ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

ROSMINI’S RISORGIMENTAL
REINTERPRETATION OF THE CLASSICAL
ECONOMIC SCHOOL
(Carlos Hoevel)

Introduction

In the interpretative framework that conceives the Risorgimen-

to as a philosophical category, i.e., not as a provincial event, but
as a historical process that has brought into play universal values​​
and principles, Rosmini occupies a central position. In fact, he has
developed his philosophy with the conscious intention of illumi-
nating, by means of the permanent principles of the Western philo-
sophical tradition and the Christian faith, the complex process of
social and political change and new currents of thought that has oc-
curred in Italy’s Risorgimento. The historical process lived by Italy
represented for him the opportunity to propose an alternative to the
theoretical trends and practices developed by the Enlightenment,
Romanticism and German idealism. At the same time, this close
contact of his thinking with the historical dynamics led him to re-
think the permanent principles of the philosophical tradition in the
light of his own philosophy at the same time classical and modern.
Among the many intellectual projects developed by Rosmini in
this line, occupies a prominent place, not always sufficiently em-
phasized, his interpretation of the process of economic changes of
his time and especially of the classical school of economic thought
that has accompanied it. There have been many partial studies of
Rosmini’s interpretation of capitalism and the emerging economies
that called attention to different aspects, but perhaps the common
point that stands out in all of them is to show how Rosmini attempts
a reinterpretation of classical economics in a new key. The problem
arises when, in investigating the nature of this new key, we try to
get as close as possible to the original intentions of Rosmini.

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The purpose of this article is precisely to pick up some of the con-

temporary contributions around Rosmini’s reinterpretation of clas-
sical economics and at the same time propose an interpretation that
can help us to illuminate this important aspect of the Risorgimental
dimension of his philosophy.

Rosmini’s Economic Philosophy as a Conservative

Patrimonialism and a Classist Ideology

To make an attempt at finding an answer to this problem leads

us directly into the complex field of the existent interpretations of
Rosmini’s economic thought. In this sense, an early interpretation
can be found in the works of the historian and essayist on philoso-
phy of right, Gioele Solari (1872-1952). After Gentile’s idealist in-
terpretation of Rosmini’s philosophy, Solari is considered one of
the first authors to take interest in offering a more specific inter-
pretation of Rosmini’s political and juridical ideas1. Solari’s work
is mainly a philological and historical study that recognizes and
puts in chronological order Rosmini’s early works in accordance
with the evolution of his thought. In this work, for the first time,
appears clearly a correlation between the Politica Prima and other
philosophical-economic texts like the ones contained in Rosmini’s
controversial essays against Melchiorre Gioia. Solari’s works have
considerable importance in the reconstruction of Rosmini’s phi-
losophy of economy due to the unity of thought they show regard-
ing this matter2.
Still, Solari goes beyond this valuable and predominantly philo-
logical task to draw the first great interpretative map of Rosmini’s
early thought. Within the framework of this interpretation, Solari
affirms that the first nucleus of the Roveretan’s early economic

1
G. Solari, Rosmini inedito. La formazione del pensiero politico, a cura
di Umberto Muratore, Stresa, Centro Internazionale di Studi Rosminiani,
Presentazione, 2000, pp. 7-8.
2
Op. cit., p. 65.

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texts, especially the one contained in the Politica Prima, written in

Rovereto, would be completely determined by Rosmini’s belong-
ing to the “aristocrazia fondiaria”, his “aristocratic education” and
von Haller’s patrimonialist thought. In this way, although Rosmini
“does not condemn the new capitalist activity and the science that
studies it unless they are not informed and subordinated to ethical
ends3, according to Solari, he suffers from a “radical incomprehen-
sion of those moral, social and economic forces that had issued the
definite condemnation of feudal and patrimonial governments”:

Following Haller’s footsteps, Rosmini was a prisoner of nostalgia

[…]. He did not show (and the critiques to Smith and Gioia reveal
it) sympathy nor understanding for the new industrial economy
based on labor, capacity and personal initiative, nor for the new
social lifestyles based on them which had found in revolution ade-
quate political forms4.

In his work entitled Il personalismo rosminiano published in 1963,

the political philosopher, Danilo Zolo, makes a deeper and more
generalized application of Solari’s thesis. Although Zolo shares
Rosmini’s personalist and Christian-oriented philosophy, he open-
ly criticizes his economic philosophy. From a series of harsh judg-
ments on Rosmini’s early economic texts, Zolo will criticize Ros-
mini’s philosophy of economy in general – including his mature
period – which is a surprise if we take into account his method-
ological insistence to make a clear distinction between both pe-
riods. In fact, Zolo will highlight even more than Solari the his-
toricist, empirical, traditionalist and patrimonialist character of the
first phase of Rosmini’s thought, and will erase the division line
between the first phase and the iusnaturalist and constitutionalist
phase that Solari had drawn from 1825 to 18285. Indeed, Zolo be-
lieves there is a profound gap in Rosmini’s thought between his view
of the economy and his personalist view of ethics, anthropology and
3
Op. cit., p. 20.
4
Op. cit., p. 28.
5
D. Zolo, Il personalismo rosminiano, Brescia, Morcelliana, 1963, p. 26.

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theology or, in any case, he thinks this break evidences the internal
contradictions present even in these aspects of his thought6. Final-
ly, the harshest criticism made by Zolo is probably the accusation
of ‘ideology’. Indeed, Zolo considers Rosmini’s economic thought
being contaminated by the supposed defect of nineteenth-century
Catholicism based upon a classist preconception which is reflected
in its utter incomprehension of the meaning of the social-economic
problem in relation to the ultimate truths of Christianity7.

Rosmini’s Philosophy of Economy as Liberal Social

Theodicy

Certainly, the most important work on Rosmini’s philosophy of

economy is the Teodicea sociale di Rosmini (1957) written by the
Napolitan philosopher, Pietro Piovani. It is not a philological or
historical work but a highly speculative vision of the Roveretan’s
economic thought within the framework of his social ideas, and
in the light of his Theodicy. From Piovani’s view, the key of the
Rosminian social and economic philosophy lies in the Theodicy,

6
“Sul terreno etico-giuridico manca in Rosmini la consapevolezza del
rapporto di complementarietà, di stretta reciproca inclusione fra econo-
mia e morale nella vita concreta della persona e della comunita: sarebbe
agevole mostrare come il dualismo tra eudemonologia ed etica rappresen-
ti una delle molte rifrazioni del radicale dualismo rosminano tra ‘senso’
e ‘intelletto’, tra ‘ individuo’ e ‘persona’, tra ‘bene soggettivo’ e ‘bene
oggettivo’”. D. Zolo, op. cit, p. 305.
7
“C’è in Rosmini una discriminazione psicológica fra la ‘classe dei ric-
chi’ e la ‘classe dei poveri’ che induce persino nel suo spirito di carità
cristiana un acento paternalistico che sarebbe impossibile trovare in un
padre della Chiesa... una conferma della crisi spirituale e religiosa della
cristianità ottocentesca...”. D. Zolo, op. cit., p. 253, n.46; “Di fronte a
certe pagine rosminiane... non può che riflettere sulla crisi profonda che
ha investito la coscienza católica nel primo 800”. D. Zolo, op. cit., p. 309;
“Il liberalismo rosminiano mostra... la sua origine aristocratica e il suo
horizonte classista...”. D. Zolo, op. cit.,p. 309.

