Washington Spinoza Society

The 19th season of the Washington Spinoza Society will officially begin on Monday, September 9th at 6:30 p.m at the BCC Regional Services Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD, Conference Room Norfolk (C).

The presenter will be Professor Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins University), speaking on “Spinoza’s ‘Atheism.’”  In this paper, Professor Melamed will attempt to show that the only sense in which Spinoza can be genuinely considered an atheist is one that is not particularly informative.

All welcome.

CFA: Philosophy of Mind in Early Modern Philosophy

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Philosophy of Mind in Early Modern Philosophy Conference

April 28 – 29, 2018

Hosted by Princeton University

Submission Deadline: Feb 1st, 2018

 

We invite graduate students to submit abstracts on any topic at the intersection of early modern philosophy (from Descartes to Hume) and philosophy of mind. Topics include, but are not limited to, the nature of ideas, the development of psychology as a discipline, the faculties, perception, animal cognition, the mind-body problem, personal identity, judgment, the passions, representation, and consciousness. Confirmed invited speakers include Don Garrett (NYU), Gary Hatfield (UPenn), Julia Jorati (OSU), John Morrison (Columbia), Amy Schmitter (Alberta), Galen Strawson (UT Austin), and Shelley Weinberg (Illinois). For more details, please visit the conference’s website: pmemp.net.

Abstracts should not exceed 500 words. They should be prepared for blind review and sent as a PDF file to pmemphilosophy@gmail.com. In a separate PDF attachment, please include your name, academic affiliation, email address, and paper title.

We encourage applications from individuals from historically under-represented groups.

Any questions can be directed to Claudia Dumitru, at cdumitru@princeton.edu, Alejandro Naranjo Sandoval, at ans@princeton.edu, or Domenica Romagni, at domenica@princeton.edu.

Notification of Acceptance by March 1st, 2018

CFA: Pacific Northwest/Western Canada SEMP

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Pacific Northwest/Western Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy

Meeting at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

March 2-4, 2018

The meeting of the Pacific Northwest/Western Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy will be held at the University of Washington over the weekend of 2-4 of March, 2018.  Lisa Shapiro (Simon Fraser University) will be the keynote speaker.

As with other Seminars in Early Modern Philosophy, papers on any subject in early modern philosophy (roughly, the period from Montaigne to Kant) are welcome. We particularly encourage papers which suggest new or less frequently discussed topics, themes, and critical approaches to the history of modern philosophy, discuss and familiarize the group with new texts, or deploy an interdisciplinary approach. We welcome submissions from advanced graduate students.  Submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed anonymously by a group of faculty from universities throughout the region. Reading time of papers should be approximately 45 minutes.

Submissions: Please send an abstract of no more than 600 words by November 20, 2017. Abstracts should not contain identifying information, which should appear on a separate cover page. We prefer that abstracts be sent electronically by attachment in PDF format to: Michael Rosenthal (rosentha@uw.edu).

Attendance is free and all are welcome.  Please note that no financial assistance can be provided to support travel expenses and accommodation.

Details on the program and accommodations will be available in early January.  You can find a copy of this call for abstracts on this webpage, which will also link you to further program information when it becomes available:

https://phil.washington.edu/news/2017/09/05/call-abstracts-pacific-northwestwestern-canada-seminar-early-modern-philosophy

 

CFP: Spinoza on Virtue and Vice

The North American Spinoza Society is sponsoring a session at the 2018 Central meeting of the American Philosophical Association on the topic “Spinoza on Virtue and Vice.” Papers on any aspect of Spinoza’s views on virtues and (or) vices are welcome. The 2018 Central APA meeting will be held in Chicago from February 21 to February 24.

For consideration to participate, please submit an abstract. An abstract should be prepared for blind review and no more than 750 words. Include contact information and the title of the paper in the email with the abstract attached as a word, pdf, or rtf document. With the subject heading NASS Central 2018, please send submissions to: *adyoupa@gmail.com <adyoupa@gmail.com>*.

Deadline for submission: *September 1, 2017*.

