Negri as a Reader of Spinoza

Productive Immanence and Constituent Power as Challenges to Contemporary Political Hegemony

Abstract

Antonio Negri, Italian philosopher and activist, is a central figure in contemporary political thought, known for his reinterpretation of Marx and Spinoza. In his work, Negri highlights how Spinoza breaks with the liberal political paradigm of the seventeenth century by proposing a radical democratic order. The concept of "productive immanence," which Negri takes from Spinoza, asserts that power should not be transferred to a sovereign figure but should arise directly from the multitude. Negri makes a crucial distinction between "constituent power" and "constituted power." While constituted power is formalized in state institutions and seeks to stabilize order, constituent power is a creative and expansive force that manifests through the cooperation of the multitude. This collective force cannot be contained by institutions and serves as the driving force of revolution, creating new forms of life and political organization. For Negri, desire is not a private passion but a collective energy that drives the multitude to resist constituted power and create new realities. This ability defines "absolute democracy," where power is exercised without institutional mediation. Negri proposes a "constitutive dystopia," where politics does not pursue a utopian end but is based on the continuous creation of new forms of life, overflowing the structures of modern power and generating a radical and immanent democracy.