Political experimentation of friendship in internet communities from Spinoza's theory of affects

Abstract

;The understanding of friendship in its politic quality designates a privileged link of openness to otherness that allows the body to experience affecting other bodies and being affected by them, whose effects may give rise to changes in the power of acting. The conception of body in Spinoza, sustained by the body-soul unity and the capacity for affection, is a valuable element to understand the presence and the affective intensities at stake in friendship relations on the Internet, which exclude physical contact. This project sought to investigate and analyze how internet communities are being used to favor the political experimentation of friendship. The narratives revealed that internet communities constitute an appropriate environment for exchanging ideas and experiences that increase the capacity for reflection of the subject. Relationships mediated by the Internet also favor new forms of political organization and exercising citizenship.

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