Este texto busca traçar algumas relações iniciais entre a ascensão das sociedades de controle, conforme notado por Deleuze, e as mudanças nas relações econômicas e políticas nas sociedades mundiais na contemporaneidade, com especial atenção ao processo ocorrido no Brasil.

Este artigo tem como objetivo inicial articular alguns elementos do pensamento de dois filósofos tradicionalmente vistos em campos diferentes: Baruch de Espinosa e Walter Benjamin. Chama a atenção o fato de ambos voltarem o foco, em suas obras, à presença de elementos teológicos na estruturação do campo político. A crítica de Espinosa à religião presente no Tratado Teológico-político e na Ética pode apresentar afinidades insuspeitas com a crítica benjaminiana ao historicismo nas Teses Sobre o Conceito de História e no Fragmento (...) Teológico-político. Se a religião pode atingir sua posição e domínio no corpo social somente se for simultaneamente um conjunto de ideias e de práticas, conforme Espinosa observa, como isso pode ser articulado com conceitos benjaminianos como a visão da história como narrativa dos vencedores e do capitalismo como uma religião social? (shrink)

Resenha de: Aspectos do Novo Radicalismo de Direita (T. W. Adorno)ADORNO, Theodor W. Aspectos do Novo Radicalismo de Direita. Tradução e apresentação de Felipe Catalani. São Paulo: Unesp, 2020. (Coleção Adorno).

Dentro do programa curricular da Base Nacional Comum para o Ensino Médio, a promoção da ética e dos direitos humanos é uma categoria constitutiva do programa das Ciências Humanas, no geral, e da Filosofia, em particular. Com base neste pressuposto, o artigo relata uma experiência de abordagem sobre questões de etnia, gênero e sexualidade em turmas do 2º ano do Ensino Médio do IFPR, campus Colombo, a partir de uma leitura de elementos selecionados da Ética e do Tratado Teológico-Político de (...) Espinosa. O fundamento teórico para a abordagem temática a partir do espinosismo consistiria em uma interpretação dos conceitos de Modo, Atributo e Substância, esta entendida como perfeitíssima. Se, para o autor, a Substância se mostra em diversos modos e com diversos atributos, e cada ser é modo diverso da mesma Substância, ou seja, Deus, logo: a) se o ser humano é modo da Substância e esta é perfeitíssima, não se pode dizer que aquele incorra em falta perante Deus por ser como é, e; b) se a ordem da Natureza também é perfeitíssima (pois Deus, sive Natura), diferenças de gênero, etnias, corpos e sexualidades são apenas modos do atributo extensão: afirmá-las como pecados ou falhas é dizer que a Substância não é Perfeita. (shrink)

A partir da leitura comparada de trechos dos Cuadernos Spinozade Karl Marx e de Espinosa: filosofia prática,de Gilles Deleuze, o trabalho busca encontrar nestes autores elementos do pensamento espinosano, principalmente do Tratado Teológico-Políticoe excertos da Ética. Tais conexões parecem mais visíveis nos conceitos de materialismo e na relação homem-natureza. Se, conforme Marx, o concreto é a síntese de múltiplas determinações, o que relaciona-se com a ideia deleuziana da determinação da diferença como diferença de si e da História como contingência, como (...) isso se articularia com um conceito caro a Espinosa como o de que as transformações na realidade referem-se a determinações internas da própria realidade material, abdicando-se de um imperativo moral externo como eixo destas mudanças, ou seja, a causalidade imanente e não-transcendente dos processos? Para que estes conceitos tenham pontos de contato, de que forma o materialismo, a natureza e a liberdade devem ser entendidos? (shrink)

A partir de uma leitura do conceito de revolução molecular, apresentado por Deleuze e Guattari, busca-se analisar de que forma este pode indicar uma maneira inovadora de enfrentamento das formas de opressão que caracterizam a contemporaneidade como também entender a duplicidade contida em seu interior e o risco de seu funcionamento como caminho para reconfigurações mais opressivas ainda por parte do sistema capitalista, descrito como uma forma de vida que ultrapassa a questão da propriedade dos meios de produção para imiscuir-se (...) em todas as instâncias do tecido social. Se a rota da uma grande revolução, que porá fim aos problemas e criará uma nova realidade estaria bloqueada, o caminho seria o de pequenas revoluções permanentes, que vão produzindo novos fluxos de desejo e de ações, novas possibilidades de ser, de sentir, de pensar, de agir? Qual a eficácia de lutas ditas moleculares? A partir de que momento uma luta de libertação social tenderia a transformar-se em seu oposto? Os populismos modernos seriam tão moleculares quanto as lutas e o ativismo das minorias? (shrink)

