Welcome to the North American Spinoza Society

Current Board Members:

Emanuele Costa (Vanderbilt)

Aminah Hasan-Birdwell (Emory)

Matthew Kisner (University of South Carolina)

Hasana Sharp (McGill)

Former Board Members:

Karolina Hübner (Cornell)

Julie Klein (Villanova)

Kristin Primus (UC Berkeley)

Nastassja Pugliese (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

Justin Steinberg (CUNY)

Ericka Tucker (Marquette)

Andrew Youpa (Southern Illinois)

CONTACT:

Main email: northamericanspinozasociety@gmail.com

Abstract and proposal submissions: nassproposals@gmail.com

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spinozasociety/

 

Current Calls

NASS Junior Scholar Event

6 May, 2024: Online

Abstracts due: 15 March, 2024

The North American Spinoza society invites junior scholars to share their research program with the wider Spinoza studies community. The event will consist in two parts:

Part 1: We will host an online salon at which 10 doctoral students will give 5-minute presentations of their thesis projects, followed by conversation. This will be an opportunity to meet other scholars, to discover opportunities to collaborate, and to learn about emerging research. 

Part 2: Following a break, senior scholars will provide feedback on 2-3 selected dissertation chapters. The chapters will be pre-circulated to registered participants in the workshop, so that we can all have an informed discussion. 

To apply to participate in the thesis salon hour, please submit a 500 word abstract of your dissertation in progress. Please include your name, institution, and the working title of your thesis.  

To apply to participate in the chapter feedback session, please submit a 800-1,000 word abstract of your chapter, in addition to the 500 word abstract of your thesis. 

By 15 March, 2024, please send to: nassproposals@gmail.com

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We welcome proposals and blinded abstracts on a rolling basis. Please send them to nassproposals@gmail.com.

 

Events

2022

“Decolonizing” Spinozist Infinity: Reading Spinoza’s Non-“Western” Influences and Reception

12pm – 2pm U.S. Eastern Time

May 6, 2022

This meeting will take place on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/94598930370

Chair: Professor Julie Klein

Luce deLire, “Spinoza and Ibn Sina on Substance and Actual Infinity”

Gilah Kletenik, “Spinoza and Maimonides on the Indeterminacy of Infinite Substance”

Sina Mirzaei, “Spinoza’s Pantheism in Twentieth-Century Iran”

Luce is currently finalizing her dissertation titled “No Limits - No Regrets: Spinoza’s Metaphysics of Infinity” with Yitzhak Melamed at Johns Hopkins University.

Gilah is Postdoctoral Associate at the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University. Currently, Kletenik is completing her book manuscript, Sovereignty Disrupted: Spinoza and the Disparity of Reality.

Sina is a PhD Student at Johns Hopkins University. He has previously studied philosophy in Iran and in the Netherlands as a visiting researcher for two years.

Central APA 2022:

Human relations and Necessitarian Metaphysics in Spinoza

Wednesday, 2/23, 8-11pm

Chair: Justin Steinberg (Brooklyn College, CUNY)

Sanem Soyarslan (NC State) - “Two Kinds of Friendship in Spinoza’s Ethics"

Raffaella Colombo (Università degli Studi di Milano) - "'One Like Us': Towards a Spinozian Pedagogy of Indignation"

Brandon Rdzak (Purdue University) - "Spinoza’s Necessitarian Modal Metaphysics and the Threat of Contingency"

Past Events

2021

Eastern APA 2021:

Spinoza, South and North

Organizers: Jimena Solé and Julie Klein

Jimena Solé (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) - “Knowledge as Action. Rethinking Spinoza's Philosophical Project”

Sergio Rojas Peralta (Universidad de Costa Rica) - “Affect, Memory and Empathy in Spinoza”

Guillermo Sibilia (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) - “Into the flesh of the social? Spinoza and the Question of Democracy”