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a piece of work where many passages allude to Rosmini’s social

writings, especially the Philosophy of Politics8. Based on this as-
certainment and on various parallelisms between both works, Pi-
ovani presents an extremely interesting and original thesis that is
already expressed in its title. According to Piovani, the primary
aim of Rosmini’s social and economic thought was to defend the
Christian-rooted classical theodicy by leaning on new socially-ori-
ented arguments. Furthermore, in his opinion, Rosmini would have
discovered that classical economic science acts as the key mediator
between politics and theodicy9.
According to Piovani, although economic science has been found-
ed as the science of restriction and scarcity, it has turned into a
pretentious discipline that aims to fulfill every need and find a so-
lution to every evil. This negative transformation has been mainly
the result of Rousseau’s and the socialists’ influence, as well as of
the impact of the various types of Christian social thought10. On the
contrary, according to Piovani, Rosmini’s philosophy of economy
would represent, on the one hand, the first big attempt to assimilate
and incorporate into Catholic Christianity the great findings of in-
dividualist economics – represented by authors like Adam Smith,
Thomas Malthus or Jean-Baptiste Say – and, on the other hand, it
would mean the most perfect philosophical critique and refutation
of every kind of social Mesianism.
From all this, Piovani also deduces the “liberal consequences”
of Rosmini’s thought. In fact, according to him, it is evident that
Rosmini believes that “the best government for civil society is
that which wastes the least number of human actions”11 and, as
the State’s intervention renders an obstacle to the economization
8
“Alla luce di questo constante avvertimento rosminiano, assume parti-
colare significato il rinvio, che è nella Teodicea, alla Filosofia della Po-
litica… ”. P. Piovani, La teodicea sociale di Rosmini, Padova, Cedam,
1957, p. 10.
9
“Senza l’aiuto dell’economia, non sarebbe possibile la collaborazione
tra scienza politica e teodicea… ”. P. Piovani, op.cit., p. 94.
10
Op. cit., p. XXII.
11
Op. cit., p. 249.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

of actions, the logical consequence will be to guarantee that “all

citizens exercise their freedom to its fullest”12. In this way, Piovani
emphasizes, “beyond the fearful uncertainties of Catholic political
reflection,” the “accuracy of Rosminian thought” which is char-
acterized by the “foundation of a liberal politics resulting from
the need to respect the freedom that the universe’s providential
government guarantees to all individuals”13. In Piovani’s words,
Rosmini would be therefore the great critic of all kinds of ‘social
Catholicism’:

Social Catholicism is the antithesis of this Rosminian hope; social

reform is exactly the contrary to the reform supported by Rosmini14.

Piovani holds that “the attempts to demonstrate that Rosmini’s phi-

losophy of politics contains ‘a sociology that is the one and the same
as that of Leon XIII’ is bound to fail – due to the texts’ refutation”15.
On the contrary, in his opinion, Rosmini would be an “intransigent
and coherent interpreter of the pessimism of the Catholic Church”16.
Yet, this would not mean that the Roveretan is the representative
of a liberal Catholicism understood as a “Catholicism that, with
more or less conviction, recognizes some of the requirements of
liberalism as its own”, nor he would represent a Catholic liberal-
ism understood as a “liberalism willing to adopt values proper to
Catholicism”. On the contrary, Piovani believes it is “Christianity,
Catholic Christianity to be more precise, […] which produces in
itself fundamentally liberal requirements […]”17.

12
Op. cit., p. 251.
13
Op. cit., p. 247.
14
Op. cit., p. 407.
15
Op. cit., p. 408.
16
Op. cit., p. 408.
17
Op. cit., p. 258.

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An Alternative Approach: Rosmini’s Philosophy of

Economy from the Perspective of Italian Civil and
Religious Humanism

A third interpretation emerges from the works of Luigi Bulferetti,

a disciple of Solari, especially in Antonio Rosmini nella Restaura-
zione18. According to Bulferetti’s interpretation, even though Ros-
mini’s political thought, in general, and his economic thought, in
particular, suffer the influence of authors like Haller or the French
traditionalists, they are interpreted within the framework of the Res-
toration project of the Christian culture that the Roveretan initiates
from an Italian perspective. Even though Bulferetti shares with So-
lari the same views about Rosmini’s patrimonialist and conserva-
tive ideas present in his first works19, he places less emphasis than
Solari on the most rigid aspects of the Roveretan’s posture. Bulfer-
etti even points out that Haller himself is much more open to the
economic and bourgeois world than what Solari thinks, an opening
which, by the way, would also be inherent to Rosmini from the very
beginning20. Both Bulferetti and Solari will recognize the enormous
importance of Rosmini’s turning point that took place in Milan from
1826 onwards. However, the latter will lay special emphasis on the
fact that Rosmini, already in his Politica Prima, analyzed political
and economic matters from the perspective of the problem of “pub-
lic happiness”, which he draws not from Haller but from the 18th
century Italian civil philosophy. Certainly, Bulferetti makes a par-
tially critical description of the Rosminian institutional system of
his constitutional period considering it too much inclined towards
the political representation of economic interests. However he also
18
L. Bulferetti, Antonio Rosmini nella Restaurazione, Firenze, Le Mon-
nier, 1942.
19
Op. cit., p.126-127.
20
“È da notare che così lo Haller come il Rosmini non considerano sem-
plicemente il patrimonio fondiario ma pur quello mobiliare, e quindi han-
no presente la reppresentanza d’interessi nella sua integralità, che dà loro
modo d’interpretare, oltre che la storia feudale, quella comunale, e d’ana-
lizzare la struttura della monarchia borghese”. Op. cit., p. 79, footnote 1.

