GENOVESI, ANTONIO. — Philosopher and economist, born at Castiglione (Salerno) on 1 November 1712, died at Naples on 23 September 1769. Having entered the seminary at Salerno at the age of eighteen, more at his father’s behest than from personal inclination, he became a priest and teacher of eloquence there. But as early as 1738 he left Salerno for Naples, where he completed his philosophical studies and, through the intercession of Msgr. Celestino Galiani, prefect of studies, who would later prove to be his effective patron as well, was able to teach metaphysics (1741) and ethics (1745) at the University of Naples. A certain freedom from prejudice in thought and the open, though vigilant and critical, reception he gave to philosophical innovations from beyond the Alps and across the Channel earned him the hostility of the more rigidly conservative academic circles; so much so that in 1747 he was barred from competing for the chair of theology (the Universae Christianae theologiae elementa would be published posthumously at Venice in 1771). On the other hand, G.’s very character led him to succeed far better in the practical than in the speculative sciences, as became evident after, in 1754, through the munificence of the Florentine Bartolomeo Intieri, a chair of Mechanics and Commerce was established at the University of Naples—
the first chair of political economy in Italy, if not in Europe. Intieri endowed it with 300 ducats annually and stipulated that G. should be the first to occupy it; having begun teaching on 5 November 1754, he continued to do so throughout his life.
In addition to the ancients, Locke, Hume, the sensationalists, and Leibniz influenced G.’s philosophical formation. Enlightenment culture entered the Kingdom of Naples chiefly through G.’s efforts, for he had understood the usefulness of studying the new doctrines, if only in order to combat their errors with the same logical weapons. His Elementa metaphysicae mathematicum in morem adornato (Naples 1743–47; 2nd ed. ibid. 1751, dedicated to Benedict XIV) in fact reveal an apologetic foundation: the first part, ontosophy and cosmosophy, refutes pantheists and fatalists, especially Spinoza; the second, theology, the deists; the third, psychosophy, the Epicureans and materialists in general; the fourth, supplementary part, dealing with morality, combats the libertines. In 1755 the work was denounced to the S. Congregation of the Index for pantheism and Jansenism; in truth, if the first accusation was unfounded, the second seemed to have some basis. The Elementa artis logico-criticae (ibid. 1754) are of interest above all for the practical orientation, already present at that time, of Genovesi’s conception of knowledge: an orientation fully set forth in the Discorso sopra il vero fine delle lettere e delle scienze (1753), which marks G.’s decisive turn toward the practical sciences, although thereafter too he continued to cultivate pure philosophy, publishing in 1758 the noble Meditazioni filosofiche sulla religione e sulla morale, in ’59 the self-apologetic Lettere filosofiche, and in 1766 the Logica e la Metafisica per i giovanetti. The Discorso of ’53 declares every study that is not directed “to the solid utility of men” to be vain and harmful; here lies the program of G.’s economic teaching, collected in the Lezioni di commercio, o sia di economia civile (ibid. 1766).
The work consists of two parts. The first, more general, establishes the political and psychological premises (“motive of pain”) of economic science; it deals with the social classes, the arts (divided into fundamental, improving, and luxury arts), the usefulness of the non-producing classes (conditioned by the “law of the smallest possible amount”), and finally commerce and finance. The second part considers more technically economic concepts, such as price, money, credit, exchange, and interest. G. is usually placed within the mercantilist school, essentially because of his concern that the trade balance be made active through duties on imports, especially finished products, and through encouragement of domestic producers. What G. accepts, however, is a mercantilism moderated and corrected on certain points, such as the belief in the intrinsic and pre-eminent value of gold: G. observes that gold and money in general are “sign-wealth,” whereas actual wealth can be produced only by labor. Above all, G. does not accept from mercantilism the conception of wealth as a function of the State’s military power, in which the individual would become a mere instrument (Troisi). The influence of the physiocrats on G. is also significant: agriculture is considered not, it is true, the only source of wealth, but certainly the first; freedom of commerce is advocated at least within the boundaries of the Kingdom; price controls are declared useless; the natural and binding character of certain economic laws is clearly recognized, so that it cannot be said that, for G., the economic order depends entirely on our will.
