Spinoza Confronts Our Digital Passions: An Ethics for the Age of Algorithms

The scene is familiar: an incessant stream of news, notifications, solicitations. Every day, our minds are bombarded with images, narratives, and clashing opinions, inviting us to react, to judge, to take a stand. Anger quickly rises, indignation spreads at the speed of light, anxiety seeps into our daily lives. We often feel powerless, overwhelmed by a world that seems to escape us, where our emotions are constantly put to the test, even manipulated. Faced with this whirlwind, the work of a 17th-century philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, might seem distant, almost anachronistic. Yet, upon closer inspection, his thought offers a strikingly relevant framework for understanding the mechanisms of our contemporary society, dominated by passions and the illusory quest for fragmented freedom.

Sad Passions: From Servitude to Digital Alienation

Spinoza, in his Ethics, describes human servitude as the condition where man is subject to his passions, acting not by his own reason, but under the impulse of external affects. He distinguishes between joyous passions (which increase our power of acting) and sad passions (which diminish it). Our digital society, however, seems to excel at producing and amplifying sad passions. The fear of missing out (FOMO), the envy generated by constant social comparison on networks, easy indignation in the face of often decontextualized information, hatred fueled by anonymity and the group effect: all these mechanisms keep us in a state of emotional servitude. Algorithms, far from being neutral, are designed to maximize our engagement, that is, to keep us captive in these emotional loops. They exploit our cognitive biases and psychological vulnerabilities, enclosing us in filter bubbles that reinforce our prejudices and cut us off from the complexity of reality. We believe ourselves free to choose our content, when we are often puppets of a system that pushes us to desire what it wants us to desire, to hate what it wants us to hate. This alienation is not only individual; it weakens the social fabric, eroding trust and the ability to dialogue, to understand the other.

Spinoza invites us to understand the nature of these passions, not to morally repress them, but to transcend them through knowledge. It is not about denying our emotions, but about understanding their causes and effects, so as not to be their slaves anymore. Depth psychology teaches us that these passions are often a reflection of unmet fundamental needs, archaic wounds, or unconscious projections. Sociology, for its part, reveals how these dynamics are instrumentalized by power structures, be they economic, political, or ideological. The quest for recognition, the need for belonging, the fear of isolation are powerful levers that the digital world relentlessly exploits, promising ephemeral satisfaction that only deepens our dependence.

The Power of Acting and Adequate Knowledge: A Path to Autonomy

Against this servitude, Spinoza proposes the path to freedom, which is not the absence of constraints, but the ability to act according to our own nature, that is, according to reason. This freedom is acquired through adequate knowledge of the causes that affect us. Understanding why we feel a certain emotion, why we act in a certain way, is already beginning to free ourselves from it. It is transforming a passive passion (suffered) into an active action (mastered). In the current context, this means developing a form of critical digital literacy: understanding the mechanisms of algorithms, the intentions behind messages, the biases of our own perceptions. It is a work of introspection and inquiry that requires effort and perseverance. It is about cultivating our “power of acting” (conatus), that vital force that pushes us to persevere in our being and to increase our perfection. This power is not measured by the accumulation of goods or followers, but by our ability to understand and act autonomously, in accordance with our deep essence.

Spinozist epistemology invites us to move from the first kind of knowledge (opinion, imagination, confused ideas) to the second (reason, adequate ideas) and to the third (intuitive knowledge, the intellectual love of God or Nature). In our era of disinformation and fake news, where opinion reigns supreme, this distinction is more crucial than ever. Learning to distinguish fact from interpretation, cause from effect, rumor from truth, is an act of philosophical resistance. It is a path towards a form of intellectual emancipation that allows us to no longer be tossed about by the changing winds of collective passions, but to navigate with an inner compass.

Spinozist Ethics and the Politics of the Common

Beyond the individual, Spinoza also developed a radical political philosophy. He conceived the State not as a repressive entity, but as an institution aimed at guaranteeing the freedom of each individual, by allowing everyone to live and act according to reason. The best society is one that allows its members to collectively increase their power of acting. This implies freedom of thought and expression, tolerance, and the pursuit of the common good. In our polarized society, where identities are fragmented and opposed, Spinoza's vision of a community founded on reason and mutual understanding is a powerful antidote. It is not about erasing differences, but about finding what unites us in our common humanity, in our desire to persevere in being and to live better. Joy, for Spinoza, is contagious and strengthens social bonds. Sad passions, on the contrary, divide and weaken. A Spinozist policy would seek to create the conditions for collective joy, for an increase in the power of acting of all, by promoting education, culture, dialogue, and cooperation.

Anthropology reminds us that humans are social beings by nature, whose development is intrinsically linked to their environment and interactions. Power structures, whether state or economic, have a profound impact on our ability to live according to reason. Spinoza invites us to question these structures, to understand how they can alienate us or, conversely, emancipate us. The question is not whether we should disconnect from the world, but how we can be present in it consciously and actively, participating in the construction of a common good that promotes life and freedom, rather than servitude and division.

Ultimately, Spinoza's thought is not a doctrine to be blindly applied, but an invitation to a personal and collective journey. It urges us not to yield to the ease of passions, not to let ourselves be defined by algorithms or external injunctions. It reminds us that true freedom lies in self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, in the ability to act for oneself, and to build a life where joy and reason are our guides. It is a call to autonomy, responsibility, and the intellectual love of that Nature of which we are an integral part. In the tumult of our present, this ancient wisdom offers an anchor, a compass to navigate towards a fuller and more conscious existence.

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Sylvain Delahaye