Abstract

Seneca’s figure has been retrieved as relevant to understand the emergence of sovereignty and modern representation. The idea put forth by the author of De Clementia would be one of the bases for Bodin’s writings and is also present in Hobbes’ work. During the Renaissance, De Clementia served as promotion for monarchical forms. In these interpretations, this Stoic philosopher presents Nero in a depersonalised form., He is not only the sovereign capable of shaping a multitude, representing it in its whole and giving it the character of ‘people’, but also who secures peace and rules with justice. Thus, in Seneca, there would be a proto-theory of sovereignty and representation, with decisionism as its result. If these readings of Seneca are plausible, genealogies of modern concepts that interpret their emergence as a revolutionary trennung (eg, Schmitt and early Conceptual History) could be facing a problem of oblivion. This could also imply that modern liberal democracy’s concept of representation would be closer to Seneca’s monarchical idea, in which absolute sovereignty would guarantee private property, contracts, and a sui iuris apolitical soul.