Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence

In the 17th century, Dutch production, transportation, and finance sectors underwent rapid globalisation, making the Netherlands the first world-economy of early modern colonial capitalism. The philosopher Baruch de Spinoza was well aware of these developments, as Amsterdam Sephardic Jews took part...

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Autor principal: Diefenbach, Katja
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Centro de Estudios Avanzados. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. 2025
Materias:
Baruch de Spinoza
Poder de la multitud
Cimarrones de Palmarés
Henrique Dias
Practicas no autónomas
Power of the multitude
Maroons of Palmares
Non-autonomous practices
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revesint/article/view/50968
Aporte de:
1991. Revista de Estudios Internacionales de Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
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record_format ojs
institution Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
institution_str I-10
repository_str R-306
container_title_str 1991. Revista de Estudios Internacionales
language Inglés
format Artículo revista
topic Baruch de Spinoza
Poder de la multitud
Cimarrones de Palmarés
Henrique Dias
Practicas no autónomas
Baruch de Spinoza
Power of the multitude
Maroons of Palmares
Henrique Dias
Non-autonomous practices
spellingShingle Baruch de Spinoza
Poder de la multitud
Cimarrones de Palmarés
Henrique Dias
Practicas no autónomas
Baruch de Spinoza
Power of the multitude
Maroons of Palmares
Henrique Dias
Non-autonomous practices
Diefenbach, Katja
Diefenbach, Katja
Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
topic_facet Baruch de Spinoza
Poder de la multitud
Cimarrones de Palmarés
Henrique Dias
Practicas no autónomas
Baruch de Spinoza
Power of the multitude
Maroons of Palmares
Henrique Dias
Non-autonomous practices
author Diefenbach, Katja
Diefenbach, Katja
author_facet Diefenbach, Katja
Diefenbach, Katja
author_sort Diefenbach, Katja
title Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
title_short Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
title_full Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
title_fullStr Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
title_full_unstemmed Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence
title_sort spinoza’s “black double”: marronage, non-autonomy, and political violence
description In the 17th century, Dutch production, transportation, and finance sectors underwent rapid globalisation, making the Netherlands the first world-economy of early modern colonial capitalism. The philosopher Baruch de Spinoza was well aware of these developments, as Amsterdam Sephardic Jews took part in the Dutch colonization of Northern Brazil between 1630 and 1654. Nevertheless, Spinoza remained largely silent about Dutch company colonization and never offered a critique of Atlantic slavery, even though he used the concept of servitus as a key organising category of his writings. Referencing the well-known seventeenth letter to Pieter Balling, in which Spinoza, suddenly and in a distinctly xenophobic register, broke his silence on Dutch colonialism by recounting to Balling the dream image of a “Black, scabby Brazilian” that stood before his eyes one morning, the article reads Spinoza against his conservatisms in order to reconstruct, between the lines of his thought, a decolonial theory of the power of the multitude. It explains why it took Spinoza his entire intellectual life to develop concepts that transform the traditional philosophical topos of the fear of the multitude into an affirmation of its power—recognising in insurrection not the violent destruction of society, but rather a mode of its very constitution. Even though Spinoza repeatedly recoiled from this insight, the article suggests identifying the protagonist of his dream not with Henrique Dias, but with the maroons of Palmares, in order to examine the extent to which we can think, through Spinoza, a non-autonomous or fugitive politics.
publisher Centro de Estudios Avanzados. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.
publishDate 2025
url https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revesint/article/view/50968
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last_indexed 2025-12-27T05:28:45Z
