Democratic Thought from Machiavelli to Spinoza

A genealogy of the concept of the multitude and Spinoza's democratic political philosophy Drawing on new and relatively unknown sources, Sonja Lavaert traces the genealogy of modern democratic thought from Machiavelli to Spinoza and his circle, and into the early eighteenth century. The chapters follow these authors, their writings, and the anonymous works chronologically. The notion of the multitude is central, which Spinoza and his circle investigated in two senses: as a specific political form - the republic of the multitude, or democracy; and as the factual, intrinsic diversity of the multitude - the political constitution and dynamics. Spinoza has long been recognised for the central role he played in the development of modern democratic ideals through his treatises on politics and the freedom to philosophise. Lavaert argues that he drew on Machiavelli for these ideas and in the process dispelled the Machiavellian counterimage created by the Italian scholar's political and Christian opponents. Sonja Lavaert is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Albert Gootjes is an intellectual historian specializing in early modern theology and philosophy.