The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics

This book is a re-reading of Spinoza's philosophical and political writings within the historical context of the development of the modern state and its attendant political economy. The central thesis of the book revolves around the assertion of a series of anomalies unique to Spinoza's situation, including: that his philosophy has never been adequately integrated into the western tradition because it represents a critique of subsequent philosophy and other institutionalized forms of knowledge; that the Netherlands was anomalous as a Spanish colony as well as a forerunner of European colonialism and capitalist development; and that Spinoza, in his peculiar situation between the Jewish, Dutch, and Hispanic cultures, was anomalous to them all. These "anomalies" are the focus of a close analysis of Spinoza's surviving writings, including his letters, as well as the critical work of Gueroulf, Wolfson, Matherson, Deleuze, Hecker, Macherey, Kolakowski, and other scholars who have contributed to the renewed interest in Spinoza in recent years. Negri makes a historical argument that stresses a philosophical affiliation running from Machiavelli to Spinoza to Marx, aiming to counter the dominant theorists of statehood who are traditionally considered to extend from Hobbes to Rousseau and Hegel.