Came true. Novalis, Spinoza, and the Limits of Romantic Materialism.

S. Biareishyk@sbiar.bsky.social · 2y ago

my dream is to publish a book without a colon in its title

The copies of "Novalis, Spinoza, and the Limits of Romantic Materialism" are here! (Available in paperback, the code NUP2026 gets a 25% discount.)

"After collapse of Athenian democracy, Plato built a political philosophy centred on the exclusion of the multitude. After the failure of Republic in Netherlands, Spinoza was the first philosopher not to write a new private political Weltanschauung against the real movement of the masses." (Bove)

Hot take: in this age of AI, classes on penmanship should be a requirement in school and first year of college.

In an interview, Pierre-Francois Moreau asks Alexandre Matheron: "What about the book you are currently writing?" Matheron responds: "There are many that I was supposed to write. But I am very lazy." I hear you, Alexandre, I hear you.

My book "Novalis, Spinoza, and the Limits of Romantic Materialism" now has a cover, and it is available for pre-order, both in hardcover and (luckily) paperback.

midterm season

“‘The compact represents a total violation of academic freedom, shared governance and an open democracy,’ [AAUP-Penn president Jessa Lingel] wrote. “So now we'll get to see what kind of university we have—one that stands up to tyranny or one that capitulates.” www.thedp.com/article/2025...

Campus, civil rights groups criticize agreement presented to Penn tying adherence to funding advantage

“When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation,” the AAUP-Penn wrote.

thedp.com

Your Excellencies, Your Worships, Your Honors, and Citizens, the Emperor and Autocrat of All the States, Ruler of Washington and Mar-o-Logo, the Chairman of Culture and Education, is cutting the beards!

creating yet another signal chat as a form of torture

Wait, is cheering for St Pauli illegal in the US? Or can get you fired? … asking for a friend.

Best literature on land, labor, money— as things that don’t have value (but can be sold, have a price). What you got?

AI chat bot resembles Plato's dialogues. Whatever you (Socrates) ask, it spits out the affirmation of whatever presupposition you smuggled in and ends with a QED, a definitive proof of what you always already knew.

I always find it strange when people refer to countries with gendered pronouns. Russian is she/her; England is she/her. Any they/them countries out there?

Signing my email up to "Christian Mingle" platform is, of course, a good prank. But whom did I piss off that much to warrant the punishment?

As an immigrant, there is nothing more that I hate than some immigrants--more established, more "white", more safe--turn on other immigrants.

My book finally has a title: Novalis, Spinoza, and the Limits of Romantic Materialism, and it is now officially in production with Northwestern UP.

getting invited to speak at a frat house because "a number of brothers of the fraternity" found my classes "nothing short of inspiring" -- was definitely not on my bingo card for this year

Is anyone translating this?

Tronti identifies a difference between capitalist mode of production and the emergence of "capitalist society" proper (applying only to the post-WWII). Has anyone done further work on this differentiation between "capitalist mode of production" vs "capitalist society"?

straight to the gulag

when you start naming your drafts not by month-day, but by the current year only...

"In Spinoza, it is the case that things only exist as formed, and that the whole problem is a problem of form. Unity is simply unviable, amounting to an illusion; it is not itself that lives, but rather a plurality of forms grappling with others and which can only be destroyed." (Zourabichvili)

Finally getting to Zourabichvili's "Spinoza's Paradoxical Conservatism", and it's absolutely great. It poses the question of the limits of radical change without death or ruin, both on the level of individual and society. The very question my book on Spinoza and Novalis asks, but Z does it better.

As Spring semester is wrapping up, this is what my Fall semesters looks like:

It’s crazy to realize that capitalism will come to an end - in one form or another - within our lifetime.

The coalition delivered a petition that included calls for the university to fill gaps amid federal funding cuts; uphold diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; and stand up for LGBTQ+ members of the Penn community.

Penn unions rally to encourage administration to oppose federal funding cuts, canceling of diversity initiatives

Penn unions delivered a petition that included calls for the university to fill gaps amid federal funding cuts; uphold DEI efforts; and stand up for LGBTQ+ members of the community.

inquirer.com

It used to be when I got academia_edu notifications, I thought: 'How nice, somebody is interested in my research'. Nowadays, it's: 'What in the world did I do and what trolls are after me now'. Age of paranoia.

When COVID started, I taught Lucretius on the plague of Athens; after Jan 6th, I taught the Eighteenth Brumaire. I am currently teaching Lacan's Seminar II (on Ego and Technique) and Chernyshevsky's What is to Be Done?. Make it make sense.