Avenues from the written Ethics back to the unwritten “Philosophy”

First of all, let me express my gratitude to the editors of the Journal of Spinoza Studies for the invitation to contribute to the first issue of the journal. I belong to the community of so-called "continental" philosophers, and accordingly, my interpretation of this task may be slightly different from an analytic interpretation. What the authors of this first issue of JSS are expected to do is not to present arguments regarding some well-discussed topics, but rather to map the most exciting avenues for future Spinoza research. My own way of doing this will be to propose a holistic vision concerning Spinoza's philosophy. The main focus will be on the Ethics, but I will also touch upon some general methodological issues along the way.