Spinoza, A Physics of Thought

Offers a detailed study of Spinoza’s philosophical analysis and reformulation of the concept of form and his novel theory of individuation

• Articulates a new concept of form arising out of Spinoza’s philosophy
• Explains the practical, ethical, and epistemological consequences of this concept of form, specifically as it pertains to questions of death and suicide
• Distinguishes between traditional corporeal physics and a ‘physics of thought’, or a physics of ideas
• Traces how the logic of transformation changes between Cartesian and Spinozist metaphysics

François Zourabichvili (1965–2006) wrote two of the most important books on Spinoza in the past 20 years. The first book, Spinoza’s Paradoxical Conservatism (EUP, 2023) focuses on Spinoza’s political philosophy. This second book studies Spinoza’s metaphysics and the way he uses it to produce a ‘physics of thought’.

Zourabichvili suggests that Spinoza completely revises the concept of form and develops a novel theory of individuation. He argues that Spinoza specifically focuses on the problem of the individuation of ideas, whereas most thinkers only consider the problem of the individuation of bodies. In turn, he draws out the ethical implications of these new Spinozist conceptions.

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