"Those who are in ideology believe themselves by definition outside ideology: one of the effects of ideology is the practical denegation of the ideological character of ideology by ideology: ideology never says, ‘I am ideological’. It is necessary to be outside ideology, i.e. in scientific knowledge, to be able to say: I am in ideology (a quite exceptional case) or (the general case): I was in ideology. As is well known, the accusation of being in ideology only applies to others, never to oneself (unless one is really a Spinozist or a Marxist, which, in this matter, is to be exactly the same thing). Which amounts to saying that ideology has no outside (for itself), but at the same time that it is nothing but outside (for science and reality). Spinoza explained this completely two centuries before Marx, who practiced it but without explaining it in detail."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses", in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Baruch Spinoza
philosopher, Bible translator, grinder of lenses
1632 – 1677 · Dutch Republic
Benedictus de Spinoza (24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a social and metaphysical philosopher known for the elaborate development of his monist philosophy, which has become known as Spinozism. Controversy regarding his ideas led to his excommunication from the Jewish community of his native Amsterdam. He was named Baruch ("blessed" in Hebrew) Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Spinoza or Bento d'Espiñoza, but afterwards used the name Benedictus ("blessed" in Latin) de
517 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Baruch Spinoza →
Related Quotes
"Perhaps then we shall take note that the eternity of substance is not, as Spinoza himself reflected, directly assimil…"
"Spinozism dominated the eighteenth century both in its later French variety, which made matter into substance, and in…"
"Hegel's History of Philosophy presents French materialism as the realization of Spinozistic Substance, which in any c…"
"Even in the case of philosophers who give systematic form to their work, Spinoza for instance, the true inner structu…"
"...But no matter how enamoured one may be with Postmodernist instability of meanings and signification slippage, abso…"
"An important part of Deleuze's oeuvre is devoted to the reading of philosophers: the Stoics, Leibniz, Hume, Kant, Nie…"
"[Spinoza] — A God-intoxicated man. [Original in German: Ein Gottbetrunkener Mensch.]"
"In Hegel there are three elements, Spinoza's Substance, Fichte's Self-Consciousness and Hegel's necessarily antagonis…"
"Herr Bauer picked out French materialism as a school of Spinoza from Hegel's History of Philosophy. But when he found…"
"And what this Lange has to say about the Hegelian method and my application of the same is simply childish. First, he…"