Recent kwam ik een proefschrift tegen, waarop ik graag wil
wijzen – kan van pas komen voor wie Spinoza’s theorie over het individu en de
individu-wording wil bestuderen:
Matthew David Wion, B.A., M.A., SPINOZA ON INDIVIDUALS AND
INDIVIDUATION: METAPHYSICS, MORALS, AND POLITICS. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August
2011
A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate
School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy [PDF]
Abstract: This
dissertation examines Spinoza's position regarding the relationship of the
individual to the community and to other individuals in the context of a
particular reading of Spinoza's metaphysics as holistic. By the term
"holistic metaphysics," I refer to a view of reality as a unified
whole rather than as a collection of entirely separate parts. The latter I call
a "reductionistic metaphysics." If a reductionistic metaphysics tends
to see individuals as essentially separate and only secondarily relational, a
holistic metaphysics pictures individuals as primarily relational and only by
means of their relations capable of any meaningful "separateness"
from other individuals. The reading advanced here concludes that Spinoza holds
that individuals cannot ultimately be separated from the larger environment and
network of relationships of which they are always a part. This dissertation
concludes with brief set of reflections on the potential implications of this
"relational" understanding of individuals in the realms of morals and
politics. How Spinoza might view the issue of "universal health care"
in the context of his holistic metaphysics is singled out for specific
consideration.
