ABSTRACTION AND NATURE: SPINOZA ON THE RULE OF LAW

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Published: 2015-06-15

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Gómez-Alonso, Modesto. 2015. “ABSTRACTION AND NATURE: SPINOZA ON THE RULE OF LAW”. Escritos 23 (50): 179-211. https://revistas.upb.edu.co/index.php/escritos/article/view/610.

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Modesto Gómez-Alonso
Pontifical University of Salamanca image/svg+xml
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6889-2330 (unauthenticated)

Abstract

This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the historical significance of Spinoza’s political theory, arguing that it fares much better in terms of shedding
light on the dynamics of power and on the nature of political commonwealths than its
Contractualist rivals, and that it deals pretty well with the predicaments and ambiguities that assault modern conceptions of law. By means of a close reading of Spinoza’s texts, I argue that Spinoza’s metaphysical analysis to determine the nature, conditions, and extent of the State powers is able to circumvent some of the dualisms (rights / law; efficiency / legitimacy; liberty / social compact) plaguing political thought today. Insofar as for Spinoza general consent is the essential requirement of power, and so that people are the true depository of an inalienable and intransferable power, he escapes from
a Contractualist model of political norms hostage to Platonist abstract conceptions.
Spinoza’s account is capable of reconciling the dynamics of power and of freedom.

Keywords:
Social Contract, Civil Rights, Naturalism, Rule of Law, Political Power

Article Details

Author Biography

Modesto Gómez-Alonso, Pontifical University of Salamanca

Doctor en filosofía por la Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (2003). Profesor Encargado de Cátedra en la Facultad de Filosofía de la Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca / Visiting Researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Grupo de investigación LEMA: “Points of View, Dispositions, and Time. Perspectives in a Fluent World of Dispositions”. Proyecto de investigación en el que se inscribe el artículo: En torno a la persona. Dualismos antropológicos y comunicación humana: S03FLT-06K05. Miembro de la British Wittgenstein Society, de la European Society for Analytic Philosophy, de la Sociedad Académica de Filosofía, y de la Sociedad Española de Filosofía Analítica

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