The French Spinoza Renaissance: Immanence in Philosophy (2013)

Undergraduate: Hudson Vincent

Faculty Advisor: Gregory Flaxman
Department: English & Comparative Literature

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Spinoza has become, since the 1960s, perhaps the most influential historical figure in contemporary French philosophy. Spinoza¿s influence itself is well described in works like The New Spinoza (2008), but no one has adequately shown why and how French intellectuals first turned to Spinoza in the 1960s. By conducting archival research at l¿Institut de M¿moires de l¿Edition Contemporaine and interviewing key members of this renaissance in France, including ¿tienne Balibar, Pierre Macherey, and Toni Negri, as well as an eminent historian of French philosophy, Alan Schrift, I discovered the reasons for the revitalization of Spinoza in the 1960s. The reasons were twofold: First, Nietzsche¿s reintroduction to French philosophy in the late 1950s and early 1960s provided an alternative reading of Spinoza to French academics. Second, the seminal lectures of Ferdinand Alqui¿ and Martial Gueroult inspired French scholars to return to Spinoza in a rigorous way. These two movements in France culminated in the works of Ferdinand Alqui¿, Andr¿ Malet, Martial Gueroult, Alexandre Matheron, Louis Althusser, Bernard Rousset, and perhaps most importantly Gilles Deleuze. These works culminated in a new practice in philosophy ¿ immanence in philosophy.