Rocco Gangle: "Spinoza, Language, and Relational Identity"
Spinoza's philosophy shows how relationality and, in particular, the human capacity for language provides a model of human personhood in which individual subjectivity and identity exist only through mutually affective relations with the world and with others. Spinoza's Ethics offers definite ways to conceive and to implement interdisciplinary possibilities, particularly by applying the relational conception of personal identity more generally to the identities of collectivities and traditions. In this way, the concept of relational personhood opens out onto a more general framework for rethinking the constructive relationality of groups, traditions, disciplines and ways of life.
2008 July 14
Rocco Gangle: "Spinoza, Language, and Relational Identity" from Metanexus Institute on Vimeo.
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Wow, I used to be a big fan of Spinozan panentheism when I was a student of Sufism and Kabbalah. Now that I've taken refuge as a Buddhist I sometimes wonder how the philosophic system of the old lens grinder relates to Dharma. It never occured to me that he might have paralleled the view of interdependent origination. Since I'm at work I won't watch the video now, but am intrigued to view it later and see how it relates to my (rather rusty) understanding of Spinoza.
ReplyDeleteSpinoza is quite popular among modern consciousness researchers, including Damasio.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read much of him since college, and then only a little, so I bought a Kindle edition that collects three or four of his books into one volume (for $0.99 - can't beat the price) - look forward to reading him.
Peace,
Bill