DOI: 10.4231/r70863hn
title: Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought: Lecture 14, 31 March 1981

description: &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Deleuze Seminars&lt;/em&gt; is a collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and English translations of, and supplemental materials from, the lectures French philosopher Gilles Deleuze gave during his career at the University of Paris 8.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&ldquo;Spinoza: The Velocities of Thought&rdquo; was a 14-lecture seminar given from December 1980 to March 1981. In this seminar, Deleuze revisits his examination of Baruch Spinoza&rsquo;s philosophy. Deleuze had previously published two books on Spinoza: &lt;em&gt;Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Spinoza et le probl&egrave;me de l&#39;expression&lt;/em&gt;, 1968), and &lt;em&gt;Spinoza: Practical Philosophy&lt;/em&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Spinoza &lt;/em&gt;&ndash; &lt;em&gt;Philosophie pratique&lt;/em&gt;, 1970, 2nd ed. 1981). The majority of these lectures were given the same year as the publication of the second edition of the latter title.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This portion of the 31 March 1981 lecture marks the end of the Spinoza seminar, and the beginning of the &lt;em&gt;Painting and the Question of Concepts&lt;/em&gt; seminar. During the first part of the lecture, Deleuze offers a summary of the Spinoza seminar, fielding questions from students.  Other topics of discussion include: states of certainty and the third kind of knowledge; power and consciousness; &lt;em&gt;Ethics&lt;/em&gt;, Book V, and happiness; joy and sadness; the encounters of bodies; geometric ideas and common notions; the opportune moment; common notions of bodies; and the game.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This dataset includes: one mp3 recording (54:04) and a French transcription of it in both pdf (13 pp) and plain text.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Note: This dataset constitutes the first part of Deleuze&rsquo;s 31 March 1981 lecture. In this part of the lecture, Deleuze concludes his seminar on Spinoza by opening the floor to students&rsquo; questions. For the complete audio and transcription of the 31 March 1981 lecture, see the dataset for &ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Painting and the Question of Concepts&lt;/em&gt;: Lecture 1, 31 March 1981.&rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;-&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Les S&eacute;minaires de Deleuze&lt;/em&gt; sont une collection d&#39;enregistrements audio, de transcriptions et de traductions en anglais et de documents compl&eacute;mentaires des conf&eacute;rences que le philosophe fran&ccedil;ais Gilles Deleuze a donn&eacute; lors de sa carri&egrave;re &agrave; l&#39;Universit&eacute; de Paris 8.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&laquo;Spinoza: des vitesses de la pens&eacute;e&raquo; &eacute;tait un s&eacute;minaire de 14 conf&eacute;rences donn&eacute; de d&eacute;cembre 1980 &agrave; mars 1981. Dans ce s&eacute;minaire, Deleuze revisite son examen de la philosophie de Baruch Spinoza. Deleuze avait pr&eacute;c&eacute;demment publi&eacute; deux ouvrages sur Spinoza: &lt;em&gt;Spinoza et le probl&egrave;me de l&#39;expression&lt;/em&gt; (1968) et &lt;em&gt;Spinoza &ndash; Philosophie pratique&lt;/em&gt; (1970, 2e &eacute;d., 1981). La majorit&eacute; de ces conf&eacute;rences ont eu lieu la m&ecirc;me ann&eacute;e que la publication de la deuxi&egrave;me &eacute;dition de ce dernier titre.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Cette partie de la conf&eacute;rence du 31 mars 1981 marque la fin du s&eacute;minaire de Spinoza et le d&eacute;but du s&eacute;minaire sur &laquo;La peinture et la question des concepts&raquo;. Au cours de la premi&egrave;re partie de la conf&eacute;rence, Deleuze propose un r&eacute;sum&eacute; du s&eacute;minaire Spinoza, en r&eacute;pondant aux questions des &eacute;tudiants. Les autres sujets de discussion comprennent: les &eacute;tats de certitude et le troisi&egrave;me genre de connaissance; puissance et conscience; &lt;em&gt;&Eacute;thique&lt;/em&gt;, Livre V, et B&eacute;atitude; la joie et la tristesse; les rencontres des corps; id&eacute;es g&eacute;om&eacute;triques et notions communes; le moment opportun; les notions communes des corps; et le jeu.&lt;/p&gt;
description: Lecture given by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze at the University of Paris 8, 31 March 1981. This is lecture 14 of a 14-lecture seminar Deleuze taught between December 1980 and March 1981.