2021 Author Meets Critics:

Sandra Field’s Potentia (OUP, 2020) Cavendish, and Conway

Chair: Moira Gatens (University of Sydney)

Speakers: Sandra Field , Justin Steinberg , Sharon Lloyd, and Yitzhak Melamed

Pacific APA 2021:

Talks by Nadler, Klein, and Matyasi

Justin Steinberg (Brooklyn College) (chair)

Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin) - "Spinoza vs. Aristotle on Friendship"

Julie Klein (Villanova) - "Spinoza's Critique of Prejudice"

Robbie Matyasi (University of Toronto) - "Spinoza’s Modest Realism About Universals"

NASS on ZOOM 2021:

Talks by Marshall and West

Organizer and Chair: Kristin Primus (Berkeley)

Speakers:

Eugene Marshall (Florida International University): "Spinoza on the Value of Roleplay"

Aaron West (UCLA): "Understanding (in) 1ax4: From Cognition to Definition and Essence and Back"

2020

Eastern APA 2020:

Spinoza, Cavendish, and Conway

Session organized by Julie Klein (Villanova)

Aminah Hasan-Birdwell (Columbia University) “Spinoza and Conway on Time, Duration, and Perfection”

Alison Peterman (University of Rochester) “Cavendish and Spinoza on Holist Explanations”

Nastassja Pugliese (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) “Conway’s Critique of Spinoza and the Metaphysics of Transmutation”

Pacific APA 2020:

Spinoza’s Minds

Session organized by Kristin Primus (Berkeley)

Aaron West (UCLA): "Understanding (in) 1ax4: From Cognition to Definition and Essence and Back"

Raphael Krut-Landau (University of Pennsylvania): "The middle standpoint in Spinoza's Ethics"

Eugene Marshall (Florida International University): “Reconsidering a Central Feature of Spinoza’s Psychology”

Central APA 2020:

Sessions Organized by Christopher Martin (University of Toledo)

What are Attributes in Spinoza’s Ethics?

Steve Barbone (San Diego State University) "Priority among Attributes"

John Grey (Michigan State University) “Nature and Power in Spinoza’s Account of Composition”

Thaddeus Robinson (Muhlenberg College) "Quantity and Spatial Extension in Spinoza's Ethics"

Jack Stetter (Loyola University New Orleans) "Divine Expression in Spinoza"  

Essences in Spinoza’s Ethics

Chair: Kiesha Martin (Marquette University), Chair

Christopher Martin (University of Toledo) “Spinoza’s Quick Reversal on his Definition of an Essence”

Galen Barry (Iona College) “Feuerbach's Spinozistic Argument for an Infinite Human Nature"

Torin Doppelt (Independent Scholar) “The Necessity of Natures: Geometrical Conclusions"

Matthew Homan (Christopher Newport University) "The Peculiar Common Notions of E2p39"  

2019

Eastern APA 2019:

Spinoza on Goodness, Freedom, and the State

Session Organized by Andrew Youpa (SIU)

Michael LeBuffe (University of Otago) 

Steven Nadler (University of Wisconsin, Madison) 

Sanem Soyarslan (North Carolina State University) 

Central APA 2019:

Knowledge and Happiness

Session organized by Karolina Hubner (Toronto), Justin Steinberg (CUNY) 

Chair: Kristin Primus (UC Berkeley)

Don Garrett (New York University), "Panpsychism, Spinoza's Way"

Sanem Soyarslan (North Carolina State University), "Spinoza’s Account of Blessedness Explored Through an Aristotelian Lens"

John Grey (Michigan State University), "Spinoza’s Case against Introspective Self-Knowledge"

 

2018

Central APA 2018:

Organized by Torin Doppelt and Sarah Kizuk of the Spinoza Society of Canada

Nastassja Pugliese (University of São Paulo and University of Georgia) “Imagination as an Intellectual Tool: The Case of Spinoza and Ovid”

Matthew Homan (Christopher Newport University) “Spinoza’s Embrace of Cartesian Circularity”

