Spinoza Contra Phenomenology French Rationalism from Cavaill}}s to Deleuze [Hardcover]

Spinoza Contra Phenomenologyfundamentally recasts the history of postwar French thought, typically presumed to have been driven by a critique of reason indebted to Nietzsche and Heidegger. Although the reception of phenomenology gave rise to many innovative developments in French philosophy, from existentialism to deconstruction, not everyone in France was pleased with this German import. This book recounts how a series of French philosophers used Spinoza to erect a bulwark against the nominally irrationalist tendencies of phenomenology. From its beginnings in the interwar years, this rationalism would prove foundational for Althusser's rethinking of Marxism and Deleuze's ambitious metaphysics. There has been a renewed enthusiasm for Spinozism of late by those who see his work as a kind of neo-vitalism or philosophy of life and affect. Peden counters this trend by tracking a decisive and neglected aspect of Spinoza's philosophyhis rationalismin a body of thought too often presumed to have rejected reason. In the process, he demonstrates that the virtues of Spinoza's rationalism have yet to be exhausted.

Knox Peden'sSpinoza Contra Phenomenologyis now the definitive statement on what it meant for some of French philosophy's most influential 20th century thinkers to begin, in Hegel's words, 'at the standpoint of Spinozism' . . . [I]t is an enviable work of scholarship, both massive in its intellectual scope and nuanced in its attention to detail. For those interested in 20th century French intellectual history,Spinoza Contra Phenomenologyis sure to become essential reading. Spinoza Contra Phenomenologyis a serious and important endeavor, and it is perhaps not for the faint of philosophical heart. But for those interested in either Spinozism or developments in twentieth-century French thought, the book should be necessary reading. Peden's work is to be praised for drawing these philosophers to our attention, and for providing what l“Y