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values strongly the influence on Rosmini of Tocqueville and the

American constitutional ideas21, which leads him to conclude that
the Roveretan professes a “moderate Christian liberalism”22.
Another version of this third interpretation is the one proposed by
Francesco Traniello, a historian from Turin, in his Società religiosa e
società civile. In this work, Traniello analyses Rosmini’s philosophy
of economy from the original perspective of Christianity and, espe-
cially, of the Church23. Traniello also supports the thesis of the evolu-
tion of Rosmini’s thought from Haller and De Maistre’s traditional-
ism to liberal thought latu senso. Though this evolution line is impor-
tant, he believes it is certainly not the only one. In fact, in Rosmini’s
Politica Prima, he detects elements of the Italian sensist Enlighten-
ment24, of authors like Filangieri25 and Muratori26, of the physiocrats27
and of the British economists and constitutionalists28. According to
Traniello, this would unveil Rosmini’s internal struggle between the
influence of traditionalist doctrines and his strong interest in econom-
ic science29. Besides, Traniello seeks to demonstrate how the social
21
Op. cit., p. 231.
22
Op. cit., p. 233.
23
“La sua politica vale piuttosto come sforzo di radicare una concezione
della società in una piú vasta antropologia religiosa d’ispirazione cristia-
na... ”. F. Traniello, Società religiosa e società civile in Rosmini, Brescia,
Morcelliana, 1997, p. 354.
24
Traniello argues that in Rosmini exists “a long familiarity with the texts
of the Italian Enlightenment and sensism […]”. Op. cit., p. 129.
25
Op. cit., pp. 30, 35, 80, 166.
26
Op. cit., pp. 101, 154, 195, 196, 199, 211, 212.
27
Op. cit., p. 47.
28
“Accanto Haller paiano infatti ripresentarsi, sia pure in una forma e in
un contesto mutato, istanze e suggestioni almeno parzialmente riconduci-
bili alle fonti sttecentesche della teoria rosminiana e, ancor più, allo studio
degli economisti e dei costituzionalisti inglesi”. Op. cit., p. 49.
29
“Ma sin dalla Política I le soluzioni offerte al problema della autorita
dalla retorica rica di fascino del de Maistre e dalle brillanti formule dei
tradizionalistici non possono bastare al Rosmini, più sensibile, anche in
conseguenza dei suoi interessi economici, alla dinamica delle forze sociali”.
Op. cit., p. 45.

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conception developed by Rosmini springs from the illuminist and

Christian ideas of “the universal society of mankind” and of ‘the
ecclesiastical society’ – that is, in Rosmini’s terms, the idea of the
Church. Though partly agreeing with Zolo’s thesis on the existence
of a certain inadequacy between Rosmini’s social philosophy and
Christian personalism, Traniello does not see a ‘dualistic’ concep-
tion. In fact, he believes that Rosmini’s partially insufficient of vi-
sion of politics and of the economy could be compensated by his
utopian and moral conception of religious society30.

The Early and Mature Reception of Classical Eco-

nomists

The approach to Rosmini’s reception of classical economic

thought that we support contrasts, in the first place, with the theses
of Solari and Zolo, who are deeply influenced, in our opinion, by the
historiographic interpretation of Rosmini that portrays him as a tra-
ditionalist thinker – basically a follower of Haller – whose reception
of classical economic thinking is partial and extrinsecal and, hence,
incapable of dealing with the socio-economic issues of his time. To
some extent, this could be true but only with respect to some aspects
of Rosmini’s early texts – and surely not to all of them.
It is a fact that Rosmini felt in his youth a strong attachment to the
Austrian Empire and was inspired by the patrimonialist conception
of the political society and the State of Karl Ludwig von Haller and
the works of traditionalist French thinkers31. Nonetheless, not even
in his youth did he completely follow traditionalism and patrimo-
nialism. On the contrary, even in this first stage of his life, Rosmini
starts noticing the dark side of Austria, especially, its marked au-
thoritarianism, its tendency towards immobility and the Machia-
vellism of its “reason of State” characteristic not only of Josephism
30
“... il Rosmini è riuscito a sottrarsi finché ha intravisto nella dimensione
ecclesiale della religione il massimo compimento della naturale sociabili-
tà umana... ”, Op. cit., p. 55.
31
Cfr. L. Bulferetti, Op. cit.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

but also of Metternich’s and the Holy Alliance’s policies. Besides,

Rosmini was always culturally and spiritually Italian. Actually, be-
ing a native of Rovereto – which had long belonged to the Venetian
Republic – and the fact that his family had run for years a silk busi-
ness, meant also Rosmini’s communion with the bourgeois, civil
and economic spirit of the città. Taking these facts into account, we
can therefore understand Rosmini’s very early interest in the classi-
cal economic school that he will cultivate all his life.
Even in his Politica Prima also called Politica Roveretana, writ-
ten between 1822 and 1823, at the age of 25 and recently ordained
a priest and being a laureate in theology, Rosmini refers to Adam
Smith and other classical economists like Malthus and Say. Ros-
mini describes there the classical theory of labor value, marking it
out as an unquestionable achievement of Adam Smith32, also prais-
es the classical concept of saving and accumulation as the basis of
the economy33, agrees with the Smithian distinction between pro-
ductive and unproductive labor34, and shares his criticism of profi-
teering and luxury and the praise of frugality35. Rosmini also fol-
lows Smith in his physiocratic “natural” concept of development
criticizing the new “industrial” conception36.

32
“Dopo Adam Smith nessuno più dubita, che il lavoro sia il fonte sommo
della ricchezza e che abbia il lavoro ai capitali per usare un modo filoso-
fico, ma ottimamente espressivo, come la forma alla materia”. OIP, p. 92.
33
SDR, p. 26 and note 17. Cfr. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature
and Causes of The Wealth of Nations, Chicago, The University of Chi-
cago Press, 1990, I, Chapter III, “Of the Accumulation of Capital, or of
Productive and Unproductive Labour”, p. 351.
34
SDR, p. 21.
35
“Il buon senso di Smith… e di tanti altri scrittori delle cose economiche;
i quali senza essere nemici dei piaceri, distinguono però accuratamente fra
essi e la ricchezza, e predicano i risparmi, e la moderazione in tutte le cose
di lusso e di diletto, perché questi diletti non li considerano come ricchezza,
ma bensì come una distruzione della ricchezza… ”, SDR, p. 37. Cfr. Adam
Smith, op. cit., 1, pp. 360, 362-371; 2, pp. 127-128, pp. 401-402, 442-443.
36
“Riguardo alla produzione della ricchezza, qualunque cosa si dica in
contrario, la regola fondamentale è di seguire la natura, la quale chiede

