James, Susan (2024) Spinoza and the Poetic Imagination. Australasian Philosophical Review 7 (1), pp. 9-27. ISSN 2474-0500.
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Abstract
The complex role that Spinoza allotts to the imagination is widely appreciated, but where does poetry fit in? How does Spinoza conceive of poetry, and what role does he think it plays in philosophical thinking? I begin by arguing that Spinoza's analysis of imagination reflects the rhetorical and poetic theories of his age and implies that, insofar as we all imagine, we are all to some extent poets. But do our poetic powers play a role in philosophising? Focusing on the imaginative aids to understanding that Spinoza calls beings of reason, I argue that poems can function as beings of reason and can thus be philosophically empowering.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This paper will be published with five commentaries by Moira Gatens, Hasana Sharp, Sandra Field, Russ Leo and Aurelia Armstrong. |
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Spinoza, poetry, beings of reason, Cicero, classical and early modern rhetoric, classical and early modern poetics, Sidney. |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies |
| Depositing User: | Susan James |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Aug 2022 12:55 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jun 2025 05:26 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/48921 |
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