Prof. Susan James (Birkbeck College, London)
Drawing on the work of his contemporary, Thomas Hobbes, Spinoza argues that law and the norms of justice around which it is organised are an entirely human creation. Communities make laws, and in doing so make justice. But how do they develop understandings of justice that do more than reflect the interests of the powerful, and provide standards for assessing and criticizing social arrangements? This lecture explores Spinoza’s account of the philosophical, theological and political processes through which communities learn to live justly.
Susan James is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College London. Her most recent book is Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion and Politics: The Theologico-Political Treatise is published by Oxford University Press in January 2012. Among her other works are Passion and Action: The Emotions in Seventeenth-Century Philosophy (1997) and The Political Writings of Margaret Cavendish (2003).