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Rosmini also agrees with Smith in a natural and liberal view of the
economy broadly understood. In the pages of the Politica Prima he
discusses the topics of Chapter II of Book IV, Part I of the Wealth of
Nations of Adam Smith referred to the freedom of trade and its im-
pact on the domestic industrial development of a country. Rosmini
here advocates the thesis of Smith against mercantilism, affirm-
ing the goodness of the principle of natural distribution of wealth,
since it is impossible to calculate the best way to manage wealth
in a vast space and time due to the infinite variables that should be
taken into account37.
As for Thomas Malthus, Rosmini repeatedly quotes him in his Della
naturale Costituzione della società civile38 and his Della sommaria
cagione per la quale stanno o rovinano le umane società. Along with
Machiavelli, he is the lead author on which Rosmini relies to develop
the central argument of the latter work, i.e., the survival of societies.
Following the arguments of Malthus against Godwin and Condorcet,
Rosmini defends the idea that there are limits on the progress of so-
cieties beyond which they fall. Moreover, both in Della sommaria
cagione as in Della naturale Costituzione Rosmini agrees with the fa-
mous English economist’s arguments on the issue of population39, but

prima la coltivazione, dipoi l’industria manifattrice, finalmente il com-

mercio”. OIP, p. 133. Cfr. Adam Smith, op. cit., I, p. 405: “According
to the natural course of things, therefore, the greater part of the capital
of every growing society is, first, directed to agriculture, afterwards to
manufactures, and last of all to foreign commerce”.
37
“Io credo collo Smith e con altri economisti che la piú utile distribu-
zione della ricchezza si faccia dalla stessa natura delle cose, e tanto è più
perfetta questa distribuzione e direzione di ricchezza quanto è più vasto il
luogo ed il tempo in cui essa si considera”. OIP, pp.136-137. Cfr. Adam
Smith, op. cit., I, p. 475: “it is by no means certain that this artificial direc-
tion is likely to be more advantageous to the society than that into which
it would have gone of its own accord”.
38
Cfr. NC, p. 340 ss.
39
“Questo fatto è la legge naturale, a cui ubbidisce ne’ suoi accrescimenti
la popolazione. La schiatta umana di sua natura va crescendo in ragione
geometrica: all’ incontro le sussistenze, o siano i prodotti della terra, non

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does so in a context of ideas and motives very different from Malthus.

Finally stands out Jean-Baptiste Say. The Roveretan reads Say
since his youth repeatedly citing him in the Politica Prima and in
his polemical essays with Melchiorre Gioia, especially in the Sag-
gio sulla definizione della ricchezza. Rosmini takes from Say much
of the materials that he will afterwards insert into his own theory of
value and economic action. Such is the case of the criticism of ficti-
tious wants, limitless luxury and fashion of the French economist,
and his calling for a slow consumption, pointing to real needs and
quality rather than quantity40. Following Say, Rosmini also criticiz-
es the way in which Adam Smith divides productive and unproduc-
tive consumption and work41. Say also serves Rosmini as a guide
to depart from some anthropological theses of Adam Smith and
approach the Italian-French conception of economic action based
on subjectivity, without losing the elements it considers valuable of
the British classical school.
Moreover, more mature social and economic texts such as the Phi-
losophy of Politics (1837),the Philosophy of Right (PR) (1840-41),
Saggio sul Comunismo e il Socialismo (SCS) (1847), La Costituzi-
one secondo la giustizia sociale (CSG), La Costituente del regno

possono mai crescere al di là che in ragione aritmetica: senza che, né an-

che tal progressione può andar continua come quella della popolazione.
Egli è dunque uopo di venirsi ad un termine, dopo il quale la terra non
acresca più il suo prodotto, quando nell’ uman genere la facoltà di molti-
plicare non finisce giammai. L’autore del Saggio sulla Popolazione fece,
a mio parere, un ottimo servigio a far toccare con mano de’ fatti ripetuti
una verità bensì ovvia, ma di cui pur si fuggivano le conseguenze”. FPSC,
pp.91-92. Cfr. Thomas Malthus, op. cit., p. 71 ss.
40
G.B. Say, Trattato d’Economia Politica, Biblioteca dell’Economista, diret-
to da Francesco Ferrara, Cugini Pomba e comp. Editori, 1854, pp. 322-325.
41
“[…] conviene risalire alla storia della celebre distinzione di cui parlia-
mo fra’consumi produttori e improduttori. Lo Smith, che la rese celebre,
certo non giunse a tirar fra essi la linea di separazione esattamente, giac-
ché pose fra le classi consumatrici e improduttrici di quelle a cui non si
può negare la facoltà di produrre. Il Say rettificò, in gran parte almeno,
l’inesattezza dello Smith […]”. Rosmini, SDR, p. 29.

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dell’Alta Italia (CRI) clearly demonstrate that Rosmini shared

many of the classical economic convictions throughout his life.
Like classical economists, Rosmini believed that private individu-
als and associations should be the first agents of their own pros-
perity and of the one of the whole country’s economy42, defends
freedom of commerce and is a hard critic of monopolies in general
and of State monopolies in particular43. Besides, the same texts also
demonstrate that, like classical economists, Rosmini foresees the
dangers of the future Welfare State44. Although he believes that the
42
“That what the citizens do by themselves is more economical than that
what is done for them by others, especially by the government”, OIP,
p. 64 (our translation).
43
“Il governo della società civile non si dee convertire in un’azienda mer-
cantile o industriale: questo va direttamente contro il fine della sua istitu-
zione che è quello di proteggere la libertà e la concorrenza de’ cittadini ai
guadagni e non d’invaderla o di entrare esso stesso in concorrenza”. CGS,
p. 143. Cfr. also FD II, pp. 2167-2168.
44
Certainly in the Costituzione but especially in his work La costituente
del regno dell’Alta Italia Rosmini demonstrates that he is well acquainted
with the so-called “social question” in which he includes what he calls “the
great question of workers”, “the great question of pauperism” and “the
great problem of employing people”. In fact, in the second text, he argues
against what he considers as “two extremes” in relation to the question
(p. 265). On the one hand, he rejects the opinion of the ones who believe
that the government should not give any kind of positive help to the poor
or unemployed, limiting its functions just to the sole “regulation of indi-
vidual rights”. On the other hand, he rejects the opinion of the defenders
of a welfare State that propose an unlimited “beneficence” of the State to
every possible need or desire of individuals. Rosmini calls his own opinion
“a middle term between these two extremes”. In fact, according to him,
the State has certainly the juridical obligation of assisting the poor in case
of extreme need (p. 266). However a continuous assistance beyond this
extreme situation would eventually lead to an even worse situation. In fact
Rosmini foresees that a welfare State would eventually be unable to pay
its costs and at the same time would dry the font of individual initiative
to progress and to help the others through private associations. But his
strongest fear is the degradation of the free and moral dignity of the hu-
man being to which this system leads (pp. 266-271). Thus, the best way

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

State must intervene sometimes to help the poor, he thinks that this
assistance has to be always “extraordinary and momentary” and
not “ordinary and continuous”45. Like classical economists, Ros-
mini believes that one of the greatest errors of modern politics is
the reduction of common good to a mere mechanical satisfaction of
needs by government’s planning46. Instead, close to classical eco-
nomic thinking, he understands the common good mainly as the
result of personal freedom and responsibility47.
In a word, these texts clearly reflect that Rosmini was probably one
of the few philosophers in Continental Europe who, unlike many
other thinkers, assimilated positively many elements of classical
economic science.

