Spinoza: Multiple identities at the origins of psychoanalytic psychology

The present paper addresses Baruch Spinoza's radical affirmation of individual identity emergent from within the psychosocial tensions of group membership. Focusing upon psychological experience beginning with a lived history of fearful Inquisitional persecution, and continuing from conformity...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational forum of psychoanalysis Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 207 - 214
Main Author Miller, Ian S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.01.2020
Scandinavian University Press
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
ethnic prejudice
history of ideas
Identity
individuality
modernity
Psychoanalysis
psychoanalytic psychology
Psychology
Spinoza
Spinoza, Benedictus de (1632-1677)
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Summary:The present paper addresses Baruch Spinoza's radical affirmation of individual identity emergent from within the psychosocial tensions of group membership. Focusing upon psychological experience beginning with a lived history of fearful Inquisitional persecution, and continuing from conformity to rebellion within the constraints of the Amsterdam Jewish synagogue, we trace the psychological recognition of individual identity in Spinoza's understanding of the self-determined, immanent acts of daily life. Spinoza's multiple names are depicted as markers, corresponding to membership in mutually exclusive social groups, each constraining freedom of thought and action.
ISSN:0803-706X
1651-2324
DOI:10.1080/0803706X.2019.1634285