Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

VINCENZO GIOBERTI (18oI-1852)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 30 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

VINCENZO See also:

GIOBERTI (18oI-1852)  , See also:Italian philosopher, publicist and politician, was See also:born in See also:Turin on the 5th of See also:April 18o1 . He was educated by the fathers of the See also:Oratory with a view to the priesthood and ordained in 1825 . At first he led a very retired See also:life; but gradually took more and more See also:interest in the affairs of his See also:country and the new See also:political ideas as well as in the literature of the See also:day . Partly under the See also:influence of Mazzini, the freedom of See also:Italy became his ruling See also:motive in life,—its emancipation, not only from See also:foreign masters, but from modes of thought See also:alien to its See also:genius, and detrimental to its See also:European authority . This authority was in his mind connected with papal supremacy, though in a way quite novel—intellectual rather than political . This must be remembered in considering nearly all his writings, and also in estimating his position, both in relation to the ruling clerical party—the See also:Jesuits—and also to the politics of the See also:court of See also:Piedmont after the See also:accession of See also:Charles See also:Albert in 1831 . He was now noticed by the See also:king and made one of his chaplains . His popularity and private influence, however, were reasons enough for the court party to See also:mark him for See also:exile; he was not one of them, and could not be depended on . Knowing this, he resigned his See also:office in 1833, but was suddenly arrested on a See also:charge of See also:conspiracy, and, after an imprisonment of four months, was banished without a trial . See also:Gioberti first went to See also:Paris, and, a See also:year later, to See also:Brussels, where he remained till 1845, teaching See also:philosophy, and assisting a friend in the See also:work of a private school . He nevertheless found See also:time to write many See also:works of philosophical importance, with See also:special reference to his country and its position . An See also:amnesty having been declared by Charles Albert in 1846, Gioberti (who was again in Paris) was at See also:liberty to return to Italy, but refused to do so till the end of 1847 .

On his entrance into Turin on the 29th of April 1848 he was received with the greatest See also:

enthusiasm . He refused the dignity of senator offered him by Charles Albert, preferring to represent his native See also:town in the Chamber of Deputies, of which he was soon elected See also:president . At the See also:close of the same year, a new See also:ministry was formed, headed by Gioberti; but with the accession of See also:Victor See also:Emmanuel in See also:March 1849, his active life came to an end . For a See also:short time indeed he held a seat in the See also:cabinet, though without a See also:portfolio; but an irreconcilable disagreement soon followed, and his removal from Turin was accomplished by his See also:appointment on a See also:mission to Paris, whence he never returned . There, refusing the See also:pension which had been offered him and all ecclesiastical preferment, he lived frugally, and spent his days and nights as at Brussels in "See also:literary labour . He died suddenly, of See also:apoplexy, on the 26th of See also:October 1852 . Gioberti's writings are more important than his political career . In the See also:general See also:history of European philosophy they stand apart . As the speculations of Rosmini-Serbati, against which he wrote, have been called the last See also:link added to See also:medieval thought, so the See also:system of Gioberti, known as " Ontologism," more especially in his greater and earlier works, is unrelated to other See also:modern See also:schools of thought . It shows a See also:harmony with the See also:Roman See also:Catholic faith which caused See also:Cousin to declare that "Italian philosophy was still in the bonds of See also:theology," and that Gioberti was no philosopher . Method is with him a synthetic, subjective and psychological See also:instrument . He re-constructs, as he declares, See also:ontology, and begins with the " ideal See also:formula," " the Ens creates ex nihilo the existent." See also:God is the only being (Ens) ; all other things are merely existences .

God is the origin of all human knowledge (called l'See also:

idea, thought), which is one and so to say identical with God himself . It is directly beheld (intuited) by See also:reason, but in See also:order to be of use it has to be reflected on, and this by means of See also:language . A knowledge of being and existences (See also:concrete, not abstract) and their mutual relations, is necessary as the beginning of philosophy . Gioberti is in some respects a Platonist . He identifies See also:religion with See also:civilization, and in his See also:treatise Del primato morale e civile degli Italiani arrives at the conclusion that the See also:church is the See also:axis on which the well-being of human life revolves . In it he affirms the idea of the supremacy of Italy, brought about by the restoration of the papacy as a moral dominion, founded on religion and public See also:opinion . In his later works, the Rinnovamento and the Protologia, he is thought by some to have shifted his ground under the influence of events . His first work, written when he was See also:thirty-seven, had a See also:personal reason for its existence . A See also:young See also:fellow-exile and friend, See also:Paolo Pallia, having many doubts and misgivings as to the reality of See also:revelation and a future life, Gioberti at once set to work with La Teorica del sovrannaturale, which was his first publication (1838) . After this, philosophical See also:treatises followed in rapid See also:succession . The Teorica was followed by Introduzione allo studio della filosofia in three volumes (1839-1840) . In this work he states his reasons for requiring a new method and new terminology .

