Fifty years of Spinozism in Spain

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to give an account of the journey that Spinoza’s philosophy made in the last fifty years through Spain, from the final years of the Franco regime till today. Our aim is to show the foundational role played by Spinoza’s philosophy during the decisive moments of the transformation of Spanish society and the Spanish university. We start by addressing the revival of Spinoza’s philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) during the final years of the Franco regime (1966-1975). We then divide the last fifty years of Spinozism in Spain into three periods: (1) the consolidation and the institutionalization of Spinozism (1975-1990); (2) the expansion of Spinoza’s influence through the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Seminario Spinoza and the first three International Spinoza Conferences (1990-2000); (3) the diverse and manifold Spinoza of the third millennium (2000-2023). In the appendix we briefly address the state of Spinozism in Latin America and its relations with Spinozism in Spain.