Costanzo Preve (14 April 1943 – 23 November 2013) was an Italian philosopher and a political theoretician. Preve is widely considered one of the most important anti-capitalist European thinkers and a renowned expert in the history of

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

. His thought is based on the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and

idealistic In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality ...

tradition philosophy under the influence of Johann Gottlieb Fichte,

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

and

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

. He is author of many essays and volumes about philosophical interpretation, communitariansm and

universalism Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...

Biography

Born in

Valenza Valenza ( pms, Valensa) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about north of Alessandria. History A stronghold of the Ligures, it was conquered by the Ro ...

, Preve studied philosophy,

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

and

modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He worked as a high school teacher from 1967 to 2002 and was engaged first in the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

(PCI). He then got close to

Proletarian Democracy Proletarian Democracy ( it, Democrazia Proletaria, DP) was a far-left political party in Italy. History 1970s DP was founded in 1975 as a joint electoral front of the Proletarian Unity Party (PdUP), Workers Vanguard (AO) and the "Workers Movemen ...

, a party created in 1975 which opposed to the historic compromise between the PCI and the Christian Democracy. After the dissolving of the PCI following the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, Preve undertook a critical review of his own positions held in the precedent decades. He gave lectures for and took part in some of the cultural activities of the Anti-Imperialist Camp, a union of international leftist

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

activists who have received much attention from the media because of their critical stand against

American imperialism American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conques ...

and

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

. Since 2005, he wrote for geopolitical journal ''

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

''. Preve was initially influenced by Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser before turning himself towards

Georg Lukács Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 * Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also * George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

. He rejected the important

workerism Workerism is a political theory that emphasizes the importance of or glorifies the working class. Workerism, or , was of particular significance in Italian left-wing politics. As revolutionary praxis Workerism (or ) is a political analysis, w ...

current (or

autonomist Marxism Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendenc ...

) during the 1960–1970s. In the 1990s, Preve returned to Althusser and criticized

economism Economism, sometimes spelled economicism, is a term referring to the distraction of working class political activism from a global political project to purely economic demands. The concept encompasses rewarding workers in socialism with money inc ...

and orthodox Marxism based on a

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

philosophy of history inspired by Hegel. As did Althusser in his latter work on "random materialism" (''matérialisme aléatoire''), Preve insisted on the place of contingency in history and considers the class contrast between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat to be a historical passing form specific to a certain period of the capitalist mode of production. Preve conceived of the 1960s as a rupture in history in much the same way that the appearance of the proletariat in the 19th century had been as capitalism entered a new phase. However, Preve insists against Althusser on the

young Marx The correct place of Karl Marx's early writings within his system as a whole has been a matter of great controversy. Some believe there is a ''break'' in Marx's development that divides his thought into two periods: the "Young Marx" is said to be ...

theory of alienation Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement (German: ''Entfremdung'') of people from aspects of their human nature (''Gattungswesen'', 'species-essence') as a consequence of the division of labor and living in a society of strat ...

and on his theory on human nature and provocatively considered Marxism as the last phase of

German idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

. Preve has also insisted on the unprecedented power of the sole

hyperpower A hyperpower is a state that dominates all other states in every domain (i.e. military, culture, economy, etc.); it has no rivals that can match its capabilities, and is considered to be a step higher than a superpower. Although the United State ...

, that is the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, warning against

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...

. He criticized

Antonio Negri Antonio "Toni" Negri (born 1 August 1933) is an Italian Spinozistic-Marxist sociologist and political philosopher, best known for his co-authorship of ''Empire'' and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political p ...

and

Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as domin ...

's ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' (2000). Preve assigned four masters to Marx, namely Epicurus (to whom he dedicated his thesis, ''Difference of natural philosophy between

Democritus Democritus (; el, Δημόκριτος, ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. No ...

and Epicurus'', 1841) for his materialism and theory of

clinamen Clinamen (; plural ''clinamina'', derived from ''clīnāre'', to incline) is the Latin name Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus. In modern English it has come more generally t ...

