The moderation of the affects and its remedies in parts IV and V of Spinoza's Ethics

• Grant number: 23/03543-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Luís César Guimarães Oliva
• Grantee: Daniela Mordoch
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/19880-4 - Power, conflict and freedom: Spinoza and the ways of Modern and Contemporary Political Philosophy about democracy, AP.TEM

Abstract

This project seeks to answer a fundamental problem that is developed mainly in parts IV and V of Spinoza's Ethics, namely: if we are always necessarily involved by the force of the passions, how can we moderate, reduce, or remedy them? More specifically, if an affect can only be restrained or suppressed by another affect that is contrary to and stronger than it, would it be possible for rational knowledge to wage a struggle against it? With this, we intend to present Spinoza's originality in defending a simultaneity between Body and Mind through the profound study of the relationship between knowledge and affect, thus distancing himself from the intellectualist tradition.