Conatus in Political Metaphysics of Spinoza

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Spinoza was the most prominent philosopher of the age of Radical Enlightenment in a way that it has been considered equivalent to Spinozism. Spinoza’s political philosophy can be analyzed along the great tradition of Florentine Republicanism and in the framework of Modern political realism. The main point of this republicanism or political realism is a comprehension of Civitas or Respublica relied on an assessment of relations of power. In other words, the main focus of Spinozan political realism is the concept of power or Potentia, and this political philosophy, with the centrality of the concepts of power and conflicting structure of social forces, relies on a special metaphysical system, the central idea or concept of which is Conatus. It is with such an idea that a thinker like Deleuze calls Ethics a treatise about power. We suppose as a proposition that each political philosophy depends on a kind of metaphysical apparatus and a conception of the main ideas of metaphysics and/or theology. On the other hand, there is a direct relation between metaphysics and/or theology and political philosophy approaches. The main questions here are as such: What are the characteristics of Conatus as one of the main elements of Spinozan metaphysical system? What kind of political philosophy can be formulated in Spinozan system with Conatus in base? The main clime here is that Spinoza’s special perception of metaphysical (and physical) concept of Conatus creates a kind of political realism different from mainstream real politics detached from ethics. We will see that Conatus is not a natural drive or an element related to the psycho-physical constitution of human beings or creatures; rather, it is related to the divine and emotional realm of human life and establishes ethical elements, such as joy, love, and friendship, in the public realm or Respublica.

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