Spinoza's Critique of Religion and Its Heirs : Marx, Benjamin, Adorno

Spinoza's heritage has been occluded by his incorporation into the single, western, philosophical canon formed and enforced by theologico-political condemnation, and his heritage is further occluded by controversies whose secular garb shields their religious origins. By situating Spinoza's thought in a materialist Aristotelian tradition, this book sheds new light on those who inherit Spinoza's thought and its consequences materially and historically rather than metaphysically. By focusing on Marx, Benjamin, and Adorno, Idit Dobbs-Weinstein explores the manner in which Spinoza's radical critique of religion shapes materialist critiques of the philosophy of history. Dobbs-Weinstein argues that two radically opposed notions of temporality and history are at stake for these thinkers, an onto-theological future-oriented one and a political one oriented to the past for the sake of the present or, more precisely, for the sake of actively resisting the persistent barbarism at the heart of culture. • The first book in the history of philosophy and critical theory to address Spinoza's critique with approaches from history, religion, politics, and art • Argues for the relevance of Adorno's thought in the current political climate Introduction: whose history, which politics? 1. The theologico-political construction of the philosophical tradition 2. The paradox of a perfect democracy: from Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise to Marx 3. Judgment Day as repudiation: history and justice in Marx, Benjamin, and Adorno 4. Destitute life and the overcoming of idolatry: dialectical image, archaic fetish in Benjamin's and Adorno's conversation 5. Untimely timeliness: history, the possibility of experience, and critical praxis Afterword: the possibility of political philosophy now. Idit Dobbs-weinstein, Vanderbilt University. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 253-260) And Index.