Professor Peter D. Thomas
Professor - History of Political Thought

Research area(s)

• History of political thought
• History of philosophy
• Italian political philosophy
• Marxist philosophy and theory
• Contemporary political theory

Research Interests

Professor Thomas is an historian of political thought, an historian of philosophy and a political theorist.

As an historian of political thought, his major contributions have been in the history of Italian political thought in the early twentieth century, particularly the thought of Antonio Gramsci. He has also co-edited volumes on Karl Marx’s political-economic thought in historical context, and on the development of the thought of Louis Althusser.

As an historian of philosophy, he has published on the history of German philosophy in the mid nineteenth century and Italian philosophy in the twentieth century, the history of Marxist philosophy, philosophies of history and theories of plural temporality.

As a political theorist, his work has focused on concepts of political organization, forms of socio-political transformation, and theories of subalternity, inclusion/exclusion and citizenship.

He is currently working on a study of transformations in our understanding of revolution throughout the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a particular focus on the notions of passive and permanent revolution. He is also working on a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust exploring the different contexts, conditions and consequences of the translation of hegemony in eighteenth and nineteenth century Italian and German philosophical, social and political thought.

In addition to his own research, he has also translated the work of Roberto Finelli, Antonio Negri, Massimiliano Tomba and Mario Tronti, among others.

He is a member of the Editorial Board of Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory, and co-editor of the Historical Materialism Book Series.

Project details

Current:

2025 – 2026 Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship for project "Lost and then Found? Translating Hegemony" (£50,819) Professor Peter D. Thomas (PI)

Completed:

2017 – 2018 Member in the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton for project “When the Subaltern Speaks” (40 000 USD) Dr Peter D. Thomas (PI).

2015 – 2016 Università degli Studi di Cagliari Visiting Scientists Programme for project “A Gramscian Approach to James Joyce: Ulyssesand the Subaltern” (6 000 EUR) Dr Peter D. Thomas (co-PI) in collaboration with Prof. Mauro Pala.

2011 – 2012 British Academy Small Research Grants Scheme Antonio Gramsci in Russia 1922-25 (£7,360) Dr Peter D. Thomas (co-PI) in collaboration with Prof. Craig Brandist of Sheffield University.

2009 – 2011 Finnish Academy Research Grant The Concept of Conjecture in Media Studies and the Social Sciences (300,000 EUR) Prof. Dr Esa Väliverronen (PI) Dr Peter D. Thomas (CI) In collaboration with Dr Juha Koivisto and Dr Mikko Lahtinen.

2009 – 2011 Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, Encountering Althusser (21,750 EUR) Dr Peter D. Thomas (co-PI) in collaboration with Dr Katja Diefenbach, Dr Gal Kirn and Dr Sara R. Farris.