Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio available now

Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio, edited by Beth Lord, was published by Edinburgh University Press in May 2018.

Comprising 11 essays from contributors to the Equalities of Wellbeing project – Peg Rawes, Beth Lord, Simon B. Duffy, Helene Frichot, Gokhan Kodalak, Michael LeBuffe, Heidi M. Ravven, Anthony Uhlmann, Valtteri Viljanen, Stefan White, and Timothy Yenter – the book argues that ratio is a key concept in Spinoza’s philosophy, from reason, minds, bodies, and the cosmos, to architecture, art and literature. Find out more about the book in this longer post, and at the EUP website.

• 30% Discount on Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio until 31 Dec 2018 when you order direct. Details here: Lord_Worldwide Flyer

Beth Lord on Spinoza and architectural thinking

Beth Lord’s article, “Spinoza and architectural thinking”, is now available online. It is published in a special issue of Intellectual History Review on Spinoza and Art, edited by Moira Gatens and Anthony Uhlmann.

Abstract: Although Spinoza makes few remarks about architecture, his use of architectural examples, understood in the context of his metaphysics and theory of knowledge, reveal the architect to be a distinctive kind of human thinker. In this paper I explore the kind of thinking the architect does, first by demonstrating that Spinoza distinguishes the architect’s adequate way of conceiving a building from inadequate ways of imagining one, and second by considering how Spinoza might have understood the architect to translate that adequate thinking into the practice of building and construction. I argue that for Spinoza, the architect integrates imaginative, rational, and intuitive thinking, and the parallel forms of bodily action, to understand and construct a building in its causal connections to its component materials, environment, and users. To understand the true idea of a building is therefore to understand its embeddedness in the world and its functional place in a network of modal relations.

A limited number of free e-prints are available for those without institutional access to Intellectual History Review. Please contact the author at s.b.lord@abdn.ac.uk for further information.

Peg Rawes’ recent talks and publications

In April 2018 Peg Rawes published ‘A Burning House’, a chapter in Chain Reaction, edited by Alex Julyan and published by the Wellcome Trust. For more information, contact the Wellcome Public Engagement office.

She organized the Value Matters Workshop at the Bartlett School of Architecture in November 2018, and presented the paper  ‘Usufruct economies and ethics’ at the Rethinking Usufruct in the Global Economy: States, Strategies and Ethics conference at UCL in June 2018.

Equal by Design screening at UCL Philosophy of Education seminar

Beth Lord and Peg Rawes will be presenting Equal by Design to the Philosophy of Education group at University College London on 13 March, 2019. The film screening will be followed by short papers and discussion.

Peg Rawes contributes to BBC Radio 4’s Living Room

Peg Rawes is a contributor to an episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme Living Room, speaking about the Parker Morris report, “Homes for Today and Tomorrow” (1961). The programme asks how past efforts to improve housing space standards can shed light on the present crisis. Listen here.

Beth Lord on Spinoza and architectural thinking

Beth Lord gave a paper on “Spinoza and architectural thinking” at the Spinoza Circle, London (June 2018), the Society for European Philosophy conference, University of Essex (June 2018), the Spinoza and Culture conference, Manchester Metropolitan University (August 2018), and in a seminar at the University of Warwick (October 2018).

Equalities of Wellbeing at the London Design Fair

The Equalities of Wellbeing project will feature as part of Design Research for Change, a showcase of AHRC-funded design projects at the London Design Fair, 20-23 September 2018. For more information, click here: https://www.londondesignfair.co.uk/features/design-research-for-change

Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio

We are delighted to announce the publication of Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio, edited by Beth Lord and published by Edinburgh University Press. The book brings together essays on Spinoza, ratio, architecture, and wellbeing from the Equalities of Wellbeing project.

30% Discount on book purchases available until 31 Dec. 2018: Lord_Worldwide Flyer

Readers will learn from this book that a philosophy of ratio is not to be conflated with a rationalist philosophy. The authors draw on the three senses of ratio – reason, relation and proportion – to explore their interdependence and, crucially, the emergent and constructed conatus towards equality and wellbeing. This valuable book demonstrates that empiricism and rationalism need not be opposed. – Andrej Radman, Delft University of Technology

This volume represents an important collective re-thinking of Spinoza’s key concept of ratio. Along with new interpretations of his treatment of the relations between reason and emotion, it offers fascinating insights into the relevance of his philosophy for understanding contemporary issues in relation to artistic practice, architecture and the built environment.- Genevieve Lloyd, Emeritus Professor in Philosophy, University of New South Wales

From his geometrical method to his geometrical examples; from his doctrine of reason to his explanation of bodies in motion; and from his account of the affects to his understanding of social relations, ratio is of prime importance in Spinoza’s philosophy.

These essays explore the surprisingly varied dimensions of this unacknowledged keystone of Spinoza’s thought. They take you from Spinoza’s geometrical diagrams to his concepts of mind, body, the emotions, and the cosmos. It shows how Spinoza’s thinking about ratio influences the concept of proportion in Gulliver’s Travels, the differential ontology of Deleuze, egalitarian design for wellbeing, and the notion of an affective architecture.

Contents:

Introduction, Beth Lord

Spinoza’s Ontology Geometrically Illustrated: A Reading of Ethics IIP8S, Valtteri Viljanen

Reason and Body in Spinoza’s Metaphysics, Michael LeBuffe

Ratio and Activity: Spinoza’s Biologizing of the Mind in an Aristotelian Key, Heidi M. Ravven

Harmony in Spinoza and His Critics, Timothy Yenter

Ratio as the basis of Spinoza’s concept of equality, Beth Lord

Proportion as a barometer of the affective life in Spinoza, Simon B. Duffy

Spinoza, Heterarchical Ontology and Affective Architecture, Gökhan Kodalak

Dissimilarity: Spinoza’s ethical ratios and housing welfare, Peg Rawes

The greater part: How intuition forms better worlds, Stefan White

Slownesses and Speeds, Latitudes and Longitudes: In the Vicinity of Beatitude, Hélène Frichot

The Eyes of the Mind: Proportion in Spinoza, Swift, Ibn Tufayl, Anthony Uhlmann

 

For more information and to order, please visit the EUP website. To get a 30% Discount, use the information on this flyer: Lord_Worldwide Flyer

Equal by Design screened at Sheffield University

The Humanitarian architecture society at Sheffield University screened Equal by Design earlier this month to an audience of around 15 students.

Housing: how architects can design for wellbeing and equality. Event at The Building Centre

6 December 2017, 6:30 PM

The Building Centre

This event, chaired by Peg Rawes and featuring architects who contributed to project film Equal by Design, is part of the Making Wellbeing: from Birth to Death exhibition at The Building Centre, curated by The Built Environment Trust.

Tickets and further information available here.

Solutions to the housing crisis are political and complex with change needed at policy level as well as across the building industry. However, debates often exclude the role of the architect. This event will explore how architects can be actively involved in addressing issues of inequality and disparities of wellbeing in the built environment through housing design and provision.

Architects Peter Barber, Alex Ely and Sarah Wigglesworth will talk about their approaches to human-centred design and concerns for wellbeing. The speakers will shed light on the positive agency an architect can have and will consider what must be addressed for such approaches to have a stronger influence on housing provision and wider architectural practice.

The individual presentations will be followed by a chaired panel discussion and audience Q+A.

Speakers:

– Peter Barber, director of Peter Barber Architects

– Alex Ely, principal of Mæ Architects

– Sarah Wigglesworth, director of Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Chair: Peg Rawes, co-author of Equal By Design and senior lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

Tickets and further information available here.