Abstract
The paper traces the constitution of sovereign authority in Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise stressing the practical dimension that runs the text. The aim is to show how Spinoza indulges neither to utopia nor to normativism in the Treatise, turning instead to the core of political life, according to the basics concepts established in his Ethica, interrupted and then resumed after the Treatise. Hence, the problem of violence appears as a matter of government, and as a criterion of its legitimacy as well. Inspired by Benjamin’s essay on the critique of violence, the paper reconstructs the key features of the problem of violence by tracing its origin in the coherent articulation of the topics with which Spinoza deals with, focusing on the constitution of sovereign power, its limitation and its purpose.