Books by Filippo Del Lucchese
'Filippo Del Lucchese not only offers a thorough historical inquiry into ancient Greek and Roman ... more 'Filippo Del Lucchese not only offers a thorough historical inquiry into ancient Greek and Roman teratologies, he explores the fascinating hypothesis that theories of monstrosity are a key topic in the basic philosophical debate about Nature, its mechanisms and its norms. This book should appeal to anyone interested in ancient thought and its relations to modern debates about biological norms.' Alain Gigandet, Université Paris-Est Créteil
'Filippo Del Lucchese's study of the history of the concept of monstrosity is an enormously valuable work. He invites us to read the Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, Stoics and Neoplatonists as responses to what most threatens them: the inassimilable and the irreducibly other. This is a book of immense erudition that surprises the reader at every turn with the interpretations it offers and the connections it reveals. It is destined to become a classic.' Warren Montag, Occidental College, Los Angeles
'By studying ancient thought through the lens of monstrosity, Filippo Del Lucchese projects a radically new light on a philosophical period we thought we knew. It is not too much to say that Monstrosity and Philosophy offers a whole new history of the long span from mythological materials and ancient tragedy to the birth of Christian thought and does so in a fascinating and scholarly way. Its original perspective will be a milestone in the study of the history of ideas.' Laurent Bove, Emeritus Professor, Université de Picardie 'Jules Verne'
Taking a continental approach to Greek and Latin culture, both pagan and early Christian, Filippo Del Lucchese covers all the major figures in ancient thought. Far from being a peripheral problem, Del Lucchese shows that monstrosity is one of the main conceptual challenges for every philosophical system. He reveals how ancient philosophers explore metaphysics, ontology, theology and politics as they respond to the threats presented by the radical alterity of monstrous manifestations, both in nature and in thought.
Filippo Del Lucchese is Senior Lecturer in History of Political Thought at Brunel University, London and Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg.
The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2015
Niccolò Machiavelli was one of the most original and influential thinkers of early modern times. ... more Niccolò Machiavelli was one of the most original and influential thinkers of early modern times. All students of Western political thought encounter his work. Nevertheless, his writing continues to puzzle scholars and readers who are uncertain how to deal with the seeming paradoxes they encounter.
The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli is a clear account of Machiavelli’s thought, his major theories, and central ideas. It is also a critical engagement with his work which is not based on the mainstream, Cambridge school approach. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Machiavelli’s ideas, it is the ideal companion to the study of this influential and challenging philosopher.
Conflict, Law and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza: Tumults and Indignation, Continuum, London 2009
Conflict, Power and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza explores Spinoza’s political philosophy ... more Conflict, Power and Multitude in Machiavelli and Spinoza explores Spinoza’s political philosophy by confronting it with that of Niccolò Machiavelli.
Filippo Del Lucchese conducts a study of the relationship between Machiavelli and Spinoza from a perspective at once philosophical, historical and political.
The book begins by showing how closely tied the two thinkers are in relation to realism. Del Lucchese then goes on to examine the theme of conflict as a crucial element of an understanding of Machiavelli and Spinoza’s conceptions of modernity.
The book concludes with an examination of the concept of ‘multiplicity’ and ‘plural’ expressions of politics, namely Machiavelli’s popolo and Spinoza’s multitudo. Overall, the Machiavelli-Spinoza axis offers a fruitful perspective through which to analyse the relationship between contending ideas of modernity from a historical point of view, and provides an original point of departure for discussing some key theoretical, political and juridical notions that have resurfaced in contemporary debates.
Current research by Filippo Del Lucchese
Discourses of Monstrosity: Radical Otherness and the Construction of Identity in Early Modern European Culture, in progress.
The main objective of this project is to reconstruct the genealogy of the modern problem of ident... more The main objective of this project is to reconstruct the genealogy of the modern problem of identity and otherness through an historical analysis of the idea of monstrosity in science, philosophy, and literature in the early modernity. I will focus, in particular, on early modern French culture and travel literature between 1650 and 1750.
