Desire towards Reason and Constitutive Otherness

Notes on Human Beings in Spinoza’s Ethics

Authors

  • Raúl de Pablos Escalante Universidad de Puerto Rico

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.11

Keywords:

Desire, reason, constitutive otherness, usefulness, figures of impotence

Abstract

Centered on the Ethics, this work underlines the otherness that is present in human essence or, what is the same to Spinoza, human desire. From this constitutive otherness, the dichotomous way of thinking the individual and the social will be reconsidered thanks to a desire that maintains its singularity and at the same time is and perseveres in relation to others. With the aim of not reducing the notion of desire to one of its expression, this paper distinguishes between the different forms of desire, particularly longing (desiderium), and the basic desire-cupiditas. Likewise, it studies the notion of the desire of reason in contrast to the figures of impotence. The aspects discussed will lead to an assessment of a thinker that bequeathed to us a notion of desire that implies simultaneously affirmation and codependency, inserting Spinoza in current ethical, political and psychological debates.

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Published

2018-03-22

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 28 (2018)

Section

Monográfico: Actores, escenarios y bastidores de la política en Spinoza

License

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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How to Cite

Escalante, R. de P. (2018). Desire towards Reason and Constitutive Otherness: Notes on Human Beings in Spinoza’s Ethics. Co-herencia, 15(28), 245-269. https://doi.org/10.17230/co-herencia.15.28.11