Imperium: Structures and Affects of Political Bodies

Description

What should we do with the ideals of internationalism, the withering away of state and horizontality? Probably start by thinking seriously about them. That is to say, about their conditions of possibility (or impossibility), rather than sticking to the wishful thinking which believes that for them to happen it is enough to want them. Humanity exists neither as a dust cloud of separate individuals nor as a unified world political community. It exists fragmented into distinct finite wholes, the forms of which have varied considerably throughout history - the nation-state being only one among many, and certainly not the last. What are the forces that produce this fragmentation, engender such groupings and prevent them from being perfectly horizontal, but also lead them to disappear, merge, or change form? It is questions such as these that this book explores, drawing on Spinoza's political philosophy and especially his two central concepts of multitudo and imperium.

Frederic Lordon is Director of Research at CNRS. He focuses his work on blending Spinoza's philosophy and approach to social science to create a new theoretical framework called the 'structuralism of passions'.

Praise for Willing Slaves of Capital: This ambitious but always lucid book aims to reopen the conceptual framework of capitalism. * Le Monde * Praise for Willing Slaves of Capital: This work is an initiatory voyage towards communism. * L'Humanite * Praise for Willing Slaves of Capital: Frederic Lordon is one of the most audacious contemporary left-wing economists. * Le Nouvel Observateur * Praise for Willing Slaves of Capital: At a time when all workers are required to show 'passion' for their jobs, Willing Slaves of Capital is a crucial re-affirmation of the importance of Spinoza's philosophy for understanding contemporary forms of servitude. Lordon persuasively and elegantly shows that the only way to break free is to hold onto a cold and exceptionless determinism: hope is pointless, regret is meaningless, yet change can still be made to happen. -- Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism Praise for Willing Slaves of Capital: Lordon effectively and brilliantly demonstrates that Spinoza is less a precursor to Marx than a necessary complement. Only Spinoza's examination of the production of desire can answer the question that is at the core of Marxism: Why do workers work for capital rather than their own liberation? -- Jason Read, University of Southern Maine