 

Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy conference

Spinoza and Modern Jewish Philosophy

University of Washington (Seattle)

May 21-22, 2017

 

Sunday, May 21st

UW Hillel, 4745 17th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105

 

12:45pm Welcome and Opening Remarks Michael A. Rosenthal (University of Washington)

1-3pm — Panel 1 (UW Hillel): Spinoza in the 17th Century

Spinoza on the Divinity of Scripture: Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Spinoza, His Family, and the Revolts against Philip II and the Inquisition: Jonathan Israel (Institute for Advanced Studies)

3:15-5:15pm –Panel 2 (UW Hillel): Spinoza, the Jewish Enlightenment, and German Radicals Session

Activity and Suspension: German-Jewish Spinozists Respond to Hegel: Tracie Matysik (University of Texas)

The Study of Scripture and the Study of Nature: Michah Gottlieb (New York University)

Solomon Maimon on Spinoza, Mendelssohn, and the Maskilim: Abraham Socher (Oberlin College)

7:00pm — Stroum Lecture featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel (Kane Hall, room 220): In What Sense Was Spinoza a Revolutionary Thinker?

 

Monday, May 22nd

Husky Union Building, 4001 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195

 

9am-11am — Panel 3 (HUB, room 334): Spinoza and Jewish Politics

The Prophets at War:  Hermann Cohen on Spinoza and the Moral Basis of Citizenship:  Michael A. Rosenthal (University of Washington)

Particularism and Universalism Revisited: Spinoza, Leon Roth, and the Category of “Jewish Philosophy”: Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University)

The Zionist Critique of Spinoza’s Politics: Julie E. Cooper (Tel Aviv University)

LUNCH BREAK

1-3pm – Panel 4 (HUB, room 334): Spinoza, the Emotions, and Kabbalah

Spinoza and Freud on Bodies, Images, and Affects: Julie R. Klein (Villanova University)

The Greatest Thing You’ll Ever Learn: Debating Spinoza over Loving God and Being Loved in Return: Benjamin Pollock (Hebrew University)

Spinoza, Platonism, and Some Jewish Thinkers: Michael Morgan (University of Toronto and Indiana University)

3:30-5:30pm – Panel 5 (HUB, room 334): Spinoza and Modernity

Spinoza on the Election of the Hebrews: Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins University)

The Hyphen in the Theological-Political:  Spinoza to Mendelssohn, Heine and Derrida: Willi Goetschel (University of Toronto)

Toward a History of Jewish Anti-Spinozism: Daniel Schwartz (George Washington University)

 

Tuesday, May 23rd

7:00pm — Stroum Lecture featuring Prof. Jonathan Israel (Kane Hall, room 220): Jewish Emancipation and the Radical Enlightenment

 

For registration for both the conference and the Stroum Lectures, see the webpage: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/spinoza-modern-jewish-philosophy/.

 

For further information on the schedule, see the webpage: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/spinoza-modern-jewish-philosophy/conference-schedule/

 

For further information on the participants, see the webpage: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/spinoza-modern-jewish-philosophy/speakers/

 

If you have any other questions regarding logistics, please contact the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies: http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/

The Conference has been supported by The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, The Simpson Center for the Humanities, and the Departments of Philosophy and Germanics at the University of Washington.

Spinoza and Aesthetics conference

SPINOZA & AESTHETICS/SPACE
Friday April 21, 2017

INTRODUCTION | JB Shank | University of Minnesota 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

WORKSHOP I | Arun Saldanha | University of Minnesota: Spinoza’s Geography of Bodies: Global Capitalism and the Responsibility to Revolt
Respondents| Harshit Rathi + Joseph Bermas-Dawes  11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

LUNCH BREAK 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

WORKSHOP II | Peg Rawes| University College London: Dissimilarity: Spinoza’s Ethical Ratios and Housing Welfare. Respondents| Anjali Ganapathy + Austin Young  2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

COFFEE BREAK 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

WORKSHOP III | Susan Ruddick| University of Toronto: A/Synchronic Earth: Spinoza and the Spatial Aesthetic of the Anthropocene. Respondents| Kai Bosworth + Lindsey Weber   4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

135 Nicholson Hall | University of Minnesota

For information: Cesare Casarino: casarino@umn.edu, Anjali Ganapathy: ganap002@umn.edu
Co-sponsored by the Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World; the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature; the Department of Architecture

Spinoza: Reason, Religion, and Politics conference

SPINOZA: REASON, RELIGION AND POLITICS
The relation between the Ethics and the Theological-Political Treatise

Princeton University
Department of Philosophy
May 5-7, 2017

Friday, May 5
9:30AM: Piet Steenbakkers (Utrecht University): Parallel Masterpieces: Intertextuality in Spinoza’s Ethica and Tractatus theologico-politicus

10 :30AM : Pierre-François Moreau (ENS-Lyon): The Metaphysics of the Tractatus Theologico-politicus