Jason Yonover (Yale University) “Spinoza and the Folk PSR”

André Menezes Rocha (Université du Québec à Trois Rivières) “La Méthode Expérimentale et les Définitions Réelles chez Spinoza” 

Vice and Virtue in Spinoza’s PHilosophy

Sessions organized by Andrew Youpa (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)

Clayton Bohnet (Gonzaga University) “The Temptations of Egoism and the Courtesy of Desire: An Essay on the Difference between Nobility and Ambition” 

Torin Doppelt (Queen’s University) “A Sadness Born of a Fact: A Study of Spinoza’s Humility”

Christopher Martin (University of Wisconsin–Green Bay) “Spinoza on Virtuous and Vicious Essences”

Sanem Soyarslan (North Carolina State University) “Rethinking the Usefulness of Sad Passions as a Means Towards Virtue in Spinoza’s Ethics” 

Lilli Alanen (Uppsala University) “Spinoza on Passivity, Active Joy, and Love of God”

John Carriero (University of California, Los Angeles) “Spinoza on Ends: Fantasy Physics and Our Self- Conception as Agents”

Karolina Hübner (University of Toronto) “Spinoza’s Conceptual Barrier”

Olli Koistinen (University of Turku) “On the Incomprehensibility of the Ethics”

Pacific APA 2018:

Spinoza’s Psychology

Karolina Hübner (University of Toronto) “Spinoza’s Metaphysical Psychology”

Valtteri Viljanen (University of Turku) “Spinoza on Activity and Passivity: The Problematic Definition Revisited” 

Justin Steinberg (Brooklyn College) “Seeing the Better Better: A Spinozistic Account of Belief Revision and Moral Reform” 

Contemporary Spinoza

Kristin Primus (University of California, Berkeley) “Spinoza’s Metaphysics”

Sandra Leonie Field (Yale-NUS College) “Spinoza’s Politics”

Anat Schechtman (University of Wisconsin– Madison) “Spinoza’s Epistemology”

Michael Rosenthal (University of Washington)

Julie Klein (Villanova University)

2017

Central APA 2017:

Spinoza’s Philosophy of Religion

Session organized by Ericka Tucker (Marquette)

Idit Dobbs-Weinstein (Vanderbilt)

Ursula Goldenbaum (Emory) – “Leibniz and Spinoza on Common Ground about Faith as the Genuine Basis of Religion.”

Jack Stetter (Université Paris 8) – "In What Sense is Spinoza's Free Man Religious?"

Rodolfo Garau (Max-Planck-Institute/Penn) – “Spinoza’s anti-Anthropocentric Idea of Divine Providence.”

Monism

Session organized by Ericka Tucker (Marquette)

Alex Silverman (University of Chicago) – “Monism and the Development of Spinoza’s Philosophy”

James Darcy (University of Virginia) – “The Identity of Indiscernibles and the Argument for Monism.”

Galen Barry (University of Virginia)–  “Plenitude and Monism”

Brandon Rdzak (Purdue) – “Spinoza, Causation, and Creation ex Nihilo”

Christopher Martin (University of Wisconsin, Green Bay) –  “Spinoza’s Platonic Deity”

2016

Central APA 2016:

Spinoza’s Politics

Sessions Organized by Ericka Tucker (Marquette)

Michael Lebuffe (University of Otago) - “Reason and Religion in the Citizen of Spinoza’s State”

James Ong (High Point University) - The philosophical and political significance of Spinoza’s ‘free people’

Céline Hervet (Université de Picardie-Jules Verne) - "Councils, Syndics, Senate and the Power of Speech in Spinoza's political philosophy: a Naturalistic Source of Deliberative Democracy?"

James Sikkema (McMaster University) "Joining Forces: Towards a Virtual-Political Mereology in Spinoza" 

Sandra Field (Yale-NUS) “Aristocracy and the Logic of Spinoza”

Edwin Curley (Michigan) “On the Social Contract in Spinoza”

 

 

Archive

 

 

NASS Monograph 1 (1993) 

Frederick Ablondi, "A Spinozistic Account of Self-Deception."

