Spinoza: Journal of an Emendation

For the last 350 years, nearly all writing devoted to Spinoza is exegetic, providing endless interpretations of his many propositions, axioms, definitions, and scholia. When reflecting on this enormous corpus, the following question immediately springs to mind: instead of adding one more interpretation to Spinoza’s scholarship, is it possible to undertake the emending project that he proposes in his Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and the Ethics? Emendation does not mean altering for the better, but simply choosing a better perspective. Can such a change of perspective be actually achieved? This book attempts to carefully follow and live out Spinoza’s emendation project today.

Jean-Paul Martinon is a writer and Emeritus Reader at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is the author of a number of monographs on masculinity, the Rwandan Genocide, curatorial practices, and questions of temporality.