Louis Althusser's Interpretation of Machiavelli's Political Philosophy

This work is dedicated to the interpretation of the political philosophy of the florentine thinker Niccolo Machiavelli, proposed by the french marxist philosopher Louis Althusser. The disclosure of the given topic is inextricably linked with the presentation of a brief review of Machiavellian interpretations in the 20th century, which show that interest in Machiavelli’s theory was not lost after several centuries. More detailed consideration requires the position of the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who in many ways influenced the further development of Althusser's ideas, including views on Machiavelli’s philosophy. Althusser continued Gramsci's idea that the "The Sovereign" Machiavelli was a kind of manifesto that called for concrete political actions. "The Sovereign" and "Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livia" by Machiavelli appear in the interpretation of Althusser by two interrelated works, echoing on the ideological content. Thus, Althusser solves one of the main problems of the Machiavelli’s heritage about the relationship of these two treatises. What important is that Althusser introduces Machiavelli's doctrine in the modern political discourse, therefore consideration of his interpretation is necessary in the context of neo-marxist issues.