Re-imagining democracy. How to create a shared political space

In this paper the role of emotions and imagination in politics is analyzed firstly, (a) from a philosophical perspective with the help of Spinoza’s works and secondly, (b) as a descriptor of recent social-political phenomena and public discourse within real-existing democracies (REDs). vii In the first section, Spinoza’s political philosophy provides a definition of democracy that has imagination as one of its fundamental defining elements. Thus, I show how according to Spinoza imagination can sustain an emotive interaction among citizens and can orient them towards the creation of a shared political space. Then, an interpretation of Spinoza’s political theory as a third way beyond contractarian and contractualist theories is attempted, along with an analysis of the notion of respublica and political equality in his works. In the second section, the relation between politics and imagination is analyzed with the help of sociological studies. Again, the philosophy of Spinoza is used as a theoretical framework: I draw a comparison between the figure of the prophet, who has a “potentia vividius imaginandi” (TTP II), and social/political movements of recent years. As a result, I argue that imagination contributes to the development of a shared cum-afficiere, that is a collective interpretive system of meaning.