The Italian and Risorgimental Factor

However, we differ from Pietro Piovani’s view of a simple iden-

tification of Rosmini’s economic philosophy with British classical
economic liberalism. In fact, this argument suffers, in our opinion,

to help the poor and unemployed is to leave free the “founts of private
beneficence” and “civil association” but, above all, to promote access to
property by means of genuine jobs created by a rightful and fair economic
competition accompanied by moral values introduced through education.
About the same subject in the Costituzione see Chapter 9, p. 29.
45
CRI, p. 266.
46
Both problems are explained by Rosmini especially in FPSSF.
47
Moral virtue as the principle and the end of civil or political society
is Rosmini’s main idea of his Political Philosophy. It is precisely on this
anthropological and ethical point that we can find Rosmini’s main dif-
ferences especially with utilitarianism – socialist, liberal or conservative
– which sees just in pleasure or material utility both the engine and the
goal of society. According to Rosmini, utilitarianism has an external con-
ception of political life that is born from its external conception of the
human being that forgets its spiritual and interior dimension which is the
real end of politics. For Rosmini’s idea of virtue as the heart of society
see: FPSSF, especially Book 2, “The end of society”.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

both from a historico-philological and a theoretical flaw. In regard

to the first one, there is the fact that Rosmini assimilates the ideas
of the economic classical school but criticizing them from the hu-
manistic perspective of the Italian civil economists of the Risorgi-
mento48.
Certainly Rosmini studies directly since his youth the texts of Adam
Smith and other classics like Say and Malthus. But it should be not-
ed that their assimilation is done from a position of thought largely
inspired by his participation in the interesting time of reception of
classical economics in general and of Adam Smith in particular
that takes place in the Italy of the first part of the nineteenth cen-
tury. If we follow the interpretative framework provided by Guidi,
Maccabelli and Morato49, Rosmini would have shared with the Ital-
ian authors of his time, a similar view for the discussion of some of
the major Smithian and classical issues from an Italian perspective.
Like these authors, Rosmini interprets Smith partly directly and
partly through the “filters” of other Italian authors50. Moreover, like
other Italians, Rosmini tends to place Smith’s thought within the
framework and issues of interest of the tradition of the Italian civil
and economic philosophy.
Since his early youth Rosmini reads the texts of the classical econ-
omists not only in their sources, but in dialogue with the so-called
Italian civil economists especially through the famous collection of
Custodi’s Scrittori classici italiani di economia politica. Rosmini
read, on the one hand, the famous Neapolitan economists of the
first half of the Settecento, Ludovico Antonio Muratori, and Carlo
Antonio Broggia in which he will get inspiration taking into ac-
count “the moral and economic elements that were at the root of

48
However, we certainly do not agree with Luigi Bulferetti’s thesis about
a rosso, Sismondian or Christian- socialist Rosmini included in his work
Socialismo Resorgimentale (1949), which was, at the time, widely de-
bated by Pietro Piovani.
49
Marco Guidi, Terenzio Maccabelli e Erica Morato, Neo-Smithian po-
litical economy in Italy (1803-1848).
50
Guidi, Maccabelli e Morato, op. cit., p. 2.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

their reform program”51. Rosmini will be also influenced by the

civil economists of the second half of the Settecento, especially
Gaetano Filangieri, Giuseppe Palmieri and Antonio Genovesi of
the Neapolitan school, Pietro Verri and Cesare Beccaria of the Mi-
lan school, the Venetians Francesco Mengotti and Giammaria Ortes
and Giambattista Vasco of Turin. Rosmini studied extensively and
used the texts of these writers, contained in the Modern Part of the
Custodi collection, to refine his interpretation of the classic school
with subjects as varied as the relationships between economics and
happiness, consumption, labor, taxes, freedom of trade and poverty
among others52.
Rosmini found in these authors a conception of the economy based
on the idea of happiness
​​ that takes in the eighteenth century the
traditions of the Second Scholastic and Renaissance humanism, as
opposed to the concept of “security of power” present in Machia-
velli and Giovanni Botero53 and the more chrematistic perspective
of Anglo-Saxon authors. In addition, another feature of Italian eco-
nomic philosophy for interpreting Rosmini assimilation of classical
economics is its “civil” inheritance received from Doria and espe-
cially from Giambattista Vico54. In addition, it is possible to verify
how the structure and themes of Rosmini’s political and economic
works are much more like Della Pubblica Felicità of Ludovico
Antonio Muratori or like La scienza della legislazione of Gaetano
Filangieri than to the The Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith.
51
F. VENTURI, Settecento riformatore. Da Muratori a Beccaria, Torino,
Guilio Einaudi editore, 1969, p. 97.
52
C. Hoevel, “Rosmini y los economistas civiles italianos”, Nuova Rivista
Storica, Settembre-Dicembre 2009, Fascicolo III, pp. 193-226.
53
D. PARISI ACQUAVIVA, Il pensiero economico classico in Italia (1750-
1860), Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 1984, p. 96, n. 128: “Nei secoli precedenti
in Italia si parlava di ‘felicità pubblica’, ma in termini di ‘sicurezza del
potere’. Giovanni Botero (La ragione di stato, 1598), la definiva ‘il modo
di tener contenti e quieti i popoli’”.
54
Cfr. L. BRUNI, Sul consumo, sui beni, sulla felicità, in Economia come
impegno civile, a cura di L. Bruni, V. Pelligra, Roma, Città Nuova, 2002,
p. 106.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

However, Rosmini’s dialogue with classical economic school

through the frame of the Italian civil economy finds its climax in
his acquaintance with the philosophers-economists of the Risor-
gimento. In fact, Rosmini’s stay in Milan between 1826 and 1828
was a turning point in his economic ideas. In the capital of Lombar-
dy he got in touch with many Italians who – like Alessandro Man-
zoni55 – believed in the possibility of combining Christian faith
and traditional philosophy with Italian nationalism, modern politi-
cal constitutionalism and classical economic liberalism of Anglo-
Saxon origin. But Rosmini makes contact also with other Italian
intellectuals of the Risorgimento such as Gioia and Romagnosi, his
adversaries in many ways, in order to prepare his own alternative
“risorgimental” synthesis of classical political economy with the
other elements mentioned above56.

The Reinterpretation through Gioia and Romagnosi

Certainly Rosmini sees in Gioia’s project the utilitarian attempt

to absorb ethics in the economy, through subjective consumption
and the reduction of right to pure self-interest57. Both in the Politi-
ca Prima (PP), and in a serie of strongly polemical essays – Esame
delle opinioni di Melchiorre Gioia in favore della moda (EO), Ga-
lateo dei Letterati (GL), Saggio sulla definizione della ricchezza
(SDR) and Breve esposizione della filosofia di Melchiorre Gioja
(BE)58 –, which the Roveretan originally intended to include in his
Philosophy of Politics but later left aside to write his Politica Se-
conda or Politica milanese.
Rosmini criticizes Gioia for having fallen into errors far greater
55
Cfr. CA.
56
Cfr. Guidi, Maccabelli e Morato, op. cit., p. 3.
57
SC, p. 161: “[…] in Italia udimmo, alcuni anni sono, talun pretendere
(n. 1 Il Gioia), che la morale fosse un ramo di economia”. Cfr. SDR.
58
There are two classical works devoted to the topic: B. Donati, Rosmini
e Gioia, Firenze, Sansoni editore, 1949 and A. Giordano, Le polemiche
giovanili di Antonio Rosmini, Stresa, CISR, 1976.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

