Norberto Bobbio
Encyclopedia
Norberto Bobbio was an Italian
philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin
-based daily La Stampa
.
Bobbio was a liberal
socialist
in the tradition of Piero Gobetti
, Carlo Rosselli
, Guido Calogero, and Aldo Capitini
. He was also strongly influenced by Hans Kelsen and Vilfredo Pareto
.
obituary described as "...a relatively wealthy, middle-class Turin
family" whose sympathies Bobbio would later characterize as "philo-fascist
, regarding fascism as a necessary evil against the supposedly greater danger of Bolshevism
". In high school he met Vittorio Foa
, Leone Ginzburg
and Cesare Pavese
, and at university he became a friend of Alessandro Galante Garrone.
In 1942, under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini
and during World War II
, Bobbio joined the then illegal radical liberal party Partito d'Azione
("Party of Action") and was briefly imprisoned in 1943 and 1944. He ran unsuccessfully in the 1946 Constituent Assembly of Italy
elections. With the party's failure in a post-war Italy dominated by the Christian Democrats
, Bobbio left electoral politics and focused back in academia.
A strong advocate of the rule of law
, the separation of powers
, and the limitation of powers, he was a socialist, but opposed to what he perceived as the anti-democratic
, authoritarian
elements in most of Marxism
. He was a strong partisan of the "Historic Compromise
" between the Italian Communist Party
and the Christian Democrats, and a fierce critic of Silvio Berlusconi
. Bobbio died in Turin, the same city in which he was born and lived most of his life.
, Siena
, Padua
, and ultimately back in Turin
as Solari's successor in 1948; from 1972 to 1984, he had a chair in the newly created faculty of political science in Turin.
He was a National Associate of the Lincean Academy and longtime director (together with Nicola Abbagnano
) of the Rivista di Filosofia. He became a Corresponding Associate of the British Academy
in 1966; in 1979 he was nominated as Senator-for-life
by Italian President Sandro Pertini. Bobbio received, among others, the Balzan Prize
in 1994 (for Law and Political Science: governments and democracy) and diplomas honoris causa from the Universities of Paris (Nanterre), Madrid (Complutense)
, Bologna
, Chambéry, Madrid (Carlos III), Sassari
, Camerino
, Madrid (Autónoma)
, and Buenos Aires
.
To celebrate the Centenary of Norberto Bobbio's birth, it was established a committee, constituted by more than a hundred Italian and international public institutions and intellectual figures, which formulated a wide-ranging programme of activities to promote dialogue and reflection on the thought and figure of Bobbio, and on the future of democracy, culture and civilisation. Celebrations were officially opened on January 10, 2009, at the University of Turin
.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
-based daily La Stampa
La Stampa
La Stampa is one of the best-known, most influential and most widely sold Italian daily newspapers. Published in Turin, it is distributed in Italy and other European nations. The current owner is the Fiat Group.-History:...
.
Bobbio was a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in the tradition of Piero Gobetti
Piero Gobetti
Piero Gobetti was an Italian journalist, intellectual and radical liberal and anti-fascist. He was an exceptionally active campaigner and critic in the crisis years in Italy after the First World War and into the early years of Fascist rule.-Biography:...
, Carlo Rosselli
Carlo Rosselli
Carlo Rosselli was an Italian political leader, journalist, historian and anti-fascist activist, first in Italy then abroad...
, Guido Calogero, and Aldo Capitini
Aldo Capitini
Aldo Capitini was a leading Italian theorist of nonviolence, known as the "Italian Gandhi".-Introduction:Nonviolent methodologies were used effectively for the first time by Gandhi in South Africa and later in the fight for independence against the British Empire in the early 1940s...
. He was also strongly influenced by Hans Kelsen and Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto , born Wilfried Fritz Pareto, was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist and philosopher. He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices....
.
Life and views
Bobbio was born into what his GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
obituary described as "...a relatively wealthy, middle-class Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
family" whose sympathies Bobbio would later characterize as "philo-fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, regarding fascism as a necessary evil against the supposedly greater danger of Bolshevism
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
". In high school he met Vittorio Foa
Vittorio Foa
Vittorio Foa was an Italian politician, trade unionist, journalist and writer.-Biography:Foa was born in Turin in 1910 into a middle-class Jewish family....
