Political and Philosophical Ideas of Vincenzo Gioberti (1801–1852)

Th e study of Vincenzo Gioberti’s ideological and political heritage, his views on the nature of Italian unity allows us to take a new look at his growing popularity among today’s Italian politicians of the federalist wing. Contemporary historiography and socio-political debates present Gioberti as one of the central characters of the Risorgimento. Among the reasons for this are the crisis of traditional federalism and relative decline in popularity of the ideological reference points of the recent past. One of Gioberti’s most important actualized theses is the establishment of a self-suffi cient philosophical thought in Italy; another newly sounding idea is the preeminent role of the Catholic Church in reconciling the ambitions of regional elites. Th e article shows that the understanding of these and some other theses of Gioberti nowadays diff ers quite signifi cantly from the meaning that the thinker put into them, and it is dictated by the political conjuncture. Th is phenomenon is also not new. Th e application of ideas expressed in the mid-nineteenth century specifi c situation to other temporal and political contexts makes it diffi cult to understand the philosopher’s works and leads to distortions in their interpretation. Th e fi gure of Gioberti as a link between Italian social thought and French Romanticism has been insuffi ciently studied. Comparing his project of the federalist structure of the future Italy with other similar projects of the Risorgimento allows us to identify the most important individual feature. In the 1840s the main political problem of Italy was seen as the contradiction between the need to unite the forces of the nation and the presence of several sovereigns, regional elites and local patriotism. Awareness of a number of obstacles to the political unifi cation of the country led thinkers to propose various ways to go beyond this contradiction on the basis of political compromises and overcoming immediate diffi culties. Gioberti’s federalism, on the other hand, was founded on the combination of the federalist ideal with an advanced philosophical doctrine. Th is made his theory unsuitable for political application, but it is an attractive aspect when studying the philosopher’s legacy at the present stage.