French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Negri, Spinoza et nous
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Antonio Negri, Spinoza et nous
Paris: Galilée, coll. "La Philosophie en effet", 2010.
152 p.
Price: 26 EUR.
EAN: 9782718608341.
Publisher's overview:
In the early 1980s, while imprisoned on extremely serious political charges (which were subsequently, and fortunately, proven to be entirely groundless), Antonio Negri—both a renowned academic and a far-left activist—began working on a book about Spinoza. Written under difficult conditions within the four walls of a cell, this text would become The Savage Anomaly, published in France in 1982 with a triple preface by Gilles Deleuze, Pierre Macherey, and Alexandre Matheron.
Nearly thirty years later, what remains of this "heretical" reading of Spinoza, whose genealogy Negri sought to root in the events of 1968? What advancements have been made in the field of Spinozist studies? And how can we once again bring the Ethics into dialogue with our contemporary reality, especially at a time when our current conditions seem to distance us ever further from that "short twentieth century" of which 1968 arguably formed a part?
Through a series of texts delivered as lectures and papers in recent years, Antonio Negri endeavors to assess a certain tradition of Spinozism, to explain the success of the interpretive lineage to which he belongs—placing him in the shadow of other prominent figures in philosophical research (Deleuze, Matheron) with whom he maintains an ongoing, distant dialogue—and to revive key debates in light of our present day.
The concept of ontology, the dialogue between Spinoza's thought and the human and social sciences, the highly complex relationship between Spinozism and Heideggerian thought, the definition of what a philosophy of immanence can be, and the possibility of a political reading of the Ethics are all themes revisited here to once again demonstrate the extraordinary richness of the "abnormal" and "savage" philosophy of the Amsterdam thinker.
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An article on this work can be read on the nonfiction.fr website:
This volume situates itself within the vibrant post-1968 French and Italian reception of Baruch Spinoza, a period when thinkers like Gilles Deleuze and Pierre Macherey sought to liberate the Dutch philosopher from traditional scholastic interpretations. By reading Spinoza through a political lens, Antonio Negri aligns himself with a radical philosophical tradition that views the Ethics not as a detached metaphysical treatise, but as a vital ontology of liberation. This collection allows readers to trace how these intense intellectual debates from the late twentieth century continue to challenge contemporary social and political theory.
Spinoza et nous addresses crucial questions regarding the relationship between immanence, subjectivity, and collective power in our current historical moment. It explores how Spinozist ontology can dialogue with the modern human sciences and offer an alternative to Heideggerian thought. This work is highly valuable for students and scholars of continental philosophy, political theory, and the history of ideas. It provides an accessible yet profound entry point for anyone seeking to understand how seventeenth-century rationalism can be used to analyze modern power structures and revive democratic aspirations.