Ethics, Politics and Affections in Spinoza. The Question of Political Happiness.

In this article I intend to explore the conditions in which is possible to conceive a political dimension of happiness in Spinoza's works. The main problems we think should be considered to answer to this question are, in the first place, the relation between ethics and politics (that is, the question about the role of the issue of the good in general, and the most precious good-happiness-in particular, for the common life of men); in the second place, the possible forms of the relationship between individual, common, and political authority. The fundamental element of this relationship is, we will argue, an affective bond whose singularity and importance for the understanding of human nature has been developed by Spinoza in the third book of the Ethics. Lastly, once we developed these issues, we will attempt to establish the mode in which it could be possible to conceive within Spinoza's system a dimension of individual and political happiness.