Philosophy, as Spinoza understands it, is the art of learning to live as joyfully and securely as we can.  But because we can only practice this art collectively, philosophising is always a partly political project - a matter of learning to live together peacefully and harmoniously. What enables us to do this? In this talk Susan James discusses how some of Spinoza’s answers, especially his analysis of natural right, jolt our assumptions and make us reconsider the problem.

Her book, Spinoza on Learning to Live Together was published in 2020.

Speaker: Professor Susan James FBA, Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London

Image: Portrait of Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677) circa 1665. Gemäldesammlung der Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, via Wikimedia Commons.