, Leone Ginzburg
Leone Ginzburg
Leone Ginzburg was an Italian editor, writer, journalist and teacher, as well as an important anti-fascist political activist and a hero of the resistance movement...
and Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavese
Cesare Pavese was an Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator; he is widely considered among the major authors of the 20th century in his home country.- Early life and education :...
, and at university he became a friend of Alessandro Galante Garrone.
In 1942, under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Bobbio joined the then illegal radical liberal party Partito d'Azione
Partito d'Azione
-History:It was an anti-fascist political party in the tradition of Giuseppe Mazzini and the Risorgimento. Founded in July 1942 by former militants of Giustizia e Libertà , liberal socialists, democrats...
("Party of Action") and was briefly imprisoned in 1943 and 1944. He ran unsuccessfully in the 1946 Constituent Assembly of Italy
Constituent Assembly of Italy
The Italian Constituent Assembly was a parliamentary chamber which existed in Italy from 25 June 1946 until 31 January 1948...
elections. With the party's failure in a post-war Italy dominated by the Christian Democrats
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
, Bobbio left electoral politics and focused back in academia.
A strong advocate of the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
, the separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
, and the limitation of powers, he was a socialist, but opposed to what he perceived as the anti-democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
elements in most of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. He was a strong partisan of the "Historic Compromise
Historic Compromise
In Italian history, the Historic Compromise was an accommodation between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party in the 1970s, after the latter embraced eurocommunism under Enrico Berlinguer. The 1978 assassination of DC leader Aldo Moro put an end to the Compromesso storico...
" between the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
and the Christian Democrats, and a fierce critic of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
. Bobbio died in Turin, the same city in which he was born and lived most of his life.
Academic career and honors
Bobbio studied Philosophy of Law with Gioele Solari; he later taught this curriculum in CamerinoCamerino
Camerino is a small town of 7.135 inhabitants in the Marches , in the province of Macerata, Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about 40 miles from Ancona....
, Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, and ultimately back in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
as Solari's successor in 1948; from 1972 to 1984, he had a chair in the newly created faculty of political science in Turin.
He was a National Associate of the Lincean Academy and longtime director (together with Nicola Abbagnano
Nicola Abbagnano
Nicola Abbagnano was an Italian existential philosopher.- Life :Nicola Abbagnano was born in Salerno on 15 July 1901. He was the first born son of a middle-class professional family, his father was a practicing lawyer in the area...
) of the Rivista di Filosofia. He became a Corresponding Associate of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
in 1966; in 1979 he was nominated as Senator-for-life
Senator for life
A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , 7 Italian Senators out of 322, 4 out of the 47 Burundian Senators and all members of the British House of Lords have lifetime tenure...
by Italian President Sandro Pertini. Bobbio received, among others, the Balzan Prize
Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organisations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the brotherhood of man.-Rewards and assets:Each year the...
in 1994 (for Law and Political Science: governments and democracy) and diplomas honoris causa from the Universities of Paris (Nanterre), Madrid (Complutense)
Complutense University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a university in Madrid, and one of the oldest universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of...
, Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, Chambéry, Madrid (Carlos III), Sassari
University of Sassari
The University of Sassari is a university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 11 Faculties.The University of Sassari gains the first place in the ranking for the best “medium- sized” italian university, in 2009, by the Censis Research Institute.-History and...
, Camerino
University of Camerino
The University of Camerino is a university located in Camerino, Italy. It claims to have been founded in 1336, was officially recognized by the Pope in 1727, and is organized into five faculties.-History:...
, Madrid (Autónoma)
Autonomous University of Madrid
The Autonomous University of Madrid is one of the top university of Spain and commonly known by its Spanish initials UAM or as "la Autónoma"...
, and Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
.
To celebrate the Centenary of Norberto Bobbio's birth, it was established a committee, constituted by more than a hundred Italian and international public institutions and intellectual figures, which formulated a wide-ranging programme of activities to promote dialogue and reflection on the thought and figure of Bobbio, and on the future of democracy, culture and civilisation. Celebrations were officially opened on January 10, 2009, at the University of Turin
University of Turin
The University of Turin is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy...