Benito Jerónimo Feijoo, el representante más insigne de la filosofía española del siglo XVIII, ahormó un proyecto con importantísimas repercusiones en ámbitos como la ciencia, la política, la literatura, la economía, la teología o la sociedad. Ese compendio de la temprana o primera Ilustración que es el _Teatro crítico universal_ articuló una manera de situarse ante los problemas e inquietudes de su tiempo que llegó a numerosos espacios de debate, pero también de toma de decisiones. Gracias a la extraordinaria (...) difusión del _Teatro_ y de otras de sus obras en la península, en América y en partes de Europa, Feijoo ejerció una enorme influencia intelectual -una autoridad que posiblemente no haya logrado ningún otro autor posterior en lengua española-. Si este marco de reforma que propugnaba acabó logrando sus frutos en el último tercio del siglo XVIII es otro asunto, pero no cabe duda de que Feijoo fue -utilizando conscientemente un anacronismo- el intelectual público de su época. (shrink)

Benito Jerónimo Feijoo, el representante más insigne de la filosofía española del siglo XVIII, ahormó un proyecto con importantísimas repercusiones en ámbitos como la ciencia, la política, la literatura, la economía, la teología o la sociedad. Ese compendio de la temprana o primera Ilustración que es el _Teatro crítico universal_ articuló una manera de situarse ante los problemas e inquietudes de su tiempo que llegó a numerosos espacios de debate, pero también de toma de decisiones. Gracias a la extraordinaria (...) difusión del _Teatro_ y de otras de sus obras en la península, en América y en partes de Europa, Feijoo ejerció una enorme influencia intelectual -una autoridad que posiblemente no haya logrado ningún otro autor posterior en lengua española-. Si este marco de reforma que propugnaba acabó logrando sus frutos en el último tercio del siglo XVIII es otro asunto, pero no cabe duda de que Feijoo fue -utilizando conscientemente un anacronismo- el intelectual público de su época. (shrink)

Across languages, we find indefinites that trigger modal inferences. This article contributes to a semantic typology of these items by contrasting Spanish algún with indefinites like German irgendein or Italian uno qualsiasi. While irgendein-type indefinites trigger a Free Choice effect (Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002; Chierchia 2006), algún simply signals that at least two individuals in its domain are possibilities. Additionally, algún, but not irgendein, can convey that the speaker does not know how many individuals satisfy the existential claim in the (...) world of evaluation. We contend that the two types of indefinites impose different constraints on their domain of quantification: irgendein and its kin are domain wideners (Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002), whereas algún is an ‘anti-singleton’ indefinite (its domain cannot be restricted to a singleton). This, together with the fact that algún does not require uniqueness, allows us to derive the contrast between irgendein and algún by using the pragmatic reasoning presented by Kratzer and Shimoyama. (shrink)

The iconoclastic Brazilian anthropologist and theoretician Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, well known in his discipline for helping initiate its “ontological turn,” offers a vision of anthropology as “the practice of the permanent decolonization of thought.” After showing that Amazonian and other Amerindian groups inhabit a radically different conceptual universe than ours—in which nature and culture, human and nonhuman, subject and object are conceived in terms that reverse our own—he presents the case for anthropology as the study of such “other” (...) metaphysical schemes, and as the corresponding critique of the concepts imposed on them by the human sciences. Along the way, he spells out the consequences of this anthropology for thinking in general via a major reassessment of the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, arguments for the continued relevance of Deleuze and Guattari, dialogues with the work of Philippe Descola, Bruno Latour, and Marilyn Strathern, and inventive treatments of problems of ontology, translation, and transformation. Bold, unexpected, and profound, Cannibal Metaphysics is one of the chief works marking anthropology's current return to the theoretical center stage. (shrink)