Machiavelli: a multimedia project
This is a multimedia website on Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, one of the most influential and... more This is a multimedia website on Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, one of the most influential and widely taught books of the Western political tradition.
The project aims to produce a multimedia polyphonic commentary on The Prince, with videos, texts, and images accessible via hyperlinks to the text of Machiavelli’s masterpiece.
The most prominent scholars in the field comment on key passages of The Prince, accessible both in the original Italian version, and the English translation by E. Dacres (1640). The videos, texts, and images are also organised in an archive and can be searched by keyword.
On the website, you will also find information about the international conference ‘Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince: Five Centuries of History, Conflict, and Politcs,’ to be held at Brunel University, London, on 29th-31st May 2013.
Articles in peer-reviewed journals by Filippo Del Lucchese
Theoria, 2025
In this article, we analyse the theoretical elements that form the foundation of James Harrington... more In this article, we analyse the theoretical elements that form the foundation of James Harrington's political theory, demonstrating that they are primarily constructed in relation to Machiavelli's legacy. We intend to show that Harrington's relationship with Machiavelli's republicanism is paradoxical through: (1) the analysis of Harrington's selective use of certain classical sources in relation to Machiavelli; (2) the evolution of Harrington's thought; 3) the relationship between the Roman model and the Spartan model. In his republican model Harrington tries to respond to two self-imposed requirements that, we believe, conflict with each other: that of developing a sincerely republican system while keeping his distance from Machiavelli's more radical and pro-popular positions. Our thesis is that Harrington elaborates his political theory from these conflicting goals and that this sometimes-contradictory need creates tensions that make his republicanism paradoxical.
Consecutio Rerum, 2025
The article examines the thought of Etienne de La Boétie through five main aspects, highlighting ... more The article examines the thought of Etienne de La Boétie through five main aspects, highlighting the revolutionary and polemical nature of his conception of 'voluntary servitude'. In the first paragraph, I introduce voluntary servitude as a foundational issue in modern political theory, linking it to the question of power legitimacy. The second paragraph analyzes the role of the subordinates' will in maintaining power, where La Boétie sees a form of passive consent that grants stability to an inherently fragile authority. The third paragraph explores the relevance of La Boétie's thought in the context of constituent power, emphasizing how his vision, often excluded from traditional perspectives, is essential for understanding the process of constitutionalizing authority. The fourth paragraph discusses how political will can be constrained by legal mechanisms, which La Boétie views as tools for controlling and neutralizing freedom. Finally, the fifth paragraph concludes by restoring the critical force of La Boétie's thought, underscoring its ability to challenge the very foundations of modern democracy and authority.
Rethinking Marxism, 2024
This essay analyzes two Marxist interpretations of James Harrington. The first, developed by Achi... more This essay analyzes two Marxist interpretations of James Harrington. The first, developed by Achille Loria at the end of the nineteenth century, uses Harrington to force Marxism into a mechanistic and determinist dimension that imagines the relationship between economics and politics reductively. The second, by Antonio Negri, removes the ontological dimension of Harrington’s thought because it is incompatible with a polemical and conflictual conception of politics. Our thesis is that both interpretations of Harrington are wrong, because they are partial and overlook or ignore some key aspects of Harrington’s theory. Yet their comparison, along with the awareness of their partiality, sheds light on a central element of historical materialism, namely the importance (and difficulty) of an articulation between critique of political economy and critique of politics.
