Zourabichvili - from 2004 - clarifying the themes and stakes of the investigation. François Zourabichvili was a director at the Collège international de philosophie in Paris from 1998 to 2004. He also wrote Deleuze: A Philosophy of the Event (Edinburgh University Press, 2012) and Spinoza: Une physique de la pensée (Presses Universitaires de Paris, 2002). Gil Morejón teaches at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of The Unconscious of Thought in Leibniz, Spinoza, and Hume (Edinburgh University Press, 2022).