The authors of this essay challenge the notion that “philosophy” is irredeemably Eurocentric by providing a series of personal, professional, and pedagogical reflections on their experience in a new graduate seminar on “Indigenous philosophy.” The authors—a graduate student, professor, and Indigenous course-facilitator—share in the fashion of “Indigenous storywork,” as outlined by Stó:lō pedagogue Jo-Ann Archibald. We begin with the instructor and how he was personally challenged to re-evaluate his roots and philosophical praxis in spite of his experience teaching over several (...) decades. The second section describes a student experience and how they measured the exigencies of decolonization against the esteem that their family holds for Canada’s brand of multiculturalism. Finally, we turn to the Indigenous seminar facilitator and his skepticism over whether the course truly constituted decolonized, or “landed,” pedagogy. Throughout, the authors ask about the demands of decolonization and how philosophical pedagogy may center Indigenous futurity. (shrink)

Who Comes After the Subject offers the most comprehensive overview to date of contemporary French thinking on the question of the "subject." Nineteen philosophers and critics offer diverse perspectives on the subject as it has manifested itself in our modern discourses: the subject of philosophy, of the State, of history, of psychoanalysis. Each contribution asks What has become of the subject? or What has the subject become? in the wake of its critiques and deconstructions .

Pragmatism has been called "the chief glory of our country's intellectual tradition" by its supporters and "a dog's dinner" by its detractors. While acknowledging pragmatism's direct ties to American imperialism and expansionism, Chad Kautzer, Eduardo Mendieta, and the contributors to this volume consider the role pragmatism plays, for better or worse, in current discussions of nationalism, war, race, and community. What can pragmatism contribute to understandings of a diverse nation? How can we reconcile pragmatism's history with recent changes in (...) the country's racial and ethnic makeup? How does pragmatism help to explain American values and institutions and fit them into new national and multinational settings? The answers to these questions reveal pragmatism's role in helping to nourish the fundamental ideas, politics, and culture of contemporary America. (shrink)

Resumen: La tolerancia es un privilegio de los poderosos. Una persona puede tolerar sólo si tiene el poder para interferir con aquello que objeta. En este artículo analizaré las circunstancias en las que alguien tiene el poder para tolerar. Argumentaré que la respuesta debe incorporar consideraciones tanto prácticas como metafísicas. Específicamente, defenderé que alguien tiene el poder para tolerar cuando sus propiedades fundan tal poder en la situación práctica en que ella se encuentra, según es caracterizada por sus intereses prácticos. (...) Al hacerlo criticaré el análisis del mencionado poder realizado por Glen Newey. (shrink)

Opinionated state of the art paper on scientific explanation. Analysis and discussion of the most relevant models and theories in the contemporary literature, namely, the deductive-nomological model, the models of inductive-statistical and statistical relevance, the pragmatic theory of why questions, the unifying theory of standard arguments, and the causal/non-causal counterfactual theory.

This paper is a reply to Benjamin Smart’s : 319–332, 2013) recent objections to David Armstrong’s solution to the problem of induction : 503–511, 1991). To solve the problem of induction, Armstrong contends that laws of nature are the best explanation of our observed regularities, where laws of nature are dyadic relations of necessitation holding between first-order universals. Smart raises three objections against Armstrong’s pattern of inference. First, regularities can explain our observed regularities; that is, universally quantified conditionals are required (...) for explanations. Second, if Humean’s pattern of inference is irrational, then Armstrong’s pattern of inference is also irrational. Third, universal regularities are the best explanation of our observed regularities. I defend Armstrong’s solution of induction, arguing against these three claims. (shrink)

This article tries to delineate the proposition that to Feuerbach nature is an autonomous and independent being that comes first in comparison to the spirit. To him, material nature, that exists in its qualitative differentness, independent from thinking, is the original source, the immediate, not deductible, uncreated fundament of all real existence, that exists and consists in itself, when put vis-a-vis the spirit. Feuerbach sets nature against the spirit, for it is his understanding that nature is not a pure other (...) that only through the spirit was set as nature, but as the first source, the objective material reality that exists outside reason and is given to man by means of his senses as fundament and essence of his life. Therefore, one is dealing first with that essence (light, air, water, fire, plants, animals etc) without which man does not exist or could be thought of as existing. To Feuerbach nature is all objects and essences put together. Under this condition it is possible to conceive nature as guarantor of externality itself as if it could exist independently from us, an entity that is unaware of itself and which exists in itself and by itself; for this reason it shall not be seen as something which it is not, i.e., neither divine nor human. Nature always existed, i.e., it exists in itself and has only meaning in itself; it is itself, i.e., it has no mystical essence, it does not hide behind it any absolute being whether human, divine, transcendental or ideal. (shrink)