Quaderni Materialisti, 2023
L’ingresso di un autore contemporaneo nel dominio delle fonti primarie è un processo
lento e grad... more L’ingresso di un autore contemporaneo nel dominio delle fonti primarie è un processo
lento e graduale, mai inesorabile, sempre negoziato e dipendente dall’evoluzione degli
interessi generali di una determinata area di studi. Soprattutto, non è mai un processo
improvviso, un fulmine a ciel sereno. Si era un autore che parlava “di” altri autori e, pian
piano, si diventa un autore “di cui” si parla. Questo processo, in alcuni casi, segue delle
mode, spesso effimere e guidate da interessi più accademici che scientifici. In altri casi,
è invece un vero e proprio passaggio che mette in luce come una certa interpretazione,
ad esempio di un autore o di un problema storiografico, diventi pensiero autonomo,
lettura inevitabile, inaggirabile, insomma un “classico” della storiografia. Questo sta avvenendo,
insieme ad altri autori della sua generazione, a Toni Negri e in particolare alla
sua interpretazione della prima modernità e del pensiero di Spinoza, che sarà l’oggetto
principale di questo mio intervento.
Giustizia e mostruosità nel pensiero greco
Rivista di Filosofia del Diritto, 2022
Machiavelli and the Spartan Equality: the Image and Function of Lycurgus’ Heritage
Theoria, 2022
Ethics and Politics: A Review of Philosophy, 2021
In this article, I analyse the presence and the role played by the mythical legislator Lycurgus i... more In this article, I analyse the presence and the role played by the mythical legislator Lycurgus in Machiavelli's economic and political thought. I focus in particular on the issue of the redistribution of land in Sparta and the anti-aristocratic character that this measure takes on in Machiavelli. I assign central importance to the sources used by Machiavelli implicitly and explicitly. My thesis is that not only do the examples of Sparta and Rome not have to be opposed, but that one sheds light on and helps to understand the other, particularly through the extension of Spartan themes into the actions of the Gracchi in the Agrarian Reform.
Realismo polemico: una critica della democrazia agonistica
Teoria e critica della regolazione sociale, 2021
Parrhesia: a Journal of Critical Philosophy, 2020
the mother of all prejudices: teleology and normativity in spinoza filippo del lucchese Teleology... more the mother of all prejudices: teleology and normativity in spinoza filippo del lucchese Teleology is a major problem in Spinoza's thought for at least three reasons, two internal and one external to Spinozism as a historico-philosophical field. The first internal reason is that Spinoza himself considers the path toward truth to be seeded with obstacles and difficulties formed by theological and philosophical prejudices. He sees teleology as the first and most serious of these obstacles, so widespread that everyone aspiring to the acquisition of true knowledge encounters it. Teleology is, in a word, the mother of all prejudices. The second internal reason is that the question of Spinoza's teleology, and the normativism that derives from it, is one of the most divisive issues within Spinozist scholarship. Although Spinoza plainly and openly dismisses every and any form of teleology, this claim is unambiguously understood and fully accepted only in the continental tradition. In analytic scholarship, on the contrary, it has sparked a huge debate that has dismissed Spinoza's own words and neutralised the originality and strength of his thought vis-à-vis the main normative ethical and metaethical thinkers of the canon, Aristotle and Kant in particular. 1 The third reason goes beyond a mere enquiry in the history of philosophy and is thus external to Spinozism itself: I strongly believe that Spinoza's critique of teleology and normativity remains relevant, as teleology permeates our culture in forms and ways that are far more sophisticated than they were in Spinoza's time. We are in dire need of language that critiques it as the theological/philosophical superstition it is, and the internal and external reasons thus converge: we can ill-afford a strand of philosophy that so misreads this key 146 · filippo del lucchese element in Spinoza's potentially liberatory work.
European Journal of Political Theory, 2017
This paper considers Niccolò Machiavelli's contribution to a theory of constituent power. Modern ... more This paper considers Niccolò Machiavelli's contribution to a theory of constituent power. Modern authors who have analysed the concept of constituent power generally agree on its ambiguous, paradoxical and apparently contradictory essence. With few exceptions, Machiavelli is absent from both the historical reconstructions of and the theoretical debates on the origin of constituent power. My argument is built around two main theses: reintroducing Machiavelli to the debate on constituent power offers an original response to the theoretical fallacies and inconsistencies identified by modern scholars. In particular, Machiavelli's philosophy contributes to the comprehension of constituent power as a living force within social order. My second thesis is that by tracing the source of constituent power back to Machiavelli, we can overcome the main theoretical problem implied by this concept, namely the problem of the priority of the factual or the juridical, by providing a vision that emphasises their immanent coexistence.