 

NASS Monograph 2 (1994) 

Gary Finn, "The Order of Nature and the Nature of
Order in the Philosophy of Spinoza"

Steven Barbone, "Putting Order in Order"

Atilano Dominguez, "Relaciones entre Spinoza y España"

 

NASS Monograph 3 (1995)

Charles Huenemann, "Modes Infinite and Finite in Spinoza's Metaphysics"

Miquel Beltrán, "The God of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus"

 

NASS Monograph 4 (1996)

Olli Koistinen, " Weakness of Will in Spinoza’s Theory of Human Motivation"

Charles Huenemann, Comments on Koistinen's "Weakness of Will in Spinoza's Theory of Human Motivation"

Viren Murthy, "'Self-Sacrifice' in Spinoza"

 

NASS Monograph 5 (1997)

Steven Barbone and Lee Rice, "Spinoza Bibliography: 1991-1995"

 

NASS Monograph 6 (1997)

Gideon Segal, "Ideas, Affects and Causality"

Steven Barbone and Lee Rice, "Spinoza Bibliography: 1990"

 

NASS Monograph 7 (1998) 

Frank Lucash, "Ideas, Affects and Causality :
Intuitive Knowledge in Spinoza"

Tammy Nyden-Bullock, "Salvation in a Naturalised World:
The Role of the Will and Intellect in
the Philosophies of Nietzsche and Spinoza"

 

NASS Monograph 8 (1999)

Extracts from Spinoza’s Opera Posthuma
Notes by G. W. Leibniz (1678)
Translated by Samuel Shirley

Individuation in Leibniz and Spinoza
Lee C. Rice

A Note on De Mairan and Spinozism
Frederick Ablondi

 

NASS Monograph 9 (2000)

Love and Friendship in Spinoza’s Thinking
Jeffrey Bernstein

Spinoza’s Concept of Christian Piety:
Defense of a Text Correction by Bruder in the TTP
Wim N. A. Klever

Esotericism and Spinoza
Errol E. Harris

 

NASS Monograph 10 (2002)

The Ethics of Spinoza’s Physics
Jeffrey Bernstein

Comments on Bernstein
Lee Rice

A Response to Wim N. A. Klever
Fokke Akkerman

Spinoza Studies in Russia
Igor Kaufman

 

 

NASS Monograph 11 (2003)

A Note on the Physics of Spinoza’s Time
Joe VanZandt

Descartes’ Error and Spinoza’s Truth
Errol Harris

Spinoza Studies in the Czech Republic
Martin Hemelk

Consciousness of God in Spinoza’s Ethics
James Thomas

What It Means to ‘‘Agree with Nature’’:
Spinoza’s Transformation of Stoic Convenientia
Firmin DeBrabander

Spinoza’s ‘‘Catholica religio’’ — A Reply to Akkerman
Wim N. A. Klever

 

NASS Monograph 12 (2005)

Individu et Etat chez Spinoza
Steven Barbone & Lee Rice

Spinoza & Czech Philosophy
Martin Hemelík

 

NASS Monograph 13 (2007)

Notes on Translating Spinoza’s Theologico-political Treatise
Martin Yaffe

Jan Hendrickz Glasemaker: The Addressee of Letter 84?
Wim N. A. Klever

Spinoza’s Holism: An Interpretation of the Relation of Modes to Substance
Matt Wion

Spinoza and Gödel: Causa Sui and Undecidable Truth
Martin Zwick

 

NASS Monograph 14 (2009)

Love and Possession:
Towards a Political Economy of Ethics 5
Hasana Sharp

Loving Well: Affective Economics in Hobbes, Locke, and Spinoza
Gordon Hull

 

NASS Monograph 15 (2011)

On the Specter of Speciesism in Spinoza
Michael Strawser