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THE ITALIAN POSITIVISM IN THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ARCANGELO GHISLERI AND GIULIO ANDREA BELLONI (1923-1938)

M.A. Napolitano

Abstract

The present study aims to analyse some of the main aspects of the Italian positivist culture as outlined in the correspondence between Arcangelo Ghisleri and Giulio Andrea Belloni. The relationship of mutual respect and friendship that bound the two exponents of the Italian Republican Party – the first, a geographer and journalist, always Mazzinian and federalist, was among the founders of PRI; the second, jurist and future member of Parliament, was a member of the Republican left and proponent of the thesis of a Mazzinian socialism – lasted from 1923 to 1938, a span of time in which the two Republicans were able to touch so many important issues, not only in a strictly political perspective. One of the most important issues is linked to Italian positivism, repeatedly recalled by Ghisleri and Belloni in the pages of the intense correspondence and explored in the light of their cultural references. The positivism of the two Republican friends found a common basis, on the one hand, in the figure of Gian Domenico Romagnosi –the great jurist and philosopher of Salsomaggiore was in fact regarded as a symbol of true positivism – and, secondly, in the criticism of idealism and of the thesis of Comte and Spencer, both accused of wanting to use a metaphysical approach, following the observation of Carlo Cattaneo, far from clear certainty and incompatible with the faith in the free search for truth. The dialogue of Ghisleri and Belloni on the positivist culture, however, did not stop at the theoretical assumptions, but also met the actuality of their time, in the years of correspondence marked by fascism: in this regard, thanks largely to Belloni, assumed very significant traits the space devoted to the thought, the work and the human story of Enrico Ferri – involved, in particular for reasons related to academic teaching, in the fascist regime's dynamics –, principal exponent of the positive school of criminal law and main reference for the studies of the young Roman jurist.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB21/S05.018

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