.
Major works
- L'indirizzo fenomenologico nella filosofia sociale e giuridica (Phenomenological Turn in Social and Legal Philosophy, 1934)
- Scienza e tecnica del diritto (The Science and Technical Aspects of Law, 1934)
- L'analogia nella logica del diritto (The Use of Analogy in Legal Logic, 1938)
- La consuetudine come fatto normativo (Custom as a Normative Fact, 1942)
- La filosofia del decadentismo (The Philosophy of Decadence, 1945)
- Teoria della scienza giuridica (Theory of Legal Science, 1950)
- Politica e cultura (Politics and Culture, 1955)
- Studi sulla teoria generale del diritto (Essays in the General Theory of Law, 1955)
- Teoria della norma giuridica (A Theory of Judicial Norms, 1958)
- Teoria dell'ordinamento giuridico (A Theory of Legal Order, 1960)
- Profilo ideologico del Novecento italiano (An IdeologicalIdeologyAn ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
Profile of Twentieth Century Italy, 1960) - Il positivismo giuridico (Legal Positivism, 1961)
- Locke e il diritto naturale (LockeJohn LockeJohn Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
and Natural LawNatural lawNatural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...
, 1963) - Italia civile (Civil Italy, 1964)
- Giusnaturalismo e positivismo giuridico (Natural Law and Legal PositivismPositivismPositivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....
, 1965) - Da Hobbes a Marx (From HobbesThomas HobbesThomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
to MarxKarl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, 1965) - Saggi sulla scienza politica in Italia (Tests of Political Science in Italy, 1969)
- Diritto e Stato nel pensiero di E. Kant (Law and State in the Thought of Immanuel KantImmanuel KantImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, 1969) - Ideological Profile of Italy In The Twentieth Century (1969)
- Una filosofia militante: studi su Carlo Cattaneo (A Militant Philosopher: Essays on Carlo CattaneoCarlo CattaneoCarlo Cattaneo was an Italian philosopher, writer and patriot.-Biography:Cattaneo was born in Milan; he died in Castagnola, close to Lugano in the Swiss canton of Ticino, where he had spent the last twenty years of his life in exile.A republican in his convictions, during his youth he had taken...
, 1971) - Quale socialismo (Which Socialism, 1977)
- I problemi della guerra e le vie della paceI problemi della guerra e le vie della paceI problemi della guerra e le vie della pace is a university booklet of philosopher Norberto Bobbio's lessons...
(The Problem of War and the Roads to Peace, 1979) - Studi hegeliani (Hegelian Essays, 1981)
- Il futuro della democrazia (The Future of Democracy: A Defence Of The Rules Of The Game, 1984)
- Maestri e compagni (Teachers and Companions, 1984)
- “The Future of Democracy”. TELOSTELOS (journal)Telos is an academic journal published in the United States. It was founded in May 1968 to provide the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective. It sought to expand the Husserlian diagnosis of "the crisis of European sciences" to prefigure a particular program of social reconstruction...
61 (Fall 1984). New York: Telos Press - Liberalismo e democrazia (Liberalism and democracy, 1985)
- State, Government And Society (English-language publication, 1985)
- Il terzo assente, (The Absent Third, 1988)
- Thomas Hobbes (1989)
- L'età dei diritti (The Rule of Law, 1989)
- The Age of Rights (English-language publication, 1990)
- A Just War? (1991), a defense of the Gulf WarGulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, about which he later changed his mind. ¹ - Destra e sinistra (RightRight-wing politicsIn politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
and LeftLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
), Roma, 1994 - In Praise of Meekness (1994)
- De senectute (Of Old Age; the LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
title is an allusion to CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
's Cato Maior de Senectute, 1996) - Autobiografia (Autobiography, 1999)
- Teoria Generale della Politica (General Theory of Politics, 1999)
- Dialogo intorno alla repubblica (Dialogue about the Republic, 2001)
- Etica e politica: Scritti di impegno civile, ed. Marco Revelli. Milano: Mondadori, 2009.
External links
- The Works of Norberto Bobbio, a multilingual site
- Bobbio Centenary, official website