The role of sad passions in the formation of the multitude in Spinoza

Abstract

The concepts of singularity and multitude are central in Spinoza's Political Treatise, since it is the correlation established between the two that constitutes the political body. There are two ways to understand the agreement among men which culminates in the constitution of the multitude: the one of reason and the one of passion. In this project our purpose is to understand the role played by affections, more specifically the sad ones, in the constitution of the multitudo. Hence, we will start with the interpretation made by Antonio Negri of Spinoza's political works, in which he emphasizes mainly joyful passions in the creation of the common and indicates a democratic bias in Spinoza's project. Therefore, we will seek to study a part Spinoza's political ontology that not only is not put in evidence by Negri's interpretation but is also almost neglected, i.e., the conditions to form a multitude stemmed from sad affections, such as hate and the desire of vengeance. In other words, we will try to understand how postures that apparently go against the multitude can produce some form of communion. (AU)