Abstract

A lucid introduction to post-Marxist political philosophy, this work offers a balanced assessment of the philosophy and political thought of Baruch de Spinoza. It explores the influence of Spinoza upon Louis Althusser and some of his contemporaries. The positions of a range of modern political philosophers who think with, beyond, or against Althusser are explored, including Etienne Balibar, Antonio Negri, and Slavjob Zizek. Ideology and political critique, democracy and exclusion, language and power, and imagination and subjectivity are among the topics discussed, arguing that many of Spinoza's ideas find radical expression in Althusserian and post-Althusserian political philosophy.