Spinoza, imagination and the production of servitude
In the genesis of neoliberalism we find a deep disillusionment with liberal ideals. This disillusionment gains strength after the practices that authorized countries to go to war in the beginning of the 20th century, since the success of these undertakings indicated deep contradictions in liberal theory. Authors such as Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) and Edward Bernays (1891-1995) found acrasia as a constituent part of the human condition and developed theories and practices that excelled more in controlling the population through their imagination than in the alleged freedom of the liberal ideal. This dissertation aims to investigate the contribution that Spinoza's theory can offer to deal with the issue, criticizing practices that are established from the promotion of servitude in a population through the mobilization of the imagination of its members. Aiming at explaining the dissolution of acrasia in the 17th century author's theory, we will analyze the first kind of knowledge, the political force of affections and the process by which servitude takes place in Spinoza (1632-1677). With this movement, we hope to be able to demonstrate the possibility of overcoming the neoliberal and advertising solution.