Revolution in 1672? On the Philosophy of a Disproportion in History

Résumé

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic was at the forefront of modernity, though not quite modern yet. The disproportion concerned a crisis that would burst out in 1672: a crisis of the bourgeoisie, the protagonist of modernity. Following Antonio Negri, Baruch Spinoza is the philosopher who was able to go beyond the crisis from within. After all, Spinoza is a thinker of immanent production and liberation, the thinker of the multitude. However, the critical year of 1672 remains in the shadows of Spinoza’s and Negri’s work. Both seem to consider 1672 under a certain ambiguity. It is precisely this ambiguity that we will trace in order to advance the philosophy of crisis and multitude. By understanding 1672, we will be able to orient ourselves better in modernity, together with Spinoza and Negri. This essay brings us back in the disproportion of history: revolution.