G., absorbing and elaborating the doctrines of many foreign economists (Hume, Mirabeau, Duhamel, Ulloa, etc.), also helped to make them known in Italy; he himself prepared translations and commentaries. The letters collected by D. Forges Davanzati show him in constant correspondence with friends in Italy and abroad, who supplied him with economic data and statistics useful to his studies. He had many insights and anticipations attributable to his practical sense; what is lacking, however, on the whole, is a rigorously scientific systematization. The Lezioni were placed on the Index on 23 June 1817, with the reservation donee corrigatur, because of their pronounced anti-curialism, which G. derived in part from Giannone; for G., the Church must concern itself with spiritual matters and the State with temporal ones. Among the latter, however, he included not only ecclesiastical property, but the very person of priests and external worship. In this, as in the struggle against mortmain, privileges, and so forth, G.’s Enlightenment character is revealed, tempered nonetheless by a lively ethical exigency. Voltaire and Rousseau were judged harshly by him, and the Lettere accademiche sulla questione se siano più felici gli ignoranti o gli scienziati (1764) are directed against the latter. G.’s ethics, which he wished to be independent but not opposed to theology, is contained in the Diceosina, o filosofia del giusto e dell’onesto (1766; vol. II, posthumous, 1777), which is partly connected with the De iure et officiis of 1764.
For G., the rule of virtue is “to recognize each person’s right”; duties arise from the fact that every human being possesses, by birth, certain rights that must be respected. Modifications of this primitive right arise from the human necessity of forming political bodies. Through the social contract, individuals surrender part of their freedom to the State; the State itself, however, is created for the happiness of individuals. The correlation, indeed the interpenetration, that G. pursues between law and morality causes the Diceosina to take on the character of a treatise on natural law and often to run parallel to institutional works on Roman law.
G.’s school was fertile in talent, and its influence extended far beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Naples. Directly or indirectly, Galanti, Filangieri, Palmieri, Beccaria, Algarotti, and Romagnosi, to mention only the most illustrious names, derived benefits from his teaching.
GENESERICO, re dei VANDALI. - Figlio naturale del re Godigiselo, salì al trono dopo la morte del fratellastro Gunderico (428). Piccolo di statura, zoppo, malizioso, era però un guerriero ed un abile politico. Pressato dai Visigoti nella Spagna, ed approfittando delle tristi condizioni dell'Africa, divisa da lotte religiose e trascurata dall'autorità imperiale, ne intraprese la conquista. Nel 429 vi sbarcò saccheggiandola, bruciando chiese, uccidendo ecclesiastici e perseguitando i cattolici. L'anno successivo assediò Ippona, ma dopo 14 mesi non riuscì ad espugnarla: durante l'assedio morì s. Agostino. Il conte Bonifacio, che si era rinchiuso nella città, tentò una battaglia campale, ma fu sconfitto (432) e G. rimase padrone della Mauritania, Numidia e di gran parte della Proconsolare. Nel 435 si accordò con la corte di Ravenna che gli riconobbe le conquiste fatte dietro promessa di non molestare Cartagine e pagare un tributo annuo. Quattro anni dopo però (439) ruppe i patti ed espugnò Cartagine. Ancora una volta la corte imperiale dovette accettare il fatto compiuto, e G. fu riconosciuto
ufficialmente come re del nuovo Stato indipendente, comprendente tutta l'Africa romana.
Ariano fanatico si diede a perseguire in tutti i modi i cattolici, e con agguerrite flotte sparse il terrore sulle coste del Mediterraneo assoggettandone le isole principali e saccheggiando frequentemente le coste dell'Italia meridionale. Alla morte di Valentiniano III (455) si ritenne libero dagli impegni assunti e tentò direttamente un colpo contro l'Impero. Il 3 maggio sbarcò ad Ostia; Roma in preda al tumulto ed al terrore non poté essere difesa. Solo il papa Leone Magno osò affrontare il re barbaro, come aveva fatto tre anni prima con Attila, ma poté ottenere soltanto che fossero risparmiati incendi ed uccisioni di inermi. Per 14 giorni la città fu sistematicamente saccheggiata e G. ritornò in Africa portando seco un ingente bottino e migliaia di prigionieri tra i quali erano l'imperatrice Eudossia e le figlie Placidia ed Eudocia. Ormai potente e temuto, G. tenne in scacco per parecchi anni le forze dell'Oriente e dell'Occidente collegate. Nel 460 distrusse una flotta di 300 navi pronta per assalirlo in Africa, e nel 468 seppe sventare il grave pericolo che lo sovrastava per le forze unite dei due Imperi e conquistò anche la Sicilia. Quest'isola fu poi ceduta nel 476 ad Odoacre dietro compenso di un tributo annuo. G. morì nel 477 lasciando un potente regno al figlio Unnerico.
Agostino Amore
GENESFLEISCH, JOHANN von GUTENBERG: V. GUTENBERG, GENSFLEISCH, JOHANN von.