FERRI, Luigi – Philosopher, b. Bologna 15 June 1826, d. Rome 19 March 1895. He completed his early studies in his native city, then pursued them in Paris at the Lycée Bourbon and the École Normale. He taught in various institutions (Évreux, Dieppe, Toulouse). Returning to Italy, he taught philosophy at Annecy and Casale Monferrato. He served as *capo-ghinetto* to the Minister of Education Terenzio Mamiani in 1860; three years later he became professor of the history of philosophy at the Istituto Superiore in Florence, and in 1871 professor of theoretical philosophy in Rome.
A pupil of Giulio Simon and of Saisset, he sought to reconcile the psychological eclecticism of Cousin and his school with the doctrines of Rosmini and Gioberti. Since nature is a complex of forces, i.e., principles of energy, and the spirit is likewise such a complex—though endowed with consciousness—these are reconciled in the generic unity of nature and laws. Hence the true is defined as a conformity of thought to its own laws and to the laws of being. The objective value of substance depends on the principle of cause, which we perceive directly with respect to ourselves and determine analogically with respect to things by means of the notion of force. God is at once immanent and transcendent. Without immanence, God becomes an abstract being; without transcendence, He loses His unity and personality.
Ferri’s personal ideas are chiefly found in the three papers read before the Accademia dei Lincei between 1885 and 1888: *Analisi del concetto di sostanza, di causa e di forza*; *Dell’idea del vero e sua relazione con l’idea dell’essere*; *Dell’idea dell’essere*.
Among his principal works in the history of philosophy are: *Della filosofia del diritto presso Aristotele* (1855); *Il genio di Aristotele* (1886); *Essai sur l’histoire de la philosophie en Italie au XIXe siècle* (1890); *La psicologia di Pomponazzi* (1877); *La psychologie de l’aseistation depuis Hobbes* (1883).