;

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, from which come his idea of

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

democracy; Adam Smith, from whom came the idea that the grounds of property is labour; and finally

. Preve was an atheist. On 23 November 2013, Preve died in Turin, where he lived."In memoria di Preve"

Works

* ''La classe operaia non va in paradiso: dal marxismo occidentale all'operaismo italiano'' (in AA.VV., ''Alla ricerca della produzione perduta''). 1982, Dedalo * ''Cosa possiamo chiedere al marxismo'' (in AA.VV., ''Il marxismo in mare aperto''). 1983, Franco Angeli * ''La filosofia imperfetta. Una proposta di ricostruzione del marxismo contemporaneo''. 1984, Franco Angeli * ''La teoria in pezzi. La dissoluzione del paradigma teorico operaista in Italia (1976–1983)''. 1984, Dedalo * ''La ricostruzione del marxismo fra filosofia e scienza'' (in AA.VV., ''La cognizione della crisi. Saggi sul marxismo di Louis Althusser''). 1986, Franco Angeli * ''Vers une nouvelle alliance. Actualité et possibilités de développement de l'effort ontologique de Bloch et de Lukàcs'' (in AA.VV. ''Ernst Bloch et György Lukács. Un siècle après''). 1986, Actes Sud 'Verdinglichung und Utopie''. 1987, Sendler* ''La rivoluzione teorica di Louis Althusser'' (in AA.VV., ''Il marxismo di Louis Althusser''). 1987, Vallerini Editore * ''Viewing Lukàcs from the 1980s''. 1987, The University of Chicago Press * ''La passione durevole''. 1989, Vangelista * ''La musa di Clio vestita di rosso'' (in AA.VV., ''Trasfromazione e persistenza. Saggi sulla storicità del capitalismo''). 1990, Franco Angeli * ''Il filo di Arianna. Quindici lezioni di filosofia marxista''. 1990, Vangelista * ''Il marxismo ed il problema teorico dell'eguaglianza oggi'' (in AA.VV., ''Egalite/Inegalite''). 1990, QuattroVenti * ''Il convitato di pietra''. 1991, Vangelista * ''L'assalto al cielo. Saggio su marxismo e individualismo''. 1992, Vangelista * ''Il pianeta rosso. Saggio su marxismo e universalismo''. 1992, Vangelista * ''L'ideologia Italiana. Saggio sulla storia delle idee marxiste in Italia''. 1993, Vangelista * ''The dream and the reality. The spiritual crisis of western Marxism'' (in AA.VV., ''Marxism and spirituality. An international anthology''). 1993, Bengin and Gavey * ''Il tempo della ricerca. Saggio sul moderno, il postmoderno e la fine della storia''. 1993, Vangelista * ''Louis Althusser. La lutte contre le sens commun dans le mouvement communiste "historique" au XX siècle'' (in AA.VV, ''Politique et philosophie dans l'œuvre de Louis Althusser''). 1993, Presses Universitaires de France * ''L'eguale libertà. Saggio sulla natura umana''. 1994, Vangelista * ''Oltre la gabbia d'acciaio''. 1994, Vangelista, (+ Gianfranco La Grassa) * ''Il teatro dell'assurdo (cronaca e storia dei recenti avvenimenti italiani)'', 1995, Punto rosso, (+ Gianfranco La Grassa) * ''Una teoria nuova per una diversa strategia politica'', 1995, Punto rosso, (+ Gianfranco La Grassa) * ''Un elogio della filosofia''. 