This article considers Baruch Spinoza's contribution to a theory of constituent power. Modern the... more This article considers Baruch Spinoza's contribution to a theory of constituent power. Modern theories of constituent power generally agree on its paradoxical essence: a power that comes before the law and founds the law is at the same time a power that, once the juridical sphere is established, has to be obliterated by the law. Spinoza's ontology has been recognised as one of the early modern sources of constituent power, yet he argues for a strict equivalence between law and power. This article argues that by reading Spinoza's political theory through the lens of a radical immanence between ontology and history, we can understand him as a source for a theory of constituent power. It also argues that, through this immanence, Spinoza's thought offers a solution to the paradox of constituent power and enriches contemporary discussions on the origin of juridical sphere and the relationship between politics and law.
In January 2010, hundreds of illegal migrants took to the streets of Rosarno in Italy, for a viol... more In January 2010, hundreds of illegal migrants took to the streets of Rosarno in Italy, for a violent protest against the acts of racism which they had routinely suffered. A collective subject, considered invisible, dared to revolt. These migrants are an anomaly in the social, legal, and political senses. Their revolt raises questions for political theory. In this paper, I analyze the revolt through categories of contemporary political theory such as the ‘bare life’ of Giorgio Agamben, and the ‘disagreement’ of Jacques Rancière. I show how these categories only partially help to interpret the phenomenon of this uprising. However, the Spinozist concept of indignatio is a more useful intellectual tool to interpret and understand the phenomenon of the revolt of Rosarno.
«Freedom, Equality, and Conflict: Rousseau on Machiavelli», History of Political Thought 35 (2014), pp. 29-49.
Rousseau’s praise for Machiavelli in the Social Contract goes along with his condemnation of part... more Rousseau’s praise for Machiavelli in the Social Contract goes along with his condemnation of partial association and political conflicts. Yet Machiavelli builds his theory precisely around the idea of the constructive role of conflicts, seeing the irreducible multiplicity of the many as the source of a positive conflictuality. Is the ontological primacy of Rousseau’s singularity in the general will compatible with the political primacy of Machiavelli’s conflictual multiplicity? By exploring Rousseau’s strategy in his use of Machiavelli, I will argue that the key to interpreting the ambiguities of Rousseau’s reading lies in the evaluation of the differences in the relationship between multiplicity and singularity in both authors. While the people produces an immanent and conflictualistic ground for power in Machiavelli, in Rousseau it is subjected to a transcendent process of ontological submission to the general will.
Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy – Revue de la philosophie française et de langue française, 2011
1 0 8 | M o n s t r o s i t y a n d t h e L i m i t s o f t h e I n t e l l e c t Journal of Fren... more 1 0 8 | M o n s t r o s i t y a n d t h e L i m i t s o f t h e I n t e l l e c t Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy | Revue de la philosophie française et de langue française Vol XIX, No 1 (2011) | jffp.org | DOI 10.5195/jffp.2011.482 1 3 0 | M o n s t r o s i t y a n d t h e L i m i t s o f t h e I n t e l l e c t Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy | Revue de la philosophie française et de langue française Vol XIX, No 1 (2011) | jffp.org |
Winged Men and the Cast of Die: Anti-Finalism and Radical Materialism in Guillaume Lamy, 2010
The question of ends was a genuine controversy that began to rage long before the term "teleology... more The question of ends was a genuine controversy that began to rage long before the term "teleology" was invented, coined by Christian Wolff in his Philosophia rationalis sive logica of 1728. It is a controversy that continued through the ages in a highly articulate debate that extended beyond the classical world, accompanying scholasticism from its beginnings, to be pursued in the early modern period with particular intensity, as I will attempt to show in this paper.
