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 and in Strasbourg and Bourges. His political extremism and sectarianism caused him to lose his chair twice. Returning to Italy after 1859, he became a deputy and subsequently a senator, and taught in Turin, Milan, Florence, and Rome.
As a philosopher, F. may be considered a precursor of positivism. A scholar of Nico, he had the merit of preparing the first edition of his Opere complesse (6 vols., Milan 1835–37). The Vichian influence is evident, even though the thought is distorted, in his conception of the philosophy of history, expounded 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 expounded 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 and political thinker is largely negative. F.’s judgments are too often partisan, his style demagogic, his information unreliable, and his irreligiousness systematic.