Abstract
Carlo Cattaneo is a prominent character of Italian Risorgimento, that is the political process that built Italy in the 19th century. According to him, the economic development depends on the same principles which the progress of civilization and ideas is founded on: freedom, will, intelligence. With his deep humanist animus, he is enlightened, because he believes in the human intelligence as spring of progress; is positivist, thanks to his trust in applied science; is liberal, since he thinks that only freedom can feed human intelligence. At the same time, he is a man of Romanticism, with his confidence in the possibility of overcoming all hindrances through liberty and will. As a true liberal, Cattaneo can hardly be classified in just one stream of thinking. The paper is organised as follows: after the Introduction, the second and the third paragraph give information about the historical and economic context of his activity. The fourth paragraph deals with his political vision and the fifth with his approach to political economy. The link between federalism and freedom, and the original idea of collective intelligence (psicologia delle menti associate) emerge. Finally, in the sixth paragraph a few concluding remarks are proposed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In March 1860, Cattaneo is requested to propose his candidacy by several Italian patriots, even though opposed by many others. Finally, he is elected at the Parliament in Turin, but he refuses to swear allegiance to the Crown, thus he never participates to the parliamentary sessions. In 1861 and 1865 he refuses, but in 1867 he runs for Parliament and becomes deputy. This time he goes to Florence, the new capital of Italy, but, again, he refuses the oath of loyalty to the King, taking part to the political life only out of Parliament (Armani 1997, 165 and 198).
- 2.
The paper “La città …” was published in four parts in Milan on the newspaper Crepuscolo edited by Carlo Tenca in October and December 1858. In the last part we find a clear expression of the basic ideas of Cattaneo’s federalism; see on this point Becattini (2001), 49–68 and Raffaelli (2014), 87. The chapter “Il problema dell’ordinamento amministrativo” is divided into two parts. It includes the article of Il Politecnico “La circolare del Ministro Farini sul riordinamento amministrativo”, where Cattaneo criticises the reform proposed by Farini after the war of 1859, because its decentralisation is not effective. In the four letters addressed to Diritto in June–July 1864 (second part of the chapter), Cattaneo is critical of the reform of the legge comunale e provinciale, which regulates the local administration, proposed by Marco Minghetti.
- 3.
On the importance of geography and anthropology in Cattaneo’s thought, with particular reference to his economic vision, see Macchioro [1992] (2006), par. 3 “Economia ed geo-etnografia”.
References
Armani G (1997) Carlo Cattaneo. Garzanti, Milano
Banti AM (2004) Il Risorgimento italiano. Laterza, Roma–Bari
Becattini G (2001) La sfida di Carlo Cattaneo. In: Becattini G (ed) I nipoti di Cattaneo. Donzelli, Roma, pp 49–68
Bertolino A [1957](1979) I fondamenti delle idee economiche di Carlo Cattaneo. In: Bertolino A, Barucci P (eds) Scritti e lezioni di storia del pensiero economico. Giuffré, Milano
Bobbio N (1945) Introduzione a: Cattaneo
Cafagna L (1993) Cattaneo e la cultura economica della Lombardia dell’800. In: Colombo A, Montaleone C (eds) Carlo Cattaneo e il Politecnico. Angeli, Milano
Cattaneo C (1945) Stati Uniti d’Italia, a cura di Norberto Bobbio. Chiantore, Torino
Cattaneo C et al (1957) Opere di Romagnosi, Cattaneo, Ferrari, a cura E Sestan. Ricciardi, Milano–Napoli
Cattaneo C (1966) I problemi dello stato italiano, a cura di Carlo G. Lacaita, Mondadori, Milano
Cattaneo C (1972) Opere scelte, a cura di D Castelnuovo Frigessi, vol 4. Einaudi, Torino
Cattaneo C [1939](1975) Saggi di economia rurale, a cura di Luigi Einaudi. Einaudi, Torino
Cattaneo C (1989) Il Politecnico 1839–1844, a cura di Luigi Ambrosoli, vol 2. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino
Croce B (19473) Storia della storiografia italiana nel secolo decimonono. Laterza, Bari
Faucci R (2000) L’economia politica in Italia dal Cinquecento ai nostri giorni. UTET, Torino
Faucci R (2013) La scienza economica in Italia dal Risorgimento all’Unità (1821–1861). Il Pensiero Economico Italiano XXI(1):15–24
Macchioro A [1992](2006) Il pensiero economico di Carlo Cattaneo. In: Macchioro A (ed) Studi di storia del pensiero economico italiano. Franco Angeli, Milano, pp 83–102
Puccio U (1977) Introduzione a Cattaneo. Einaudi, Torino
Raffaelli T (2014) The role of intelligence, institutions, and place in Carlo Cattaneo’s economics. History of Political Economy 46(2):265–280
Romani R (1994) L’economia politica del Risorgimento italiano. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino
Romano M (2012) Alle origini dell’industria lombarda. Manifatture, tecnologia e cultura economica nell’età della Restaurazione. Franco Angeli, Milano
Romeo R (1985) Lo sviluppo industriale italiano nell’età liberale. Edizioni dell’Ateneo, Roma
Sestan E (1957) Introduzione a: Cattaneo C et al
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ivaldi, E., Soliani, R., Repetto, A. (2017). Carlo Cattaneo (1801–1869), Lombard Philosopher and Economist, Liberal Beyond Federalism. In: Soliani, R. (eds) Economic Thought and Institutional Change in France and Italy, 1789–1914. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25354-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25354-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25353-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25354-1
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)