than those of Adam Smith whom he calls, “a man worthy of great

praise”59. In this latter sense Rosmini finds support for his con-
troversy with Gioia in the definition of economics as “science of
wealth” given by Smith60, and criticizes Gioia’s definition as “sci-
ence of happiness”61.
Anyway, despite how hard Rosmini treats the utilitarian positions
of Gioia, it is also clear the influence of the latter on the modifica-
tions introduced by the Roveretan in classical economic thought.
In fact, Rosmini seems to take from Gioia the humanistic-Campan-
ellian idea that behind the production of wealth there are always
human faculties – today we would call them “human capital” –
summarized in the triad “sapere, volere, potere” (knowledge, will
and power)62. On the other hand, like Gioia, Rosmini rejects a sharp
division between economy and other “not useful”, human activities
as Adam Smith makes between productive and unproductive ac-
tivities, and promotes a closer relationship between the economic

59
“Il Gioia nel nuovo prospetto della scienza economica, mi sembra però
essere stato troppo acerbo in relevare questo errore dello Smith, uomo per
altro degno di tanta lode. Il Gioia è rovesciato in due difetti maggiori… ”.
SSP, p. 19, n. 1.
60
“But the great object of the political economy of every country, is to
increase the riches and power of the country”. Adam Smith, An Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations, I, p. 394.
61
“Ciò non è difetto della scienza ancorchè ella abbia a solo scopo la ric-
chezza della nazione, essendo lo scopo di qualunque scienza particolare
di necessità limitata. È difetto degli economisti, i quali occupati tutti in
questa scienza, tutta la felicità dello stato riducono a Lei”. SSP, p. 19.
62
“Laonde sarà sua cura [del governo] di rimuovere l’ignoranza, i pregiu-
dizi, le consuetudini nocevoli alla produzione, e con premi ed altri inci-
tamenti guiderdonare i più attivi e incoraggiare i meno… In una parola il
governo potrà accrescere le tre forze da cui nasce l’acceleramento della
produzione, il sapere, il volere, il potere … ”, PP., p. 369. In the Nuovo
Prospetto delle scienze economiche by Gioia the subject of il Potere is
treated in the Libro secondo, Classe Prima, pp. 66-239; the subject of
the Cognizione in the Classe Seconda, pp. 240-255 ante the subject of la
Volontà in the Classe Terza, pp. 256-275.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

and extra-economic fields63. Moreover, it was probably the read-

ing of Gioia that warned Rosmini of the chrematistic tendencies
present in British economists. Not by chance in the Politica Prima
Rosmini places Adam Smith on “politici avari” (avaricious politi-
cians) group64.
As regards Gian Domenico Romagnosi (1761-1835), Rosmini es-
tablishes with him a somewhat similar kind of troubled and at the
same time assimilative relationship to the one he had with Gioia.
Romagnosi’s utilitarianism – though weaker than Gioia’s – certain-
ly represents to Rosmini the counter-model of his own intellectual
project. Therefore, the Roveretan devotes long passages of his Phi-
losophy of Right, of the Principles of Ethics and of the Compara-
tive and Critical History of Systems Dealing with the Principle of
Morality, amongst others, to a detailed refutation of Romagnosi’s
ethical, social and jural conceptions65. According to him, Romag-
nosi confuses “the subject with the object”66, virtue with utility67,
and, despite his intentions to reach a widened utilitarianism, he re-
duces every human motivation to mere interest68.
However, despite these philosophical differences, Rosmini takes
from Romagnosi, one of the introducers of Adam Smith in Italy69,
63
Cfr. M. GIOIA, Nuovo prospetto delle scienze economiche, vol. 8, Milano,
Pirotta, 1815-1819, pp.276-289 and SDR., pp. 21, 32-34.
64
Cfr. M. GIOIA, Nuovo prospetto cit, pp. 276-289 and SDR., pp. 21, 32-34.
65
FD, vol. 5, Libro IV, Capitolo III, “Come la falsa definizione che danno
gli utilitarii del diritto confonda insieme le due scienze della politica e del
diritto”, p. 1251.
66
PE, p. 106.
67
SC, p. 167.
68
“La parola moralità adunque usata così spesso del nostro publicista,
come pure l’espressione ordine morale di ragione, legge naturale, giusto
ed onesto, ecc. Non possono più ingannare nessuno… in questo sistema
sensista ed utilitario, è manifesto, che la dottrina del giusto si riduce alla
dottrina dell’utile”. FD., vol. 5, n. 1740.
69
“In tempo della gioventù di Romagnosi arrideva generalmente agl’ita-
liani la smithiana dottrina; e però non è a stupire che questo filosofo ab-
bracciatala, la mantenesse colla solita sua costanza, e l’applicasse altresì
ampiamente alle politiche cose”. Cfr. in FPSSF, p. 395, nota 5.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

many specific elements of no small importance to understand his

assessment of the classical theories of competition, division of
labor and free trade. Indeed, Rosmini shares with Romagnosi his
appreciation of the “mechanical” dimension of Smith70, but also
like him, he clearly distances himself from the naturalistic concept
of individual interests exposed by Adam Smith in the Wealth of
Nations71.According to Rosmini, as for Romagnosi, the individ-
ual interests of a nation are not pure natural forces but depend on
the degree of freedom, culture and ethics of the people72. Thus, if
released without taking into account these other factors, they can
destroy the country and even themselves. Thus both support free
competition fostered by the classics, but agree that it cannot be un-
derstood as an unlimited liberation of private interests but should
be within a legal and civil framework73. Hence, compared to the
70
G.D. Romagnosi, Opere, Riordinate ed illustrate da Alessandro de
Giorgi, Milano, Presso Perelli e Mariani Editori, 1845, Vol VI, p. 79: “Lo
studioso pertanto non abbisogna di molto affaticarsi su le opere straniere,
tranne quella di Adam Smith, per la parte mecanica dell’ economia”.
71
“Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most
advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his
own advantage, indeed, and not that of society which he has in view. But
the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily leads him
to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society…
therefore every individual naturally inclines to employ his capital in man-
ner in which it is likely to afford the greatest support to domestic industry,
and to give revenue and employment to the greatest number of people of
his own country”. Adam Smith, op. cit., pp. 475-477.
72
“… poichè non si puo per mio credere consentire in questo all’opinione del-
lo Smith e dei suoi seguaci: che l’interesse privato sia perfettamente istruito e
non metta piede in fallo neppure considerato in una intera nazione, avvendo
certo il contrario in questo, secondo la rozzezza del popolo”. OIP, p. 139.
73
FD., vol. 6, n. 2298, nota 1: “Per concorrenza giuridica intendiamo
concorrenza di diritto, concorrenza protetta dal Diritto di ragione. Si noti
bene, non parliamo mai d’una concorrenza realmente illimitata: noi patro-
ciniamo la causa di quella sola concorrenza che è limitata dal Diritto razio-
nale, ma non da altro”. G.D. Romagnosi, Opere cit., Vol VI, Parte ½, “Della
libera universale concorrenza nell’ordine sociale delle ricchezze”, p. 40:

