Costanzo Preve is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 philosopher and a political theoretician. Today is one of the most important anti-capitalist European thinkers and his thought is based on the Old Greek

Old Greek

The term "Old Greek" is sometimes used to describe the Greek language as spoken from Late Antiquity to around AD 1500. Greek spoken during this period is usually split into:...

 and Idealistic tradition philosophy. Is author of many essays and volumes about philosophical interpretation, Communitarism and Universalism

Universalism

Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...

.

Biography

Born in Valenza

Valenza

Valenza is a comune in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 80 km east of Turin and about 11 km north of Alessandria.-History:...

, Preve studied philosophy, political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 and ancient

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 and modern Greek

Modern Greek

Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...

 in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

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

Italian Communist Party

The Italian Communist Party 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 . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...

 (PCI) then got close to Democrazia Proletaria, a party created in 1975 and opposed to the "historic compromise

Historic Compromise

In Italian history, the Historic Compromise was an accommodation between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party in the 1970s, after the latter embraced eurocommunism under Enrico Berlinguer. The 1978 assassination of DC leader Aldo Moro put an end to the Compromesso storico...

" between the PCI and the Christian Democracy

Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

. After the dissolving of the PCI following the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

, Costanzo 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

Anti-Imperialist Camp

The Anti-imperialist Camp is an international organisation which brings together several different movements dedicated to opposing imperialism.-History:...

, a union of international leftist anti-imperialist activists, who have received much attention from the media because of their critical stand against US imperialism and Zionism. Since 2005 he writes for a geopolitical journal, Eurasia

Eurasia, Rivista di Studi Geopolitici

Eurasia is an Italian quarterly magazine on geopolitics founded in 2004. It is published by Edizioni all'Insegna del Veltro in Parma and is directed by Tiberio Graziani.- Editorial philosophy :...

.

Costanzo Preve was initially influenced by Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser

Louis Althusser

Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....

, before turning himself towards Georg Lukács

Georg Lukács

György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism. He contributed the concept of reification to Marxist philosophy and theory and expanded Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. Lukács' was also an influential literary...

. He rejected the important Operaismo current (or autonomist Marxism) during the 1960-70s

History of Italy as a Republic

After World War II and the overthrow of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italy's history was dominated by the Christian Democracy political party for 50 years, while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party ; this situation prevailed until the crisis of the Soviet Union and the...

. In the 1990s, Preve returned to Althusser and criticizes "economism

Economism

Economism is a term used to describe economic reductionism, that is the reduction of all social facts to economical dimensions. It is also used to criticize economics as an ideology, in which supply and demand are the only important factors in decisions, and outstrip or permit ignoring literally...

" and orthodox Marxism based on a teleological

Teleology

A teleology is any philosophical account which holds that final causes exist in nature, meaning that design and purpose analogous to that found in human actions are inherent also in the rest of nature. The word comes from the Greek τέλος, telos; root: τελε-, "end, purpose...

 philosophy of history

Philosophy of history

The term philosophy of history refers to the theoretical aspect of history, in two senses. It is customary to distinguish critical philosophy of history from speculative philosophy of history...

 inspired by Hegel. As did Althusser in his latter work on "random materialism" (matérialisme aléatoire), Preve insists on the place of contingency in history and considers the class contrast between the bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 and the proletariat

Proletariat

The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...

 to be a historical passing form specific to a certain period of the capitalist mode of production

Mode of production

In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production is a specific combination of:...

. Preve conceives 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. Capitalism entered a new phase. However, Preve insists against Althusser on the young Marx

Young Marx

Some theorists consider Karl Marx's thought to be divided into a "young" period and a "mature" one. There is disagreement to when Marx's thought began to mature, and the problem of the idea of a "Young Marx" is the problem of tracking the development of Marx's works and of its possible unity...

's theory of alienation

Marx's theory of alienation

Marx's theory of alienation , as expressed in the writings of the young Karl Marx , refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together, or to put antagonism between things that are properly in harmony...

 and on his theory on human nature

Marx's theory of human nature

Marx's theory of human nature occupies an important place in his critique of capitalism, his conception of communism, and his 'materialist conception of history'. Marx, however, does not refer to "human nature" as such, but to Gattungswesen, which is generally translated as 'species-being' or...

, and provocatively considers Marxism as the last phase of German Idealism

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 politics of the Enlightenment...

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

Hyperpower

A hyperpower is a state that dominates all other states in every sphere of activity. A hyperpower is traditionally considered to be one step higher than a superpower. The definition and use of the term varies....

, that is the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and warned against cultural imperialism. He criticizes Toni Negri

Antonio Negri

Antonio Negri is an Italian Marxist sociologist and political philosopher.Negri is best-known for his co-authorship of Empire, and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political philosophy professor in his hometown university...

 and Michael Hardt

Michael Hardt

Michael Hardt is an American literary theorist and political philosopher perhaps best known for Empire, written with Antonio Negri and published in 2000...

's Empire

Empire (book)

Empire is a text written by post-Marxist philosophers Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. The book, written in the mid-1990s, was published in 2000 and quickly sold beyond its expectations as an academic work.-Summary:...

(2000).

Preve assigned four "masters" to Marx: Epicurus

Epicurus

Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...

 (to whom he dedicated his thesis, Difference of natural philosophy between Democritus

Democritus

Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....

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

Clinamen

Clinamen is the Latin name Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of Epicurus.According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs "at no fixed place or time":...

; Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...

, from which come his idea of egalitarian democracy; Adam Smith

Adam Smith

Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...

, from whom came the idea that the grounds of property is labour

Manual labour

Manual labour , manual or manual work is physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals...

; and finally Hegel.

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
  Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
  
   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

External links

• Eleven Questions for Costanzo Preve from Robert Dannin
• (5)The Dream and the Reality: The Spiritual Crisis of Western Marxism (Text by C.Preve from Marxism and Spirituality: An International Anthology)
• Texts by Costanzo Preve /
• Alain de Benoist interviews Costanzo Preve (Élements, n. 115)
• Alain de Benoist interviews Costanzo Preve (Élements, n. 116)
• Brief synthesis of Preve's thought