The Influence of Spinoza's Concept of the Multitude on Debates about Populism and Representation in Democracies

In our view, the interests and problems of the present are the criteria for organizing our encounter with the ideas of the philosophers of the past. We will thus turn to Spinoza’s works interested in reflecting on the present. This does not mean that we will merely use his ideas to support views that we have already defined and settled. Instead, we will listen to him in his own voice; that is how he can help us think about our present. Which paths Spinoza research will take in the coming years depends on what we think our present interests and problems are, since the present opens the door to the immediate future. We propose a reading of Spinoza’s political philosophy from the perspective of present democracies’ crisis of representation. First, we analyse the difference between Spinoza and Hobbes, paying close attention to the respective concepts of multitude and people. Second, we assess the contributions that Spinoza’s philosophy can offer to today’s democracies. We argue that Spinoza’s philosophical ontology can help us think about a conception of modern democracy in which no one embodies the totality and where the multitude knows and exercises its power of freedom.