Foundations of Psychoanalysis

Willem de Kooning. Excavation, 1950

Spinoza: Ethics as Desire

Raffaella Colombo

Saturday, December 5, 2026 • 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

The third part of Spinoza’s masterpiece Ethics deals with the “Origin and Nature of the Emotions.” In this crucial section the Dutch philosopher reveals, in geometric fashion (more geometrico), his largely revolutionary ideas on the mind-body relationship and on the role of “affects” in the formation of our identity and our moral sense. In particular, desire, as the most primitive “affect,” becomes the key to understanding what “ethics” truly is, transcending or overcoming earlier philosophical tradition.

Reading: Spinoza: Ethics, Part III. 

Location: Online via Zoom.

Fee: $40; for students with ID: $20. Registration details to follow.

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Raffaella Colombo was for over fifteen years a researcher at the State University of Milan and is now an independent scholar. Her work focuses on modern and contemporary moral and political philosophy, particularly on Spinoza and Leo Strauss. The author of numerous books and essays on philosophy and in the field of human-animal studies, she is co-director of the academic journal Balthazar. Per un’etica dell’inclusione.