Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:25:40.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 12 - The Revolutionary Foundation of Political Modernity

Machiavelli, Spinoza, and Constituent Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2018

By
Filippo Del Lucchese
Edited by
Yitzhak Y. Melamed  and
Hasana Sharp
Yitzhak Y. Melamed
Affiliation:
The Johns Hopkins University
Hasana Sharp
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Get access

Summary

This chapter focuses on the relationship between Machiavelli and Spinoza, using the concept of constituent power to analyze their contribution to the foundations of modern political thought. Both authors ground the stability of the State and its freedom on the popolo (Machiavelli) and the multitudo (Spinoza); this is not the generic people of modern constitutionalism, but rather the demos, the specific group inside the civitas whose power is exercised on, and sometimes against, other political subjects. Both authors aim at keeping alive the conflictual and constituent force that creates the juridical space of the State by recognizing the prominent role of social and political conflict. While Machiavelli explicitly argues for social conflict as the ground of political freedom, Spinoza develops his conflictualist approach through more implicit examples. Considering them together allows one to identify a radical democratic and revolutionary ground for the foundation of political modernity.
Type
Chapter
Information
Spinoza's Political Treatise
A Critical Guide
 , pp. 190 - 203
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×