1996, Punto Rosso * ''La fine di una teoria. Il collasso del marxismo storico del Novecento''. 1996, Unicopli, (+ Gianfranco La Grassa) * ''Il comunismo storico novecentesco (1917–1991)''. 1997, Punto Rosso * ''Nichilismo Verità Storia. Un manifesto filosofico della fine del XX secolo''. 1997, CRT, (+ Massimo Bontempelli) * ''Gesù uomo nella storia, Dio nel pensiero''. 1997, CRT, (+ Massimo Bontempelli) * ''Il crepuscolo della profezia comunista. A 150 anni dal "Manifesto"''. 1998, CRT * ''L'alba del Sessantotto. Una interpretazione filosofica''. 1998, CRT * ''Marxismo, Filosofia, Verità''. 1998, CRT * ''Destra e sinistra. La natura inservibile di due categorie tradizionali''. 1998, CRT * ''La questione nazionale alle soglie del XXI secolo''. 1998, CRT * ''Le stagioni del nichilismo. Un'analisi filosofica ed una prognosi storica''. 1998, CRT * ''Individui liberati, comunità solidali. Sulla questione della società degli individui''. 1998, CRT * ''Contro il capitalismo, oltre il comunismo. Riflessioni su di una eredità storica e su un futuro possible''. 1998, CRT * ''La fine dell'Urss. Dalla transizione mancata alla dissoluzione reale''. 1999, CRT * ''Il ritorno del clero. La questione degli intellettuali oggi''. 1999, CRT * ''Le avventure dell'ateismo. Religione e materialismo oggi''. 1999, CRT * ''Un nuovo manifesto filosofico. Prospettive inedite e orizzonti convincenti per il pensiero''. 1999, CRT, (+ Andrea Cavazzini) * ''Hegel Marx Heidegger. Un percorso nella filosofia contemporanea''. 1999, CRT * ''Scienza, politica, filosofia. Un'interpretazione filosofica del Novecento''. 1999, CRT * ''I secoli difficili. Introduzione al pensiero filosofico dell'Ottocento e del Novecento''. 1999, CRT * ''L'educazione filosofica. Memoria del passato - Compito del presente - Sfida del futuro''. 2000, CRT * ''Il bombardamento etico. Saggio sull'interventismo umanitario, l'embargo terapeutico e la menzogna evidente''. 2000, CRT * ''Marxismo e filosofia. Note, riflessioni e alcune novità''. 2002, CRT * ''Un secolo di marxismo. Idee e ideologie''. 2003, CRT * ''Le contraddizioni di Norberto Bobbio. Per una critica del bobbianesimo cerimoniale''. 2004, CRT * ''Marx inattuale. Eredità e prospettiva''. 2004, Bollati Boringhieri * ''Verità filosofica e critica sociale. Religione, filosofia, marxismo''. 2004, CRT * ''Dove va la destra? Dove va la sinistra?'' (+ Giano Accame). 2004, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo * ''Comunitarismo Filosofia Politica''. 2004, Noctua * ''L'ideocrazia imperiale americana''. 2004, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo * ''Filosofia del presente''. 2004, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo * ''Filosofia e Geopolitica''. 2005, Edizioni all'insegna del Veltro, (introduction by Tiberio Graziani) * ''Del buon uso dell'universalismo''. 2005, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, (introduction by Carlo Gambescia) * ''Dialoghi sul presente. Alienazione, globalizzazione, Destra/Sinistra, atei devoti. Per un pensiero ribelle'' (+

