Multitude (philosophy) - Knowledge (XXG)

230:("people"). It has been translated with negative connotations as "the mob", "the rabble", or "the vulgar", but Curley advised against these translations with the exception of "the mob" in some political contexts. Curley wrote that Spinoza often applied the term not only to people whose capacity and views he considered unreliable, but also in contrast to philosophers. However, Spinoza also occasionally wrote of a " 1142: 1124: 793:

This constituent aspect of the movement of the multitude, in its myriad faces, is really the positive terrain of the historical construction of Empire, ... an antagonistic and creative positivity. The deterritorializing power of the multitude is the productive force that sustains Empire and at the same time the force that calls for and makes necessary its destruction.

185:, too often by "common affect" but at best "as if by one mind" as in a "union of minds". For Curley, the main thesis of Spinoza's moral and political philosophy is that what is most useful to us is "living in a community with other people, and binding ourselves to our fellow citizens ... 'to make us one people'". But to do so rationally and 372:

in 1665 that he worked to counter the "prejudices of theologians", citing them as "the main obstacles to ... philosoph". Thus he sought to "expos such prejudices and remov them from the minds of sensible people". He aimed to "vindicate completely" the freedom to philosophize, "for here it is in every

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is never voluntary but rather a necessary predicament of inadequacy and that error is a consequence of ignorance. Spinoza likely held, D. Steinberg argued, that the force of conflicting ideas (as distinct from beliefs) against that of other (reinforcing or undermining) ideas (i.e., with respect to

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New figures of struggle and new subjectivities are produced in the conjecture of events, in the universal nomadism ... . They are not posed merely against the imperial system—they are not simply negative forces. They also express, nourish, and develop positively their own constituent projects. ...

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Certainly, there must be a moment when reappropriation and self-organization reach a threshold and configure a real event. This is when the political is really affirmed—when the genesis is complete and self-valorization, the cooperative convergence of subjects, and the proletarian management of

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they still refrain from a clear definition of the concept but approach the concept through mediation of a host of "contemporary" phenomena, most importantly the new type of postmodern war they postulate and the history of post-WWII resistance movements. It remains a rather vague concept which is

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Tucker acknowledged substantial evidence throughout Spinoza's work supporting broad consensus about his fears, but she cautioned that Spinoza's attitude toward the multitude was complex and vacillating, as well as deeply connected with his views on democracy. She proposed that Spinoza ultimately

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In Spinoza's account, the multitude's power was determined not only by its individuals in number, but also by their mode of agreement. Passive affects like fear and less adequate ideas were disempowering. Active affects like joy united the multitude, and along with more adequate ideas were more

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In mid-1660s Amsterdam, Spinoza became fearful amid civil instability, including riots, throughout the United Provinces. In attending to politics, his fear arguably settled into resignation as he began to consider the situation in terms of the role of the multitude. He sought to understand the

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Tucker and others instead saw Spinoza as developing his theories of affects, power, and the multitude. In Spinoza's typical, semantically revisionist sense, argued J. Steinberg, this "absolute" power was simply that of a sovereign as in principle greater than that of the church, as defined in

296:(or at least the unresolved tension) he identified between democracy and reason. Smith identified this aristocracy as a philosophical clerisy. Ericka Tucker cast doubt on this interpretation. Curley cautioned that "many" or "probably most" contemporary Spinoza scholars reject Strauss's views. 1754:

30 Fragment II, , "I am now composing a treatise ... . the considerations which move me to do this are: ... 3) the freedom of philosophizing and saying what we think, which I want to defend in every way; here the preachers suppress it as much as they can with their excessive authority and

1050:, which he denied, and was commonly reputed to be an atheist, a matter that remains somewhat complex. Spinoza valued Scripture mostly from a moral perspective, not as history. He did not think it adequately conceived of God and semantically revised the term, specifically rejecting the 693:

For Spinoza, the multitude's power simply arose from that of individuals in their aggregation and organization. He argued that natural right was coextensive with power and drew relations between the individual and the sovereign, and between the multitude and the entire state.

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empowering. To empower more of the multitude, Spinoza recommended democracy, however broadly conceived, as the best form of government. He proposed large, deliberative, popular councils for its institutions, postulating their epistemic advantage.

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In practice, everyone must contract to act in common as determined and redetermined by voting, though they inevitably think freely. For Spinoza, this comes closest to the natural condition, and "the more we depart from , ... the more violent the

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more with concern than disapproval, and he held out the hope that "many should acquire along with me". He argued that the improvement of education, medicine, and social order would be not only virtuous, but also instrumental in raising the

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production become a constituent power. ... We do not have any models to offer for this event. Only the multitude through its practical experimentation will offer the models and determine when and how the possible becomes real.

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Spinoza's concept of the multitude is distinct from its later, radically democratic or even revolutionary interpretation by Hardt and Negri, which forms a counterweight to Spinoza's more negative dispositions toward the

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in its historical context. Spinoza apparently derived the term from engaging with Hobbes, for whom it was also a technical term, but with whom he differed. It appears primarily in his mature political philosophy in the

112:). Machiavelli and Spinoza wrote about the multitude with vacillating admiration and contempt. Spinoza wrote about it in a historical context of war and civil instability, which informed and motivated his work. 662:. However, the purpose of the state was no longer freedom, but rather prosperity and stability, requiring absolute power. Thus many twentieth-century commentators felt Spinoza effectively abandoned democracy. 34:

deployed it more technically in philosophy and in engaging with their respective historical or intellectual contexts. Later philosophers and theorists revived it, often explicitly from Spinoza. In the work of

1153:(in Elwes's 1883 translation). The Note to Proposition LIV reads in part, "The crowd plays the tyrant, when it is not in fear". Curley translated this passage, "The mob is terrifying, if unafraid." 1132: 458:. His attitudes changed over time, as may be seen in his work. These complex changes reflected both the logical refinement of his thought and the developing events of his historical context. 299:

Balibar was more nuanced. He merely agreed that Spinoza expressed fear of the labile masses. But Balibar proposed that Spinoza's pro-democratic arguments, though marred, nonetheless stood.

