Marx nel Seicento? Negri e il ‘labirinto’ della prima modernità

The essay analyses Antonio Negri’s reflection on early modernity, focusing in particular on his interpretation of Descartes, Spinoza and Harrington. Negri regards the 17th century as a pivotal era in comprehending the political and social transformations that culminated in modernity. In Descartes politico, Negri undertakes a detailed analysis of how Descartes played a pivotal role in the conceptualisation of a bourgeois ideology that serves as a mediating entity between the concept of individual freedom and the emergence of an absolute state. In The Savage Anomaly, Negri juxtaposes Spinoza with Hobbes and Descartes, perceiving the former as a philosopher who established an unmystified democracy and a productive and antagonistic multitude. In Insurgencies, Negri examines Harrington, crediting him with developing a theory of constituent power that resists legal and political formalisation, promoting a radical and continuous democracy. Through these philosophers’ works, Negri constructs a genealogy of modernity that underscores the antagonism between the immanent power of the multitude and the transcendent power of the state and capitalism.