This article focuses on two largely ignored aspects of the understanding of strong metaphors: the visual dimension and the emotional factors. Particularly, I intend to offer answers to the following questions: 1) What does it mean to understand a visual metaphor? 2) Can Wittgenstein’s ideas about the vision of aspects help to better understand this understanding? 3) In what sense does his notion of secondary sense enrich the philosophical reflection on the understanding of metaphors? 4) In what sense may emotions (...) be an important factor in the understanding of certain metaphors? The article is framed in a methodological proposal: I defend a phenomenology of the metaphor, that is, an accurate description of our experiences with metaphors, and in this case, its understanding. (shrink)

Este trabajo se centra en dos aspectos poco estudiados de la comprensión de metáforas fuertes: la dimensión visual y factores emocionales. En concreto, intento responder las siguientes preguntas: 1) ¿Qué significa comprender una metáfora visual? 2) ¿Es posible que las ideas de Wittgenstein sobre la ..

This thesis consists in six articles and a comprehensive summary. • The pourpose of the summary is to introduce the AGM theory of belief change and to exemplify the diversity and significance of the research that has been inspired by the AGM article in the last 25 years. The research areas associated with AGM was divided in three parts: criticisms, where we discussed some of the more common criticisms of AGM. Extensions where the most common extensions and variations of AGM (...) are presented and applications where we provided an overview of applications and connections with other areas of research. • Article I elaborates on the connection between partial meet contractions [AGM85] and kernel contractions [Han94a] in belief change theory. Also both functions are equivalent in belief sets, there are notequivalent in belief bases. A way to define incision functions from selection functions and vice versa is presented. It is explained under which conditions there are exact correspondences between selection and incision functions so that the same contraction operations can be obtained by using either of them. • Article II proposes an axiomatic characterization for ensconcement-based contraction functions, belief base functions proposed byWilliams and relates this function with other kinds of base contraction functions. • Article III adapts the Fermé and Hansson model of Shielded Contraction [FH01] as well as Hansson et all Credibility-Limited Revision [HFCF01] for belief bases, to join two of the many variations of the AGM model [AGM85], i.e. those in which knowledge is represented through belief bases instead of logic theories, and those in which the object of the epistemic change does not get the priority over the existing information as it is the case in the AGM model. • Article IV introduces revision by comparison a refined method for changing beliefs by specifying constraints on the relative plausibility of propositions. Like the earlier belief revision models, the method proposed is a qualitative one, in the sense that no numbers are needed in order to specify the posterior plausibility of the new information. The method uses reference beliefs in order to determine the degree of entrenchment of the newly accepted piece of information. Two kinds of semantics for this idea are proposed and a logical characterization of the new model is given. • Article V focuses on the extension of AGM that allows change for a belief base by a set of sentences instead of a single sentence. In [FH94], Fuhrmann and Hansson presented an axiomatic for Multiple Contraction and a construction based on the AGM Partial Meet Contraction. This essay proposes for their model another way to construct functions: Multiple Kernel Contraction, that is a modification of Kernel Contraction,proposed by Hansson [Han94a] to construct classical AGM contractions and belief base contractions. • Article VI relates AGM model with the DFT model proposed by Carlos Alchourrón [Alc93]. Alchourrón devoted his last years to the analysis of the notion of defeasible conditionalization. His definition of the defeasible conditional is given in terms of strict implication operator and a modal operator f which is interpreted as a revision function at the language level. This essay points out that this underlying revision function is more general than AGM revision. In addition, a complete characterization of that more general kind of revision that permits to unify models of revision given by other authors is given. (shrink)

I propose a deductive-nomological model for mathematical scientific explanation. In this regard, I modify Hempel’s deductive-nomological model and test it against some of the following recent paradigmatic examples of the mathematical explanation of empirical facts: the seven bridges of Königsberg, the North American synchronized cicadas, and Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonian systems. I argue that mathematical scientific explanations that invoke laws of nature are qualitative explanations, and ordinary scientific explanations that employ mathematics are quantitative explanations. I analyse the repercussions of this deductivenomological model (...) on causal explanations. (shrink)

Mathematical proofs aim to establish the truth of mathematical propositions by means of logical rules. Some recent literature in philosophy of mathematics alleges that some mathematical proofs also reveal why the proved mathematical propositions are true. These mathematical proofs are called explanatory mathematical proofs. In this paper, I present and discuss some salient problems around mathematical explanation: the existence problem, the normative problem, the explanandum problems of truth value and psychological value, the logical structure problem, the regress problem and the (...) modelling problem. At the end, I sum up two contemporary models for mathematical explanation – the deductive-nomological model and the model of Steiner. I analyse these models against the previous problems. (shrink)

