CONTRIBUTI / 7 / Marianna Capasso /
Online Platforms and Political Polarization. Some insights from the Spinozian theory of the Affects
Online platforms have radically changed how information is spread, and have often been considered as a space for targeted and extremely polarised contents. The goal of this paper is demonstrating how Spinoza’s political philosophy can contribute to a critical reflection on the social and political dimensions of online platforms. In the first section, I discuss the existing literature and the relevant research gaps on online platforms and political polarization. Then, I investigate Spinoza’s theory of affects to further advance the understanding and assessment of online affective polarization. Finally, I conclude by exploring how Spinoza’s political philosophy may provide not only a deeper awareness of complex tech-mediated phenomena like affective polarization, but also some criteria and practices for regulating the digital sphere.
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