Multitude is a philosophical term for a group of people not classed under any other distinct category, except for their shared fact of existence. It has an ancient textual and philosophical history. Niccolò Machiavelli notably used it, and both Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza deployed it more technically in philosophy and in engaging with their respective historical or intellectual contexts. Later philosophers and theorists revived it, often explicitly from Spinoza. In the work of Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, among others, it became a radically democratic or revolutionary concept whereby individuals stand against institutions.