Alain de Benoist Alain de Benoist (; ; born 11 December 1943) – also known as Fabrice Laroche, Robert de Herte, David Barney, and other pen names – is a French journalist and political philosopher, a founding member of the Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"), and ...

and Giuseppe Giaccio). 2005 Controcorrente * ''Marx e gli antichi greci''. 2005, Petite Plaisance, (+Luca Grecchi) * ''Il popolo al potere. Il problema della democrazia nei suoi aspetti storici e filosofici''. 2006, Arianna Editrice, (introduction by Giuseppe Giaccio) * ''Verità e relativismo. Religione, scienza, filosofia e politica nell'epoca della globalizzazione''. 2006, Alpina (introduction by Franco Cardini) * ''Elogio del comunitarismo''. 2006, Controcorrente * ''Il paradosso De Benoist''. 2006, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, (introduction by Carlo Gambescia) * ''Storia della dialettica''. 2006, Petite Plaisance * ''Storia critica del marxismo''. 2007, Edizioni Città del Sole, (introduction by André Tosel) * ''Storia dell'etica''. 2007, Petite Plaisance * ''Hegel antiutilitarista''. 2007, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, (introduction by Carlo Gambescia) * ''Storia del Materialismo''. 2007, Petite Plaisance * ''Una approssimazione al pensiero di Karl Marx. Tra materialismo e idealismo''. 2007, Il Prato (introduction by Diego Fusaro) * ''Ripensare Marx. Filosofia, Idealismo, Materialismo''. 2007, Editrice Ermes * ''Un trotzkismo capitalistico? Ipotesi sociologico-religiosa dei Neocons americani e dei loro seguaci europei'' (in AA.VV., ''Neocons. L'ideologia neoconservatrice e le sfide della storia''). 2007, Il Cerchio * ''Alla ricerca della speranza perduta''. 2008, Settimo Sigillo, (+ Luigi Tedeschi) * ''La quarta guerra mondiale''. 2008, Edizioni all'insegna del Veltro * ''Il marxismo e la tradizione culturale europea'', 2009, Petite Plaisance * ''Nuovi signori e nuovi sudditi. Ipotesi sulla struttura di classe del capitalismo contemporaneo'', 2010, Petite Plaisance (with Eugenio Orso) * ''Logica della storia e comunismo novecentesco. L'effetto di sdoppiamento'', 2010, Petite Plaisance (with Roberto Sidoli) * ''Filosofia della verità e della giustizia. Il pensiero di Karel Kosík'', 2012, Petite Plaisance (with Linda Cesana) * ''Lettera sull'umanesimo'', 2012, Petite Plaisance * ''Una nuova storia alternativa della filosofia. Il cammino ontologico-sociale della filosofia'', 2013, Pistoia, Petite Plaisance.

Notes

References

Norberto Bobbio Norberto Bobbio (; 18 October 1909 – 9 January 2004) was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily ''La Stampa''. Bobbio was a social libe ...

, ''Ideological Profile of twentieth-Century Italy'', Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1995 (p. 198). *

Étienne Balibar Étienne Balibar (; ; born 23 April 1942) is a French philosopher. He has taught at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, at the University of California Irvine and is currently an Anniversary Chair Professor at the Centre for Research in Modern E ...

, ''La filosofia di Marx'', Manifestolibri, 1994 (p. 15). * Norberto Bobbio, ''Né con Marx né contro Marx'',

Editori Riuniti Editori Riuniti is an Italian publishing house based in Rome that publishes books and magazines on the history of socialism, socialist thought, physics and mathematics theory, and the history of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Histor ...

, Rome, 1997 (pp. 223–240). * André Tosel, '' Devenir du marxisme: de la fin du marxisme-léninisme aux mille marxismes, France-Italie 1975-1995'', in Bidet, Jacques Bidet - Kouvélakis, Eustache,''Dictionnaire Marx contemporain'', PUF, Paris 2001, (p. 72 ff.). * Cristina Corradi, ''Storia dei marxismi in Italia'', Manifestolibri, Rome, 2005 (pp. 278–294). * *

External links

C. Preve,''The "limitless horizon" of capitalism'' (Interview by Claudio Gallo)

(5)The Dream and the Reality: The Spiritual Crisis of Western Marxism (Text by C.Preve from ''Marxism and Spirituality: An International Anthology'')

Alain de Benoist interviews Costanzo Preve (Élements, n. 115)

Alain de Benoist interviews Costanzo Preve (Élements, n. 116)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preve, Costanzo 20th-century Italian philosophers 21st-century Italian philosophers Atheist philosophers Communitarianism Italian anti-capitalists Italian atheists Marxist theorists 1943 births 2013 deaths People from Valenza Universalists