Vincenzo Gioberti, the Italian philosopher, ecclesiastical polemicist, and statesman, was born in Turin. As a statesman he upheld federalism as the goal of the movement for Italian unity. Gioberti's Del primato morale e civile degli Italiani (Brussels, 1843) is one of the great documents of the Risorgimento. His most famous polemical work is Il gesuita moderno (5 vols., Lausanne, 1846–1847), attacking the allegedly reactionary influence of the Jesuits on church policy. Throughout his intensely active career, philosophy remained his dominant interest. A long political exile (1833–1845) provided the occasion for the composition of his most important philosophical works: Teorica del sovrannaturale (Brussels, 1838), Introduzione allo studio della filosofia (Brussels, 1840), and Degli errori filosofici di Antonio Rosmini (Brussels, 1841; 2nd enl. ed., 3 vols., 1843–1844).

"Protologia"

In 1841 and 1842 Gioberti gave a course of lectures (published as Cours de philosophie, Milan, 1947). The second part of these lectures, "Protologie ou science première," was the...