The passion of fear is at the basis of Spinoza’s political philosophy. In Ethics and Tractatus theologico-politicus, fear is not exclusively connected to the need to find a way out of the dangers of the state of nature, but also to the negative role played by superstition in social and political life. In Spinoza’s thought, we can measure a difference in the level of knowledge characteristic of the crowd (vulgus) and the people (populus) that corresponds with the difference between fear and desire of liberty, that is, between tyranny and republic. The images of the crowd and the people are present in Spinoza’s thought in two large areas—the theory of knowledge and political philosophy—both central to the construction of the civil State (the republic), understood as a solution to the fear that characterizes the state of nature and superstition. Fear is also the great enemy of both knowledge and republic.
The relationships between theory of passions and political theory in Spinoza's thought
Fear and Civil Society in Spinoza’s Philosophy. Between Theocracy and Republic / Altini, Carlo. - 20:(2025), pp. 43-57. [10.3726/b22889]
Fear and Civil Society in Spinoza’s Philosophy. Between Theocracy and Republic
Altini Carlo
2025
Abstract
The passion of fear is at the basis of Spinoza’s political philosophy. In Ethics and Tractatus theologico-politicus, fear is not exclusively connected to the need to find a way out of the dangers of the state of nature, but also to the negative role played by superstition in social and political life. In Spinoza’s thought, we can measure a difference in the level of knowledge characteristic of the crowd (vulgus) and the people (populus) that corresponds with the difference between fear and desire of liberty, that is, between tyranny and republic. The images of the crowd and the people are present in Spinoza’s thought in two large areas—the theory of knowledge and political philosophy—both central to the construction of the civil State (the republic), understood as a solution to the fear that characterizes the state of nature and superstition. Fear is also the great enemy of both knowledge and republic.
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