This paper defends the Quine-Putnam mathematical indispensability argument against two objections raised by Penelope Maddy. The objections concern scientific practices regarding the development of the atomic theory and the role of applied mathematics in the continuum and infinity. I present two alternative accounts by Stephen Brush and Alan Chalmers on the atomic theory. I argue that these two theories are consistent with Quine’s theory of scientific confirmation. I advance some novel versions of the indispensability argument. I argue that these new (...) versions accommodate Maddy’s history of the atomic theory. Counter-examples are provided regarding the role of the mathematical continuum and mathematical infinity in science. (shrink)

Ao ser lançado em 1978, A brasilidade modernista - sua dimensão filosófica ganhou notoriedade pelo ineditismo da abordagem do movimento modernista. Esta nova edição, amplamente revista pelo autor, mantém a organização e as teses do livro, mas a forma da exposição foi simplificada e aperfeiçoada. Por isso mesmo, fica realçada a ruptura de Eduardo Jardim com as teses inocentes que, ainda nos anos setenta, viam a Semana de 1922 como o ato fundador do Brasil moderno. O propósito de abordar (...) filosoficamente o modernismo permanece e possibilita lançar luz sobre uma ampla gama de temas relativos ao nosso principal movimento de renovação cultural. Um deles é o da sua inserção em um debate de ideias que remonta às últimas décadas do século XIX. Graça Aranha aparece como a figura mediadora dessa inserção. A periodização do modernismo em duas fases - o primeiro tempo, de preocupações estéticas, e o segundo, tratando da brasilidade - ganhou visibilidade nesta nova edição. Na discussão da brasilidade foram considerados os pontos em comum entre as várias correntes do movimento, a partir de 1924. No entanto, duas posições aparecem contrastadas: a analítica, defendida por Mário de Andrade, e a intuitiva, que reúne Plínio Salgado e Oswald de Andrade. A vertente analítica propôs fazer o levantamento dos traços propriamente nacionais da cultura brasileira depositados nas manifestações de cultura popular. A intuitiva pretendeu apreender o caráter nacional de forma imediata, pelos sentimentos. (shrink)

State of the art paper on the problem of induction: how to justify the conclusion that ‘all Fs are Gs’ from the premise that ‘all observed Fs are Gs’. The most prominent theories of contemporary philosophical literature are discussed and analysed, such as: inductivism, reliabilism, perspective of laws of nature, rationalism, falsificationism, the material theory of induction and probabilistic approaches, according to Carnap, Reichenbach and Bayesianism. In the end, we discuss the new problem of induction of Goodman, raised by the (...) grue predicate. (shrink)

El presente artículo presenta una línea de lectura desdefundamentos psicológicos, basados eminentemente en conceptualizaciones psicoanalíticas, para pensar, articular y fundamentar la educación socioemocional. Ofrece herramientas teóricas nodales, en relación con conceptos tales como el de “identificación”, el de “función tutorial”, el de “prójimo y el semejante”, entre otros, dando cuenta de la constitución psíco-socio-emocional del sujeto, en relación con su dependencia estructural respecto del Otro.

El siguiente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal describir y analizar la percepción de Manuel Baldomero Ugarte sobre Estados Unidos. Ugarte fue literato y político, pero también fue un pensador interesado por los asuntos internacionales de América Latina. Evidencia de ello son sus propuestas integracionistas y antiimperialistas, en las cuales la presencia de Estados Unidos era evidente. Debido a lo anterior, se estima conveniente explicar qué pensó Ugarte sobre la nación norteamericana, y desde esa perspectiva, contribuir a la discusión sobre tan (...) trascendental intelectual latinoamericano. The purpose of this work is to describe and analyze the perception of Manuel Baldomero Ugarte about the United States. Ugarte was a writer and a politician, but it was also a thinker interested in the Latin America’s international affairs. Testimony of this are his integrationist and anti-imperialist proposals, in which the U.S. presence was evident. Thus, it is considered advisable to explain what he thought about the American nation, and from this perspective, to contribute to the discussion around this important Latin American intellectual. (shrink)

