Sulle relazioni tra la filosofia della politica e la filosofia del diritto in Rosmini

Antonio Rosmini took a lifelong interest in politics since he was twenty-four up to 1849. This essay aims at understanding how he conceived the relationships between the philosophy of politics and the philosophy of right. These two phrases refer both to two different scientific disciplines and the titles of two of the most relevant of Rosmini’s books, at the same time. In order to study the twofold relations, the attention focuses on the Preface to political works, in his Philosophy of Politics (published in 1837-‘39) and on the Introduction of his Philosophy of right (published on 1841-‘43), where he provides the definitions of the two matters, and of politics – the greatest of the arts – and of the essence of right – that is equal to the essence of the human person, ‘subsistent right’. This is why, in my opinion, Rosmini thinks that the philosophy of politics emerges as a means to the end, which is the philosophy of right. I argue that the differences between the books and the disciplines are grounded on the differences between his concepts of politics and of right.