11:30AM: Mogens Laerke (CNRS and ENS-Lyon): Common Notions in Ethics and the TTP

12:30-1:30PM: Lunch

1:30PM: E.M. Curley (University of Michigan): Laws of Nature in the Ethics and the TTP

2:30PM: Emanuela Scribano (Università Ca’Foscari, Venice): Miracles and Finalism. From the TTP to Ethics

3:30PM: Kristin Primus (University of California, Berkeley): On Certain Adventitious Ideas: Revelation and Intuition

4:30-5:00PM: Coffee

5:00PM: Donald Rutherford (University of California, San Diego): The Ethics of the Theological-Political Treatise

6:00PM: Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin, Madison): The Ethics as a Theological-Political Treatise

Saturday, May 6
9:30AM: Jonathan Israel (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton): Where is the collective morality in Spinoza’s ethics? Connecting Spinoza’s ‘Ethics’ Part Five to his Political Philosophy

10:30AM: Andrea Sangiacomo (University of Groningen): Is wonder a remedy against the passions? Spinoza’s struggling with Descartes’ legacy in the Theological-Political Treatise and in the Ethics

11:30AM: Michael Rosenthal (University of Washington): Sovereign Decisions: The Will and the Law in the Ethics and the TTP

12:30-1:30PM: Lunch

1:30PM: Theo Verbeek (University of Utrecht): Divine Law in the TTP and Ethics

2:30PM: Oded Schechter (University of Hamburg): Obedience and Revelation in the TTP and in Spinoza’s mature philosophy (Ethics and TP)

3:30-4:00PM: Coffee

4:00PM: Pina Totaro (ILIESI and University of Rome “La Sapienza”): Littera and Spiritus: On the Relationship between the Tractatus Theologico-politicus and the Ethics

5:00PM: Julie Klein (Villanova University): Knowers and Learners: Spinozan Pedagogy
Sunday, May 7
10:00AM: Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins University): Spinoza’s ‘Atheism’

11:00AM: Daniel Garber (Princeton University): Spinoza’s Many Gods

12:00: PM: Russ Leo (Princeton University): Thomas Hobbes, the English Restoration, and the International Audience for Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

All sessions of the conference will be held in Marx 301 on the campus of Princeton University.

This conference was organized by Daniel Garber, Mogens Laerke, Pierre-François Moreau, and Pina Totaro. The organizers would like to thank the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University, the Humanities Council of Princeton University, the Princeton University Center for Human Values, and the École Normale Supérieure of Lyon for their kind support.

For further information write Daniel Garber (dgarber@princeton.edu).

Symposium: Spinoza’s Translations (Minneapolis)

Spinoza Scholarship Group Symposium

Spinoza’s Translations: New Directions in Spinoza Scholarship

April 15-16, 2016, Minneapolis

 

Friday, April 15

WORKSHOP I  |  Kiarina Kordela  |  Macalester College

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Spinoza’s Sovereignty: Fantasy and the Immanent Decision of Interpretation

 

 Saturday, April 16

WORKSHOP II  |  Warren Montag  |  Occidental College

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

 The Place of Hatred in the Theologico-Political Apparatus

 

WORKSHOP III  |  Hasana Sharp  |  McGill University

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Spinoza in the Anthropocene

 

LECTURE  |   WARREN MONTAG

5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Do Not Add to His Words: The Problem of Translation in Chapter Seven of Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise

 

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA | MINNEAPOLIS | U.S.A

Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature

 135 Nicholson Hall

Cesare Casarino: casarino@umn.edu, Anjali Ganapathy: ganap002@umn.edu

Pre-circulated workshop papers  | RSVP: ganap002@umn.edu

 

Spinoza’s Politics: NASS Group Session at APA Central, Chicago

North American Spinoza Society Group Session at the APA-Central Chicago

Thursday, March 3rd, 2015 9:00am-Noon

“Spinoza’s Politics”

Michael Lebuffe (University of Otago) “Reason and Religion in the Citizen of Spinoza’s State”

James Ong (High Point University) “The Philosophical and Political Significance of Spinoza’s ‘free people’”

Céline Hervet (Université de Picardie-Jules Verne) “Councils, Syndics, Senate and the Power of Speech in Spinoza’s political philosophy: a Naturalistic Source of Deliberative Democracy?”

James Sikkema (McMaster University) “Joining Forces: Towards a Virtual-Political Mereology in Spinoza”

Sandra Field (Yale-NUS) “Aristocracy and the Logic of Spinoza’s Political Philosophy”

Edwin Curley (Michigan) “On the Social Contract in Spinoza”

 http://www.spinozasociety.org/events/