Spinozism, or how to raise higher political consciousness - Interview with Jonathan Israel

Abstract

Since the publication of his book Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650-1750 (Oxford University Press, 2001), Jonathan Israel is contributing to a new writing of the modern era, placing the "Spinozism" in the center of the juice. Senior researcher at the Institute of Advanced Studies (Princeton, USA), he travels the world defending the relevance of Spinoza’s philosophy to think on the concept of democracy. His new book, The Expanding Blaze: How the American Revolution Ignited the World, 1775-1848 (2017), defines a new stage in his work.