The Journal of the History of Philosophy has announced that Clare Carlisle, senior lecturer in philosophy and theology at King’s College London, is the winner of its best article prize for Volume 55.

Dr. Carlisle was awarded the prize for her article, “Spinoza’s Acquiescentia” (volume 55, no.2, April 2017). The prize is $1,500.

Here’s an abstract of the article:

Spinoza’s account of acquiescentia has been obscured by inconsistent translations of acquiescentia, and forms of the verb acquiescere, in the standard English edition of the Ethics. For Spinoza, acquiescentia is an inherently cognitive affect, since it involves an idea of oneself (as the cause of one’s joy). As such, the affect is closely correlated to the three kinds of cognition identified by Spinoza in Ethics II. Just as there are three kinds of cognition, so too are there three kinds of acquiescentia. Two qualities—stillness and obedience—provide the criteria for distinguishing between these. This illuminates Spinoza’s positive account of acquiescentia, and also clarifies how it responds critically to the equivalent Cartesian passion, la satisfaction de soimême, which is translated as acquiescentia in se ipso in the relevant Latin edition of Les passions de l’âme.

(via Jack Zupko)