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

naturalistic aspects of the idea of freedom

​​ of classical economics,
the Roveretan presents, in a similar way to Romagnosi, concepts
such as “jural” and “social freedom” or “fair competition” and pro-
motes the idea of a gradual and difficult process of acquiring indi-
vidual economic freedoms in close relationship with a degree of
personal ethics and civic and institutional order.
Another issue in which Romagnosi had evident influence on Ros-
mini’s interpretation of the classical economic school is the popu-
lation problem, the discussion on the ideas of Malthus74 and the
problem of poverty in which the two speak out against permanent
welfare assistance and for private charity, except in the case of Eng-
land of their time where, in the view of both, the concentration of
wealth, unemployment, and legislation in favor of large landowners
led to a situation of the workers justifying compensation from the
State75. The latter puts Rosmini – due to Romagnosi’s influence –

“[L]a nozione della libera concorrenza non è nozione di mero fatto, ma ben-
sì di ordine economico, e però applicabile non a poteri sregolati, ma bensì a
poteri regolati solamente. Per la qual cosa li economisti debbono pensare di
trattare un argomento di diritto politico, e non di calcolo mercantile”.
74
Cfr. especialmente G. D. ROMAGNOSI, Opere cit., p. 111: “Su la cre-
scente popolazione. Memoria diretta a confutare le dottrine di Malthus,
scritta all’ occasione delle Lettere al sig. R. I. Wilmot Horton su le rifor-
mazioni palamentarie relative alla popolazione soprabondante dell’ Irlan-
da.” Cfr. FPSC, pp.95-101.
75
Cfr. G.D. Romagnosi, Opere cit., pp. 178-179, 183: “Qualunque lettore,
anche non iniziato nella politica economía, s’accorge tantosto che a fianco
di queste concentrate gigantesche proprietà territoriali debe necessaria-
mente esistere anche una gigantesca povertà… Un lenitivo quindi si ap-
portava all’assorbente concentrazione delle stabili possessioni in favore
di una poveraglia […]”. G.D. Romagnosi, Opere cit., p. 193: “Quando
l’auttore scrisse questo passo ebbe egli o no sotto li occhi lo stato sociale
di fatto dell’inglese popolazione? Vide egli forse quale ne fosse l’ordi-
namento territoriale, e la distribuzione dei possessi fiancheggiata dalle
leggi? Seppe egli o no la sterminata estensione di terreni capaci a portar
frutto, che giaciono abbandonati? Pensò poi egli se fosse possibile fon-
dare la potenza industriale, navale e commerciale dell’Inghilterra con le
leggi accennate, senza il sussidio di questa tassa?”.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

in the group of advocates of State aid to the poorest based on the

argument of restitution, that is, not only on justice and charity76.
Finally, in the same way as Romagnosi, Rosmini considers the need
to reintegrate the economic science with morality, politics and law.
Indeed, Rosmini shares with Romagnosi the plan to achieve a more
complete economic science, not “drawn and quartered” or separat-
ed from the rest of social philosophy. This risorgimental influence
is clearly present in Rosmini both in the Preface to his Filosofia
della Politica, as in his Introduzione alla Filosofia in which he
presents a project to integrate the economy into a philosophy and
social and civil wisdom, criticizes Adam Smith and the economists
of “wealth” and postulates an economy linked to the end of human
contentment and social good. Obviously this “Italian” assimilation
makes Rosmini a very special “Smithian”.

76
Cfr. FPSC., p. 97, n. 8. “Il medesimo Romagnosi s’oppone ancora a
quelli che censurano i governi che danno soccorsi a’ poveri. Quanto a
questo convien distinguere. In via ordinaria la carità è cosa privata, e il
governo non può, per mio avviso, metter mani nelle mie saccoccie, e trar-
mi la moneta da dispensare a’ poveri. Ma nel caso dell’Inghilterra la cosa
è diversa: le leggi stesse rendono eccessivamente dura la condizione degli
operai; conveniva dunque, che vi avesse un compenso dalla parte del go-
verno colle tasse de’ poveri: perciò la tassa de’ poveri, considerata come
una cotal restituzione che fa il governo, diventa un remedio necessario,
una specie di soddisfazione. Però eccellentemente dice il Romagnosi,
dopo aver riferite le durissime leggi inglesi cominciate fin sotto Enrico
VII rispetto agli operai: ‘Questa condizione degli operai inglesi è vero o
no costituire una vera servitù dell’officina, perfettamente simile alla ser-
vitù della gleba? Come dunque lo schiavo della gleba al pari del bue e del
cavallo annessi al suolo debbono esseri mantenuti, così gli operai inglesi
furono provveduti colla tassa dei poveri’ (Del trattamento dei poveri e
della libertà commerciale, ecc., Milano, 1829)”.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

Conclusion: Risorgimento, Philosophy and Catholicism

in the Reinterpetation of Classical Economic School

Following the line of argument put forward by previously men-

tioned authors like Bulferetti or Traniello, and others such as Mario
D’Addio77, Clemente Riva78, Paolo De Lucia79, or Anton Ferrari80,
it can be clearly seen that Rosmini’s central approach to classical
economic science is neither grounded on classist prejudgements
nor on a passive reception of a foreign ideology, but on a com-
plex process of critical reception of classical economic science,
oriented to its widening and deepening through the new theoretical
and practical approach of his philosophy deeply embedded in the
Risorgimento’s ideals, motives and authors.
Certainly, Rosmini went into a strong and bitter confrontation with
some of the several Italian “civil” and Risogimental economists –
especially Beccaria, Verri, Gioia and Romagnosi –, followers in
many respects of the utilitarian views of Helvetius, Maupertuis and
Bentham. However, an in-depth analysis of the Roveretan’s works
leads to the conclusion that, in his opinion, the problem of utilitari-
anism underlying economic science does not stem only from the
many times socializing and statist views of some of these and other
economists, as it is argued by Piovani, but also from individualist
and liberal economists of the classical school such as Malthus, Say
and Smith himself. A deeper reading of Rosmini’s philosophy of
economy shows that his project did not consist, in “resuming the
original individualism of economic science” in order to go back to
“its cultural origins”, just as Piovani assures, but, on the contrary,
77
M. D’Addio, Libertà e appagamento. Politica e dinamica sociale in
Rosmini, Roma, Studium, 2000.
78
C. Riva, “Economia, politica e exigenza morale”, Rivista Rosminiana,
Fasc. I, Anno LII, Gennaio-Marzo. 1958.
79
P. De Lucia, “Uomo ed economia in Rosmini”, in Rivista di Filosofia
neo-scolastica, Anno LXXXVII, aprile-giugno, 1995, pp. 220-248.
80
A.F. Ferrari, “Diritto ed economia socondo il Rosmini”, in La pro-
blemática politico-sociale nel pensiero di Antonio Rosmini, Roma, Fratelli
Bocca Editori, 1954, pp. 229-302.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