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is a philosophical term for a group of people not classed under any other distinct category, except for their shared fact of existence. It has an ancient textual and philosophical history.

177:, multitude more technically (and without the same degree of negative connotation) referred to a great aggregate of people, whether or not politically organized, who are often led more by 265:

emphasized Spinoza's fear of the masses in his more general understanding of political philosophy as a manual for the elite. Indeed, Spinoza asked unprepared commoners not to read his

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as an unmediated, revolutionary, immanent, and positive collective social subject which can found a "nonmystified" form of democracy (p. 194). In his more recent writings with

808: 714: 906:, Spinoza wrote that such association was necessary for security, enjoyment, prosperity, the division of labor, and the flourishing of art, science, and understanding. 2517:, intro. Olli Koistinen and Valtteri Viljanen, 140–166. The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Digitally republished in 2010. 1314: 1312: 1310: 303:

developed a theory of the multitude as something to be understood, not feared, in order to sustain institutions, peace, and prosperity within democratic states.

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most likely to result in freedom and peace, which he elevated as the chief aims of the state. Tucker noted that democracy requires "the people, the masses, the

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affects (or the confused ideas) of the people. His aim was to help establish peaceful governance and to help the state develop more stable institutions.

2657: 497:, Justin Steinberg, and Tucker read Spinoza as deliberately ambiguous here, referring to the fear of the masses as that which they felt and inspired. 987:

and his political philosophy, "Spinoza on Civil Liberation". D. Steinberg argued that Spinoza may have been committed to the nonstandard view that

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Recently the term has returned to prominence as a new model of resistance against global systems of power. Hardt and Negri describe it as such in

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30 Fragment II, No. 1, "the prejudices of the theologians ... are the greatest obstacle to men's being able to apply their minds to philosophy".

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was originally planned as broadly theological but ultimately included a political theory. Spinoza had already been accused of

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She noted a rejection of these views in "Steinberg (2009)", referring either to Diane Steinberg's related work on Spinoza's

2776: 1377: 1375: 779: 707: 43:, among others, it became a radically democratic or revolutionary concept whereby individuals stand against institutions. 893:

He also applied it in mathematical and metaphysical contexts, where Edwin Curley translated it instead as "multiplicity".

752: 626: 316: 778:, however, he does not so much offer a direct definition, but presents the concept through a series of mediations. In 1008:. (Spinoza distinguished between knowledge of the "first kind" as in opinion or imagination, the "second kind" as in 1033:) determined the emergence of some ideas merely as dominant without entailing that any should prevail conclusively. 813:

assigned a revolutionary potential without much theoretical substantiation apart from a generic potential of love.

358: 825:, Lotringer criticized Hardt's and Negri's use of the concept for its ostensible return to dialectical dualism. 784:

it is mediated by the concept of Empire (the new global constitution that Negri and Hardt describe as a copy of

195:—to overcome bondage to the passions—became the task of the entire community in Spinoza's political philosophy. 2786: 849: 2640: 2370:, ed. and trans. Edwin Curley. Second printing with corrections, 1988. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1150: 666:

relation to (and sometimes constrained by) that of the multitude, and as necessarily limited or finite in an

2766: 671: 93: 288:(to some extent). Matheron, Prokhovnik, and Smith argued that Spinoza ultimately rejected democracy in the 2791: 1730:

30 Fragment II, No. 1, "so I am busy exposing them and removing them from the minds of the more prudent".

1025: 292:. Matheron and Prokhovnik argued that he may have endorsed aristocracy as the best possibility, given the 23: 527:

and recommended the pursuit of knowledge and love of God, "the end for which I strive". He regarded the

844: 354: 1000:, noting that he was explicit that knowledge is of limited adequacy insofar as there is an apparently 1021: 723: 579: 2507: 2761: 2661: 1678: 1013: 333:, if strained, period of "new freedom" and tolerance was disrupted by riots and war, including the 178: 104: 82: 741: 2675: 976: 859: 583: 346: 277: 129: 52: 51:

As a term in general and philosophical use, multitude appears in texts from antiquity, including

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and Hasana Sharp, 179–189. Cambridge Critical Guides. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Strauss's orientation may be seen in some secondary literature on Spinoza, including that of

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II15: "The more there are that combine tougher, the more right they collectively possess".

1059: 369: 273: 121: 2089: 2087: 2085: 605:". Many thus observed as an apparent tension in Spinoza's political philosophy that the 2695: 2586: 2419: 2383: 2363: 312: 31: 2328: 2322: 1062:. Curley wrote that Spinoza, while arguably no atheist, challenged the common idea of 2755: 2512: 2461: 2272: 2266: 775: 653: 637:, and Spinoza sought to frame a path by which the multitude (like individuals in the 494: 40: 36: 27: 2685:

Proletariat or Multitude? A Postanarchist Critique of Empire, article by Jason Adams

2646: 1017: 972: 864: 2390:, ed. and trans. Edwin Curley. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 746: 2420:

Masses, Classes, Ideas: Studies on Politics and Philosophy Before and After Marx

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They were vague as to this "positive" or "constituent" aspect of the multitude:

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Empire & Imperialism: A Critical Reading of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri

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amid riots and civil instability, as well as wars. These events were marked by

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734: 690:, though Spinoza specifically clarified that "Kings are not Gods, but men"). 2564: 1922: