Considerations about a certain Spinozist presence in the work of Laurent Bove and Mark Fisher

Abstract

This article intends to approach two contemporary contributions, by the theorists Mark Fisher and Laurent Bove, who, each in his own way, claim the actuality and effectiveness of certain concepts and notions of the seventeenth-century philosopher Benedictus Spinoza (1632 – 1677). In Laurent Bove, the foundation and dissemination of a political clinic, at the same time, singular and social, unfolds under the relation between conatus and freedom, always corresponding to the affective and intellectual rules of the autonomous project of the multitude, as formulated by Spinoza. Mark Fisher, in turn, from the Spinozian concept of entity, produces a speculative articulation between Gothic materialism and cyber-Spinozism that aims to create a collective body, immanent and antagonistic to the tyranny of financial capitalism. Furthermore, based on Spinoza’s theory of affects, he develops an ethical analysis of his time that also intends to be a convocation to political action. Finally, the paper aims to clarify what the two authors have in common, namely, their belief in the positivity of political action, and how this characteristic reaffirms the relevance of maintaining an ever attentive and vibrant dialogue with Spinoza’s philosophy.