Acutissimus o prudentissimus? Intorno alla presenza di Machiavelli nel Trattato politico di Spinoza

Abstract

The article focuses on par.7, chapter V, of the Political Treatise, one of the two paragraphs in which Machiavelli’s name can be read. This is the starting point for a synthetic analysis of Machiavelli’s presence in some topoi of the Dutch thought of the XVIIth century; finally, thus returning to Spinoza, the author tries to comprehend the meaning of this presence within the a. m. tradition, in order to evaluate the role played by the Florentine secretary in Spinoza’s political reflection. Machiavelli’s presence actually goes deeper than the famous two passages may lead to believe, and a careful analysis of the a. m. paragraph reveals a fundamental aspect of the strong link between the two philosophers: the centrality – both theoretical and practical – that both thinkers tribute to the political role of multitude, in contrast with any reductio ad unum of the processes of constitution and justification of power.