Editorial for the Special Issue “Deleuze: Teacher of Spinoza’s Philosophy”

Philosophers come in many different shapes. Some draw borders and others cross them. Some build the world and other reveal it. Many of them seek truth and certainty, but others know better. Deleuze, however, is in a category of his own. Above all, he is a philosophical synthesizer. He draws from an incredible number of sources to generate ideas that both carry his name and are never entirely his own. His reading of the history of philosophy, art, and science is therefore inseparable from his own philosophical activity. Each source expresses merely one of Deleuze’s many facets. Yet, there is one that marks him more than the others: Spinoza.

More than the number of pages devoted to Spinoza, or the famous characterization of him as the “prince of philosophy,” Deleuze’s profound love speaks loudest through his Spinoza seminars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Delivered more than a decade after the publication of his first Spinoza book, these lectures expand on and occasionally diverge from his earlier interpretations. These seminars also reveal fresh connections between Spinoza and key Deleuzean concepts. But above all, these lectures show us Deleuze thinking in a different rhythm and with more clarity than we are used to.

These lectures have been widely read. Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and Turkish translations have been published for many years. Surprisingly, however, the French publication happened only recently (Les Éditions de Minuit, 2024), and the first English translation will be published later this year (University of Minnesota Press, 2026). On the occasion of these recent publications, this Special Issue collects papers on the seminars and Deleuze’s broader engagement with Spinoza.

First, “Spinoza and Signs: Semiology and Empiricism in Deleuze’s Course on Spinoza,” by Thomas Detcheverry, investigates a seeming contradiction within Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical framework. While Deleuze generally champions the encounter with signs as the genesis of creative thought, his reading of Spinoza appears to sharply critique signs as sources of imaginative servitude. The paper resolves this tension by exploring Deleuze’s nuanced reconstruction of a Spinozist empiricist semiology. By distinguishing between signs of vague experience and privileged signs that actually enable reason, the article reveals a fascinating isomorphism between Spinoza’s rationalism and Deleuze’s own transcendental empiricism.

Max Lowdin’s text, “Spinoza quatenus Deleuze: The Problem of Expression in Language,” examines a potential paradox within Spinoza’s theory of language regarding the expression of true ideas. By focusing on Spinoza’s recurring use of the Latin term quatenus (“insofar as”), the paper draws upon Gilles Deleuze’s concept of a general semiology to shed light on this textual mystery. Lowdin proposes that understanding this specific linguistic mechanism is key to affirming the overall coherence of Spinoza’s Ethics. Ultimately, the article serves as a compelling introduction to how the concept of “sense” bridges the gap between the powers of thinking and acting.

Sybrand Veeger addresses a conceptual ambiguity in Gilles Deleuze’s interpretation of Spinoza in “Spinoza’s ‘Bizarre’ Christ: Between Signs and Expressions.” The paper explores Deleuze’s crucial distinction between signs and expressions by examining his remarks regarding Spinoza’s unconventional view of Christ. By broadly reconstructing Spinoza’s taxonomy of signs and his political philosophy, Veeger suggests that Christ’s religion functions similarly to a political society during times of crisis. Ultimately, the article introduces the compelling idea of reading Christ as the unique “conceptual persona” of Spinozism.

In the article, “Spinoza’s Climatology of Affects and the Diagram of Painting,” Sonja Lavaert examines the compositional nature of Spinoza’s philosophy as presented in Gilles Deleuze’s lectures. The paper explores how Spinoza’s non-hierarchical ontology and his technical approach to human affects resonate deeply with the creation of art. By tracing the transition from Deleuze’s Spinoza lectures to his lectures on painting, Lavaert highlights the profound structural connections between Spinoza’s practical philosophy and the artistic process. Ultimately, the article introduces the fascinating ways in which both painting and Spinozist thought work to productively order human chaos.

“The Quest of the Absolute: Spinoza and Sartre,” by Roland Breeur, explores the concept of absolute space to bridge the philosophical frameworks of Baruch Spinoza and Jean-Paul Sartre. The text puts Sartre’s essay on Alberto Giacometti alongside Deleuze’s and Henri Maldiney’s writings on Byzantine art. This then leads to a reevaluation of the complex relationship between essence and the existence of Spinoza’s modes. Breeur thereby ultimately shows how Sartre’s early notions of absolute consciousness can be understood as a distinct form of Spinozism.

My text, “Deleuze on Spinoza’s Geometrism,” explores Gilles Deleuze’s intriguing assertion that Spinoza is an “absolute geometrist.” The paper traces the evolution of this interpretation within Deleuze’s work and situates it against broader scholarly debates regarding Spinoza’s relationship to mathematics. I suggest that Deleuze’s geometrist reading rests on three pillars: the primacy of geometry over arithmetic, the development of a concrete “mathematics of the real,” and the creation of a univocal language that dismantles hierarchical worldviews. Guided by Deleuze, the article ultimately introduces readers to the depth of Spinoza’s mathematical commitments.

In the article “Deleuze’s Spinozist Gambler: Lessons on Games of Chance,” Ilgin Aksoy and Corry Shores explore an elusive figure briefly mentioned in Gilles Deleuze’s lectures. The paper interprets what a “Spinozist gambler” might entail by situating it within Deleuze’s broader reflections on play and Spinoza’s epistemology. By generally comparing this conceptual gambler to Deleuze’s well-known notion of the Nietzschean dice-thrower, the authors provide a framework for understanding philosophical approaches to chance. Ultimately, the article serves as an introduction to how different modes of thought might intersect with the concepts of games, play, and unpredictability.

Jeffrey A. Bell’s “Passed over in Silence: Deleuze, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, and an Ethics of Learning,” unites the philosophies of Spinoza, Wittgenstein, and Deleuze around a shared “ethics of learning.” The paper explores how this framework resists rigid moral laws and representational thinking. By examining Spinoza’s concept of absolutely infinite substance, Bell illuminates Deleuze’s reliance on Spinoza and clarifies Wittgenstein’s famous notion of what must remain unsaid. Ultimately, the article introduces the deep intersections between metaphysics, learning, and non-representational ethics.

Finally, “Spinoza and Bergson Through and Beyond Deleuze: Freedom as Undissociated Joy,” by John Robert Bagby, addresses the complexities of compatibility within Gilles Deleuze’s philosophical use of Spinoza and Bergson. The paper traces the profound incompatibilities between these thinkers, particularly regarding the metaphysical status of freedom and necessity. By moving beyond Deleuze’s creative synthesis, the author reopens the question of compatibilism and proposes an alternative historical link through the work of Jean-Marie Guyau. Ultimately, the article serves as an introduction to how a shared moral notion of freedom emerges as “undissociated joy.”