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Books by Filippo Del Lucchese
'Filippo Del Lucchese's study of the history of the concept of monstrosity is an enormously valuable work. He invites us to read the Pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, Stoics and Neoplatonists as responses to what most threatens them: the inassimilable and the irreducibly other. This is a book of immense erudition that surprises the reader at every turn with the interpretations it offers and the connections it reveals. It is destined to become a classic.' Warren Montag, Occidental College, Los Angeles
'By studying ancient thought through the lens of monstrosity, Filippo Del Lucchese projects a radically new light on a philosophical period we thought we knew. It is not too much to say that Monstrosity and Philosophy offers a whole new history of the long span from mythological materials and ancient tragedy to the birth of Christian thought and does so in a fascinating and scholarly way. Its original perspective will be a milestone in the study of the history of ideas.' Laurent Bove, Emeritus Professor, Université de Picardie 'Jules Verne'
Taking a continental approach to Greek and Latin culture, both pagan and early Christian, Filippo Del Lucchese covers all the major figures in ancient thought. Far from being a peripheral problem, Del Lucchese shows that monstrosity is one of the main conceptual challenges for every philosophical system. He reveals how ancient philosophers explore metaphysics, ontology, theology and politics as they respond to the threats presented by the radical alterity of monstrous manifestations, both in nature and in thought.
Filippo Del Lucchese is Senior Lecturer in History of Political Thought at Brunel University, London and Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg.
The Political Philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli is a clear account of Machiavelli’s thought, his major theories, and central ideas. It is also a critical engagement with his work which is not based on the mainstream, Cambridge school approach. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Machiavelli’s ideas, it is the ideal companion to the study of this influential and challenging philosopher.
Filippo Del Lucchese conducts a study of the relationship between Machiavelli and Spinoza from a perspective at once philosophical, historical and political.
The book begins by showing how closely tied the two thinkers are in relation to realism. Del Lucchese then goes on to examine the theme of conflict as a crucial element of an understanding of Machiavelli and Spinoza’s conceptions of modernity.
The book concludes with an examination of the concept of ‘multiplicity’ and ‘plural’ expressions of politics, namely Machiavelli’s popolo and Spinoza’s multitudo. Overall, the Machiavelli-Spinoza axis offers a fruitful perspective through which to analyse the relationship between contending ideas of modernity from a historical point of view, and provides an original point of departure for discussing some key theoretical, political and juridical notions that have resurfaced in contemporary debates.
Current research by Filippo Del Lucchese
The project aims to produce a multimedia polyphonic commentary on The Prince, with videos, texts, and images accessible via hyperlinks to the text of Machiavelli’s masterpiece.
The most prominent scholars in the field comment on key passages of The Prince, accessible both in the original Italian version, and the English translation by E. Dacres (1640). The videos, texts, and images are also organised in an archive and can be searched by keyword.
On the website, you will also find information about the international conference ‘Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince: Five Centuries of History, Conflict, and Politcs,’ to be held at Brunel University, London, on 29th-31st May 2013.
Articles in peer-reviewed journals by Filippo Del Lucchese
lento e graduale, mai inesorabile, sempre negoziato e dipendente dall’evoluzione degli
interessi generali di una determinata area di studi. Soprattutto, non è mai un processo
improvviso, un fulmine a ciel sereno. Si era un autore che parlava “di” altri autori e, pian
piano, si diventa un autore “di cui” si parla. Questo processo, in alcuni casi, segue delle
mode, spesso effimere e guidate da interessi più accademici che scientifici. In altri casi,
è invece un vero e proprio passaggio che mette in luce come una certa interpretazione,
ad esempio di un autore o di un problema storiografico, diventi pensiero autonomo,
lettura inevitabile, inaggirabile, insomma un “classico” della storiografia. Questo sta avvenendo,
insieme ad altri autori della sua generazione, a Toni Negri e in particolare alla
sua interpretazione della prima modernità e del pensiero di Spinoza, che sarà l’oggetto
principale di questo mio intervento.