Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza
In this intricately argued work, Deleuze claims that expression is a key to understanding Spinoza's philosophy: If A expresses B, then A perfectly reproduces all of B's essential characteristics. Nature, for instance, expresses God's essence. Deleuze thinks that Spinoza's use of expression revolutionizes philosophy; God is no longer seen as the world's creator but is identical with it. Furthermore, expression characterizes not only the nature of reality but also the manner in which Spinoza presents his philosophy, for the order in which Spinoza presents his conclusions is supposed to copy the movement of reality. Deleuze maintains that Leibniz shared Spinoza's revolutionary stress on expression. By their use of this idea, they founded modern philosophy. In Deleuze's view, Descartes counts as pre-modern, since he did not use the notion of expression. While Deleuze's grasp of Spinoza's thought is penetrating, his study is suitable only for scholars.- David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OhioCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.