Ferrari, Giuseppe

FERRARI, GIUSEPPE. - Philosopher and politician, b. in Milan on 7 March 1811, d. in Rome on 1 July 1876. A disciple of Romagnosi, in 1838 he went into exile in France and taught at the Rochfort college, in Strasbourg and in Bourges. His political extremism and sectarianism caused him twice to lose his chair. Having returned to Italy after 1859, a deputy and then a senator, he taught in Turin, Milan, Florence, Rome.

As a philosopher F. can be considered a precursor of positivism. A scholar of Nico, he had the merit of editing the first edition of his Opere complesse (6 vols., Milan 1835-37). The Vichian influence is evident, even if the thought is led astray, in his conception of the philosophy of history set out principally in Teoria dei periodi politici (ibid. 1874), and in Aristotelica della storia (ibid. 1875). F.'s political ideas, oriented toward Italian regional federalism, are set out principally in: Machiasci, juge des révolutions de notre temps (Paris 1849); Filosofia della rivoluzione (2 vols., London and Capolago 1851); L'Italia dopo il colpo di Stato (Capolago

1852); Corso sugli scrittori politici italiani (Milan 1862); etc.

The assessment both of the philosopher and of the historian-politician is largely negative. F.'s judgments are too often partisan, his style demagogic, his information unreliable, his irreligion systematic.