Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Through Spinoza's "looking glass" / Moira Gatens -- Do minance and difference : a Spinozistic alternative to the distinction b etween "sex" and "gender" / Genevieve Lloyd -- Autonomy and the relatio nal individual : Spinoza and feminism / Aurelia Armstrong -- Spinoza on the pathos of idolatrous love and the hilarity of true love / Amelie R orty -- Spinoza and sexuality / Alexandre Matheron -- Reason, sexuality , and the self in Spinoza / David West -- What Spinoza can teach us abo ut embodying and naturalizing ethics / Heidi Morrison Ravven -- Adam an d the serpent : everyman and the imagination / Paola Grassi -- The enve lope : a reading of Spinoza's ethics, "of God" / Luce Irigaray -- Re-re ading Irigaray's Spinoza / Sarah Donovan -- The politics of the imagina tion / Moira Gatens -- Law and sovereignty in Spinoza's politics / Susa n James.

"A collection of essays on the metaphysical, political, theological, ethical and psychological writings of Spinoza. Examines the ways in wh ich his philosophy presents a resource for the re-conceptualization of friendship, sexuality, politics and ethics in contemporary life"--Provi ded by publisher.