GALIANI, FERDINANDO. - Writer and economist, b. at Chieti on 2 Dec. 1728, d. at Naples on 30 Oct. 1787. Secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy in Paris from 1759 to 1769.

Among his most notable works are Della moneta (Naples 1750), Dialogues sur le commerce des blés (London 1770), De' doveri de' principi neutrali verso i principi guerreggianti e di questi verso i neutrali (s. l. 1782); mention should also be made of the delightful Socrate immaginario (Naples 1775), written in collaboration with Giambattista Lorenzi (the idea, the plot and some scenes are certainly G.'s) and set to music by Paisiello.

A refined spirit, a fascinating man of the world, G. is not a strong thinker, but a sharp intellect and always eager to catch the world in contradiction, a demolisher even of the eighteenth-century myths themselves; he is opposed to every irrationality but also to rationalistic optimism, he admits that freedom and necessity do not stifle each other, he is convinced (in outlining the duties of neutral princes) that force is not a right, that reason of State is repugnant to the "culture" of reason, that in politics the principles of pure morality and of justice are to be loved; but at the same time he restricts politics to the possibility of doing the greatest good to humanity with the least effort and declares that Nations are perfect when they are born from the mixture of passion and reason, of order and disorder.

Opposed to physiocratic palingeneses, he notes with sharp realism how in the grain trade freedom and protection are to be advocated according to the needs of the different countries. Often in G. the problems end up coexisting simultaneously and becoming confused without being resolved into a clear system. A great friend of Diderot, G. is irreligious, a sensualist, but not a determinist.

Bibliography13 works

BIBL.: F. Nicolini, Il pensiero dell'abate G., Bari 1909; W. E. Biermann, Der abbé G. als Nationalökonom Politiker und Philosoph, Leipzig 1912; G. Arias, F. G. et les physiocrates, in Revue des sciences politiques, 49 (1922), pp. 346-66; F. Nicolini, La signora d'Epinay e l'abate G., Bari 1927; J. Rossi, The Abbé G. in France, New York 1930; E. Troilo, Considerazioni sul pensiero filosofico dell'abate G., in Atti Istituto veneto Scienze Lettere e Arti, 90 (1930-31), p. 5 ff.; M. Valania, L'abbé G. et sa correspondance avec Mme d'Epinay, Milan 1932; L. Mamozzi, L'abbé F. G., sa philanthologie et ses rapports avec la France, Naples 1931; F. Nicolini, Gli ultimi anni della Signora d'Epinay, Bari 1933, passim; M. Ruben, F. G. der politische Oekonom des ancien régime, Leipzig 1936; E. Ganzoni, F. G., ein verharter Nationalökonom des XVIII. Jahrhundert, Zurich 1935; B. Croce, Discorsi di varia filosofia, II, Bari 1945, pp. 232-40; L. Einaudi, G. economista, in Atti della Accad. Nazionale dei Lincei, s. 346 (1940), 8th series, Rendiconti, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, 4 (1940, III-IV), pp. 121-36.

Massimo Petrocchi

@incollection{ec5_galiani_ferdinando, author = {Petrocchi, Massimo}, title = {Galiani, ferdinando}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1869--1870}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/galiani-ferdinando} }

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Galiani, Ferdinando

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