Ioan, Razvan:
Spinoza and Nietzsche on Freedom, Empowerment and Affirmation

In: European Journal of Philosophy 25, 4 (2017), 1864-1883

Literature type: Articles
Language: English
Thematic areas: Epistemology / methodology / philosophy of mind, Anthropology / psychology / doctrine of affections / body and mind, Ethics
Subject (individuals): Nietzsche, Friedrich

English commentary: "Against much of the philosophical tradition, Spinoza and Nietzsche defend an understanding of freedom opposed to free will and formulated as an ethical ideal consisting in a transition from a smaller to a greater power of acting. Starting from a shared commitment to necessity and radical immanence, they present freedom as a passage to a greater power of self‐determination and self‐expression of the body. Nevertheless, the continuities between their power ontologies and their respective commitments to a life of knowledge break down in their discussion of the various possible manifestations of power. I will argue that Nietzsche's distinctive formulation of power as struggle between wills to power enables him to formulate the question of the qualitative dimension of empowerment in a way that is foreign to Spinoza's rational determinism. While acknowledging the profound similarities, I will argue that we must see Nietzsche's discussion of affirmation as the culmination of his disagreement with his predecessor on the topic of freedom and empowerment." (abstract)

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