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spelling I10-R306-article-509682025-12-22T19:31:11Z Spinoza’s “Black Double”: Marronage, Non-Autonomy, and Political Violence El “doble negro“ de Spinoza: marronaje, no-autonomía y violencia política Diefenbach, Katja Diefenbach, Katja Baruch de Spinoza Poder de la multitud Cimarrones de Palmarés Henrique Dias Practicas no autónomas Baruch de Spinoza Power of the multitude Maroons of Palmares Henrique Dias Non-autonomous practices In the 17th century, Dutch production, transportation, and finance sectors underwent rapid globalisation, making the Netherlands the first world-economy of early modern colonial capitalism. The philosopher Baruch de Spinoza was well aware of these developments, as Amsterdam Sephardic Jews took part in the Dutch colonization of Northern Brazil between 1630 and 1654. Nevertheless, Spinoza remained largely silent about Dutch company colonization and never offered a critique of Atlantic slavery, even though he used the concept of servitus as a key organising category of his writings. Referencing the well-known seventeenth letter to Pieter Balling, in which Spinoza, suddenly and in a distinctly xenophobic register, broke his silence on Dutch colonialism by recounting to Balling the dream image of a “Black, scabby Brazilian” that stood before his eyes one morning, the article reads Spinoza against his conservatisms in order to reconstruct, between the lines of his thought, a decolonial theory of the power of the multitude. It explains why it took Spinoza his entire intellectual life to develop concepts that transform the traditional philosophical topos of the fear of the multitude into an affirmation of its power—recognising in insurrection not the violent destruction of society, but rather a mode of its very constitution. Even though Spinoza repeatedly recoiled from this insight, the article suggests identifying the protagonist of his dream not with Henrique Dias, but with the maroons of Palmares, in order to examine the extent to which we can think, through Spinoza, a non-autonomous or fugitive politics. En el siglo XVII, los sectores holandeses de producción, transporte y finanzas atravesaron una rápida globalización, lo que convirtió a los Países Bajos en la primera economía-mundo del capitalismo colonial de la temprana modernidad. El filósofo Baruch de Spinoza era plenamente consciente de estos desarrollos, dado que los judíos sefardíes de Á Ámsterdam participaron en la colonización holandesa del norte de Brasil entre 1630 y 1654. No obstante, Spinoza permaneció en gran medida en silencio respecto de la colonización empresarial holandesa y nunca ofreció una crítica de la esclavitud atlántica, aun cuando utilizó el concepto de servitus como una categoría organizadora central de sus escritos. Tomando como referencia la conocida carta décimo séptima a Pieter Balling, en la que Spinoza, de manera repentina y con un tono marcadamente xenófobo, rompió su silencio sobre el colonialismo holandés al relatarle a Balling la imagen onírica de un “brasileño negro y sarnoso” que apareció ante sus ojos una mañana, el artículo propone leer a Spinoza en contra de sus propios conservadurismos con el fin de reconstruir, entre líneas, una teoría decolonial del poder de la multitud. Explica por qué Spinoza necesitó toda su vida intelectual para desarrollar conceptos que transforman el tradicional topos filosófico del miedo a la multitud en una afirmación de su poder, reconociendo en la insurrección no la destrucción violenta de la sociedad, sino una modalidad misma de su constitución. Aunque Spinoza retrocedió repetidamente ante esta intuición, el artículo sugiere identificar al protagonista de su sueño no con Henrique Dias, sino con los cimarrones de Palmares, a fin de examinar en qué medida es posible pensar, a través de Spinoza, una política no autónoma o fugitiva. Centro de Estudios Avanzados. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. 2025-12-05 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion text/html application/pdf https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revesint/article/view/50968 1991. Revista de Estudios Internacionales; Vol. 7 Núm. 2 (2025): Spinoza y la política internacional moderna: entre el colonialismo y las soberanías. Julio-Diciembre 2025; 30-45 1991. Revista de Estudios Internacionales (Journal of International Studies); Vol. 7 No. 2 (2025): Vol. 7 Nro. 2 (2025). Spinoza and Modern International Politics: Between Colonialism and Sovereignties. July-December 2025; 30-45 2683-720X eng https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revesint/article/view/50968/51753 https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/revesint/article/view/50968/51170 Derechos de autor 2025 Katja Diefenbach https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

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