In the article it is pretended to prepare the conceptual field for the correct use of the attribution of freedom. It is defended the importance to consider the complementarity of freedom of action and freedom of the will and it is argued for a non-metaphysical conception of adscription of freedom. The adequate use of the attribution of freedom is social and normative. This means additionally that the freedom is not a presupposition of the moral responsibility and the authorship, but on (...) the contrary the moral responsibility and the authorship are presuppositions of the attribution of freedom. (shrink)

This paper seeks to highlight the methodological contributions developed by Michel Foucault in regard to a critical history. We propose a tour through various passages of the thinker´s work, with the aim of bashing the main elements that allegedly make up his method. From this exercise we maintain that, in order to record the existence of a Foucauldian method, it is necessary to reproblematize this notion beyond the displacements around the well-known three moments of his work -archeological/genealogical/ethical-, reorienting the look (...) towards the critical tension possible to peer around the unique place that occupies the question of history in his work. The novelty of our proposal is to point out that, beyond the well-known substantial contributions foreshadowed around Foucault's conceptual rig, his work must be understood as an eminently practical historical-philosophical methodology, aimed at disarticulating the canonical principles that legitimize knowledge produced by the historiographic method, thus opening a region of indiscernibility and rarity in historical practice that, we maintain, can be thought of in the vicinity of a parahistory. In sum, we propose the thesis that the displacement in Foucault's work takes on a singular power from the introduction of a strategic artifice ― anonymous ―, aimed at forcing a fold of history on itself, showing how historiographical plots actively tax to sustain and legitimize the regimes of knowledge, power and truth present in them. (shrink)

O problema com o qual nos defrontamos no presente texto é o da necessidade dos dualismos pulsionais freudianos, especialmente aquele apresentado em “Além do Princípio de Prazer”. Tal problema persiste como uma marca da Überbau metapsicológica freudiana e, do ponto de vista deste artigo, reivindica uma análise mais pormenorizada, no sentido de sabermos, afinal, se essa marca dualista das teorias se sustenta efetivamente, ou se, inadvertidamente, Freud possa ter criado condições para que ela pudesse ser questionada, e, nesse caso, de (...) que modo e em que sentido. (shrink)

: O presente artigo evidencia, por um lado, o mérito da filosofia de Espinosa, pelo fato de haver submetido a oposição das partes e do todo, do corpo e da alma, da matéria e do espírito, à unidade da substância, já que toda parte singular da substância pertence à sua natureza. Por outro lado, destaca a crítica de Feuerbach a Espinosa, porque a filosofia deste é, na verdade, uma filosofia da identidade, que não reconhece, como Hegel também assinala, a substância (...) como espírito e o espírito como substância, e não determina suficientemente a unidade da matéria e do espírito, já que falta a ela a realidade da diferença, da determinidade. Enquanto Espinosa identifica Deus com a natureza (Deus sive natura) e, mediante a natureza divina (a substância), supera a contradição de Descartes entre matéria (res extensa) e espírito (res cogitans), Feuerbach quer, em oposição ao panteísmo, a diferença entre natureza e Deus (aut Deus aut natura). (shrink)

State of the art paper on the topic realism/anti-realism. The first part of the paper elucidates the notions of existence and independence of the metaphysical characterization of the realism/anti-realism dispute. The second part of the paper presents a critical taxonomy of the most important positions and doctrines in the contemporary literature on the domains of science and mathematics: scientific realism, scientific anti-realism, constructive empiricism, structural realism, mathematical Platonism, mathematical indispensability, mathematical empiricism, intuitionism, mathematical fictionalism and second philosophy.

My aim in this paper is to examine some of the distinctive facets of human action in Spinoza’s philosophy and show their intrinsic connection with each other. By analyzing in detail how Spinoza addresses different aspects of human action in his main work, the Ethics, it is possible to notice that for him free human agency implies two interrelated features: on the one hand, the adequate knowledge of the causes that determine it, and, on the other hand, a growing capacity (...) to impact with greater power the scenarios in which it takes place. Thus, in contrast with quietist and passive readings, I show in the following that the two aforementioned characteristics are part of the Spinozian philosophical conception of agency as such. By pursuing this line of thought, it is also possible to establish a link—not always noticed in the secondary literature—with some of the central lines of thought contained in the Theological-Political Treatise. In discussing these theses, I advance the idea that the Spinozian conception of human agency involves a serious readjustment of the metaphysical vision of the agent, a change in her conduct and ethical practices, and an altogether different conception of politics and religion. (shrink)