Abstract

The increasingly wide literature on Norberto Bobbio's life, thought and work has never systematically examined his confrontation with the landscape of philosophical, political and juridical traditions of European modernity. This is partially due to the fact that Bobbio never had a fixed «canon» regarding the authors he decided to critically engage with throughout his whole life, with the only exception of Thomas Hobbes. This is exactly the «problem» inspiring the present paper. In urging contemporary scholarship to develop a more consistent analysis of Bobbio's reading of modernity, it intentionally focuses on a pivotal work of the Italian philosopher: the volume "From Hobbes to Marx. Essays in the History of Philosophy" was published in 1965 in order to bring together a number of writings Bobbio had authored throughout the post-war phase of his academic career.