in rescuing liberal political economy by reconstructing its philo-

sophical foundations from the root. In that sense, he paradoxically
went for help to some of the Italian economists of the Risorgimento
who gave him critical concepts in order to overcome the limits of
the classical economic school.
As Pietro Piovani states, Rosmini’s economic philosophy was
largely based on the metaphysical perspective of the Theodicy
(1845), that contains in seed a series of classical liberal economic
motives expressed in metaphysical terms, such as the principles of
inequality, accumulation of goods, perfectism and antagonism. But
one should not forget that it is really in the Theosophy and in the
Delle cinque piague della Santa Chiesa (CP) (1832-1848), where
we have to go in order to find the ultimate horizon to understand
Rosmini’s socio-economic theories.
Taking into account this broader framework, one can see how the
Rosminian economic vision contains a personalist and Christian so-
cial theology inspired on Catholic Risorgimento, not merely extrin-
sic – as Danilo Zolo affirms – but intrinsically linked to his thinking.
The latter exceeds the limits of the naturalistic theodicy underlying
not only the Italian civil economy but also British classical economy,
and finds a clear projection in contemporary Catholic social teaching.
Thus, a critical re-reading of classical economic concepts present
Rosmini in the light of the authors and motives of the Risorgimento
is essential to appreciate the uniqueness and particular form taken
by his assimilation of the classical economic school, a fact that we
believe, has not been sufficiently taken into account by all inter-
preters.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

Bibliography

Abbreviations of Rosmini’s Works in Italian

BE, “Breve esposizione della filosofia di Melchiorre Gioja”, Stu-

di critici su Ugo Foscolo e Melchiorre Gioja. A cura di Rinaldo
Orecchia, Opere edite e inedite, vol. XLVIII, Padova, Cedam-Casa
editrice Dott. Antonio Milani, 1976, pp. 87-191.

CA, Carteggio fra Alessandro Manzoni e Antonio Rosmini. Rac-

colto e annotato da Giulio Bonola, Cogliati Editrice, Milano, 1901.

CGS, “La costituzione secondo la giustizia sociale”, Progetti di

costituzione, Saggi editi e inediti sullo stato, a cura di Carlo Gray,
Opere edite e inedite, vol. XXIV, Fratelli Bocca Editori, Milano,
1952.

CRI, “La costituzione del regno dell’alta Italia”, ibid.

CP, Delle cinque piaghe della Santa Chiesa, a cura di Alfeo Val-
le, Istituto di Studi Filosofici, Centro di Studi Rosminiani, Stresa;
Roma, Città Nuova Editrice, 1981.

EO, Esame delle opinioni di Melchiorre Gioja in favor della moda,

in Frammenti di una Storia della empieta e scritti vari, a cura di
Rinaldo Orecchia, Opere edite e inedite, vol. XLIX, Padova, CE-
DAM, 1977.

FD, Filosofia del Diritto. A cura di Rinaldo Orecchia, voll. 6, edi-

zione nazionale delle opere edite ed inedite di Antonio Rosmini-
Serbati, Padova, Edizioni Cedam, Casa Editrice Dott. Antonio Mi-
lani; Prima numerazione: vol. I: 1967, pp. XX-258; vol. II: 1968,
pp. 259-590; vol. III: 1969, pp. 591-714, Seconda numerazione:
vol. III: 1969, pp. 715-846; vol. IV: 1969, pp. 847-1195; vol. V:
1969, pp. 1195-1438; vol. VI: 1969, pp. 1439-1676.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

FPSC, Della sommaria cagione per la quale stanno o rovinano le uma-

ne società, A cura di Sergio Cotta, Milano, Rusconi, 1985, pp. 57-152.

FPSSF , La società ed il suo fine, Filosofia della Politica. A cura

di Sergio Cotta, Milano, Rusconi, 1985, pp. 153-707.

GL, Galateo de’ letterati, Opere edite e inedite, Letteratura e arti

belle, Parte prima, Opuscoli varj, 1870.

NC, Della naturale Costituzione della società civile, Filosofia del-

la politica, Rovereto, Tip. Giorgio Grigoletti, 1887.

OIP, Opere inedite di politica. A cura del Prof. G.B. Nicola, Milano,
Stab. Tipo. Lit. G. Tenconi, 1923.

PSM, Principi della scienza morale, en Principi della scienza mo-

rale e Storia comparativa e critica dei sistemi intorno al principio
della morale. A cura di Dante Morando, Opere edite e inedite, Vol.
XXI, Milano, Fratelli Bocca Editori, 1941.

PP, Politica Prima. Apéndice, Frammenti della Filosofia della

Politica (1826-1827). A cura di Mario D’Addio, Istituto di Studi
Filosofici, Centro Internazionale di Studi Rosminiani; Roma, Città
Nuova Editrice, 2003.

SC, Storia comparativa e critica dei sistemi intorno al principio

della morale, in Principi della scienza morale e Storia comparati-
va e critica dei sistemi intorno al principio della morale. A cura di
Dante Morando, Opere edite e inedite, Vol. XXI, Milano, Fratelli
Bocca Editori, 1941.

SCS, Saggio sul Comunismo e il Socialismo, Filosofia della Politi-

ca, Vol. IV, Opuscoli Politici. A cura di Gianfreda Marconi in Ope-
re edite e inedite di Antonio Rosmini, Edizione critica promossa da
Michele Federico Sciacca, Centro Internazionale di Studi Rosmi-
niani, Roma,Città Nuova Editrice, 1978, pp. 81-121.

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 ROSMINI, GIOBERTI E GUSTAVO DI CAVOUR

SDR, Saggio sulla definizione della ricchezza, Filosofia della Po-

litica, Vol. IV, Opuscoli Politici. A cura di Gianfreda Marconi in
Opere edite e inedite di Antonio Rosmini, Edizione critica promos-
sa da Michele Federico Sciacca, Centro Internazionale di Studi Ro-
sminiani, Roma, Città Nuova Editrice, 1978, pp. 12-45.

SSP, Saggi di Scienza Politica, Scritti inediti. A cura di G.B. Nicola,

Torino-Milano, G.B. Paravia & C., 1933.

TEOD, Teodicea. Libri Tre. A cura di Umberto Muratore, Centro

Internazionale di Studi Rosminiani; Roma, Città Nuova Editrice,
1977.

TEOS, Teosofía. A cura di Carlos Gray, voll. 8, Edizione nazionale

delle opere edite e inedite di Antonio Rosmini, 1938.

Carlos Hoevel
Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina

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