Affects, Actions and Passions in Spinoza: The Unity of Body and Mind (Spinoza Studies)

## A new analysis of the mind/body relationship based on the philosophy of Spinoza It is widely recognised that Spinoza put an end to the Cartesian dualism of body and mind by thinking through the possibility of their unity. Revisiting this generally accepted notion of psychophysical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through the affects that bring together a body's affection and the idea of this affection. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, Jaquet reveals that understanding affects, actions and passions provides the key to how the mind and body are the same individual expressed in two different ways. She presents the Spinozist model in all its complexity, illuminating its potentialities for contemporary debates on the nature of the mind-body problem. ## Key Features * Critiques the false conception of psychophysical parallelism in Spinoza * Gives us a new analysis of the mind/body relationship * Contrasts Descartes’ conception of the passions with Spinoza’s conception of the affects * Defines Spinozian affects and their variations in a new way An investigation of moral-didactic techniques and messages in ancient Greek historiography. Why did human beings first begin to write history? Lisa Irene Hau argues that a driving force among Greek historians was the desire to use the past to teach lessons about the present and for the future. She uncovers the moral messages of the ancient Greek writers of history and the techniques they used to bring them across. Hau also shows how moral didacticism was an integral part of the writing of history from its inception in the 5th century BC, how it developed over the next 500 years in parallel with the development of historiography as a genre and how the moral messages on display remained surprisingly stable across this period. For the ancient Greek historiographers, moral didacticism was a way of making sense of the past and making it relevant to the present; but this does not mean that they falsified events: truth and morality were compatible and synergistic ends. Key features and benefits. Covers the five most substantially preserved historical texts from Classical and Hellenistic Greece: Herodotos, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybios, and Diodoros Offers a comprehensive analysis of the moral-didactic techniques used and moral messages propounded by each of these authors Compares the practices and messages of the different works to arrive at a diachronic understanding of the role of moral didacticism in Classical and Hellenistic historiography It is widely recognised that Spinoza ended the Cartesian dualism of body and mind by thinking through the possibility of their unity. Revisiting this generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through the affects that bring together a body's affection and the idea of this affection. Jaquet reveals that understanding affects, actions and passions provides the key to how the mind and body are the same individual expressed in two different ways. She presents the Spinozist model in all its complexity, illuminating its potentialities for contemporary debates on the nature of the mind-body problem. Affects, Actions and Passions in Spinoza......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Abbreviations......Page 7 Introduction......Page 10 1 The Nature of the Union of Mind and Body in Spinoza......Page 18 2 Spinoza’s Break with Descartes Regarding the Affects in Ethics III......Page 36 3 The Different Origins of the Affects in the Preface to the Theological-Political Treatise and in t......Page 56 4 The Definition of ‘Affect’ in Ethics III......Page 84 5 Variations of the Mixed Discourse......Page 144 Conclusion......Page 162 Bibliography......Page 170 Index......Page 177 Revisiting the generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through affects, actions and passions. Argues That That All Necessity Is Consequent, And That Reason And God Are Contingent, Albeit Eternal, Necessities.