Phoenix-squares

Here he brings out the See also:

doctrine that religion is the See also:direct expression of the idea in this life, and is one with true civilization in history . Civilization is a conditioned mediate tendency to perfection, to which religion is the final completion if carried out; it is the end of the second See also:cycle expressed by the second formula, the Ens redeems existences . Essays (not published till 1846) on the lighter and more popular subjects, Del See also:bello and Del buono, followed the Introduzione . Del primato morale e civile degli Italiani and the Prolegomeni to the same, and soon after-wards his triumphant exposure of the Jesuits, Il Gesuita moderno, no doubt hastened the See also:transfer of See also:rule from clerical to See also:civil hands . It was the popularity of these semi-political works, increased by other occasional political articles, and his Rinnovamento civile d'Italiaf that caused Gioberti to be welcomed with such enthusiasm on his return to his native country . All these works were perfectly orthodox, and aided in See also:drawing the liberal See also:clergy into the See also:movement which has resulted since his time in the unification of Italy . The Jesuits, however, closed See also:round the See also:pope more firmly after his return to See also:Rome, and in the end Gioberti's writings were placed on the See also:Index (see J . Kleutgen, Uber See also:die Verurtheilung See also:des Ontologismus durch den heiligen See also:Stahl, 1867) . The See also:remainder of his works, especially La Filosofia della Rivelazione and the Protologia, give his matureviews on many points . The entire writings of Gioberti, including those See also:left in See also:manuscript, have been edited by Giuseppe Massari (Turin, 1856-1861) . See Massari, Vita de V . Gioberti (See also:Florence, 1848) ; A .

Rosmini-Serbati, V . Gioberti e it panteismo (See also:

Milan, 1848) ; C . B . See also:Smyth, See also:Christian See also:Metaphysics (1851); B . Spaventa, La Filosofia di Gioberti (See also:Naples, 1854) ; A . Mauri, Della vita e delle opere di V . Gioberti (See also:Genoa, 1853) ; G . Prisco, Gioberti e l' ontologismo (Naples, 1867) ; P . Luciani, Gioberti e la filosofia nuova italiana (Naples, 1866-1872); D . Berti, Di V . Gioberti (Florence, 1881) ; see also L . See also:Ferri, L'Histoire de la philosophic en See also:Italic au XIX' siecle (Paris, 1869) ; C .

See also:

Werner, Die italienische Philosophic des 19 . Jahrhunderts, ii . (1885); appendix to See also:Ueberweg's Hist, of Philosophy (Eng. tr.); See also:art. in See also:Brownson's Quarterly See also:Review (See also:Boston, See also:Mass.), xxi.; R . Mariano, La Philosophic contemporaine en Italic (1866) ; R . Seydel's exhaustive See also:article in See also:Ersch and See also:Gruber's Allgemeine Encyclopadie . The See also:centenary of Gioberti called forth several monographs in Italy . GIOIOSA-IONICA, a town of See also:Calabria, Italy, in the See also:province of Reggio Calabria, from which it is 65 m . N.E. by See also:rail, and 38 m. direct, 492 ft. above See also:sea-level . Pop . (1901) town, 9072; See also:commune, 11,200 . Near the station, which is on the E. See also:coast of Calabria 3 M. below the town to the S.E., the remains of a See also:theatre belonging to the Roman See also:period were discovered in 1883; the See also:orchestra was 46 ft. in See also:diameter (Notizie degli scavi, 1883, p . 423) .

The ruins of an See also:

ancient See also:building called the Naviglio, the nature of which does not seem clear, are described (ib . 1884, p . 252) .

End of Article: VINCENZO GIOBERTI (18oI-1852)
[back]
GINSENG
[next]
MELCHIORRE GIOJA (1767-1829)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.