Norberto Bobbio Research Articles

For a philosophy of doubt Norberto Bobbio and the Enlightenment of dialogue

This paper intends to reconstruct Norberto Bobbio’s philosophical-cultural itinerary by focusing attention on “doubt” as a category of thought. The Enlightenment legacy and its revival in Bobbio’s path represent a key to understanding our contemporary world; dialogue is the correlate of doubt, a philosophical practice that constantly problematizes and critically examines all instances. Bobbio has explored various fields of knowledge, both practical and theoretical, always keeping in the foreground the need to understand through a critical opening; the same political militancy in the process of resistance and liberation makes him a non-negligible voice of high educational value for generations to come.

THE COLLAPSE OF MODERN DEMOCRACY

This scientific article will demonstrate the birth, evolution and crisis of modern democratic regimes. As notorious knowledge, democracy arose from the fall of the monarchical absolutist regime, when human rights appeared accompanied by constitutionalist movements. The evolution was gradual, the result of the social demands that emerged, noting at first the French ideological tripod, namely, freedom, equality and fraternity, reflecting on the social constitutions of social character. It turns out that with the increase of social demands, the state apparatus itself became unable to meet them, despite the existence of social constituent letters enumerating a catalog of human rights. Thus there is the occurrence of the phenomenon of apparent democracy, in which there is a constitutionally foreseen sequence of human rights, together with appropriate legislations, but are not met by the public power, collapsing the system. At the same time, other elements that contribute to the end of democracies are observed, and can point out the partisan political articulations, the search for perpetuation in power, the confidential meetings, the votes for a certain matter and so on that configure what they are what Political scientist Norberto Bobbio defines how the “rules of the game” democratic. Finally, it is appropriate to mention the occurrence of the invisible power of democracy, where not only the subjects hides, but also the content of decisions until the moment they must become public, always having other objectives.

Whitehead, Tansley, Sen, Bobbio y el enfoque One Health

Objective: draw parameters to structure concepts of the One Health approach through the thoughts of Alfred North Whitehead, Arthur George Tansley, Amartya Sen, and Norberto Bobbio. Methodology: this was original research, with a deductive approach, hermeneutic bias based on the selected thoughts and the One Health. Results: One Health is structured on the holistic and integrated assertion that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected. From Whitehead's perspective, the One Health approach can be considered a dynamic and relational process, where humans, animals, and the environment constantly interact, interconnecting through relationships and processes, forming a whole. From Tansley's perspective, the idea of One Health can align with the ecosystem concept, where health cannot be analyzed in isolation in individuals, but necessarily through the complex interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. From Sen's development prism (rights and freedoms), the One Health approach can be seen to achieve it, through the interrelation of mechanisms, systems, and institutions focused on promoting health and well-being. In Bobbio's view, fundamental rights, democracy, and peace are ethical and primary ways to ensure rights, especially a right of nature (humans, animals, and the environment) in the joint pursuit of guarantees for peaceful coexistence. Conclusion: the One Health approach is not just a practical strategy, but also a renewed vision of the old perception that recognized the interconnection of all forms of life. Submission: 10/01/24| Review: 02/02/24| Approval: 13/02/24

Whitehead, Tansley, Sen, Bobbio y el enfoque One Health

Objective: draw parameters to structure concepts of the One Health approach through the thoughts of Alfred North Whitehead, Arthur George Tansley, Amartya Sen, and Norberto Bobbio. Methodology: this was original research, with a deductive approach, hermeneutic bias based on the selected thoughts and the One Health. Results: One Health is structured on the holistic and integrated assertion that human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected. From Whitehead's perspective, the One Health approach can be considered a dynamic and relational process, where humans, animals, and the environment constantly interact, interconnecting through relationships and processes, forming a whole. From Tansley's perspective, the idea of One Health can align with the ecosystem concept, where health cannot be analyzed in isolation in individuals, but necessarily through the complex interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. From Sen's development prism (rights and freedoms), the One Health approach can be seen to achieve it, through the interrelation of mechanisms, systems, and institutions focused on promoting health and well-being. In Bobbio's view, fundamental rights, democracy, and peace are ethical and primary ways to ensure rights, especially a right of nature (humans, animals, and the environment) in the joint pursuit of guarantees for peaceful coexistence. Conclusion: the One Health approach is not just a practical strategy, but also a renewed vision of the old perception that recognized the interconnection of all forms of life. Submission: 10/01/24| Review: 02/02/24| Approval: 13/02/24

Bobbio's conception of human rights

This article aims to analyze the issue of human rights in the thinking of the Italian author Norberto Bobbio. The historical and contemporary debate on human rights has always been a scene of considerable controversy, gaining considerable space in the public debate with the advent of the Second World War, culminating in the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). This declaration intended to meet a minimum set of rights so that every human being deserves, from birth, as a member of the human species. For the recognition of these rights universally, there is a need for this set of rights to correspond to the desires of all people, with their different cultures. In order to establish consensus, therefore, it is necessary to find homeomorphic concepts of human rights in different cultures. A second problem involving human rights is the issue of their protection, which is difficult to apply in certain cultures. In this second problem, Bobbio’s thought seems to have space, which identifies the effectiveness of human rights as the biggest challenge in this issue, especially regarding the rights of freedom and equality. The present study is based on exploratory research, with bibliographic analysis based on data collection in updated scientific material on the topic.

Thinking Like a Radical: Social Democracy, Moderation, and Anti-Radicalism

ABSTRACT The concepts of “radicalism” and “extremism” have been the focus of increasing scholarly attention in recent years, but, surprisingly, there has not been the same kind of effort to specify their opposites, such as the concept of “moderation.” In this article I argue that because “radicalism” and “extremism” have been defined in generally negative terms, we may deepen and refine our understanding of moderation once we are equipped with a more neutral conception of radicalism. Accordingly, I propose a new approach to the study of radical ideologies by comparing them to literary genres. Just as literary genres use tropes that constrain our reading of a text, radical ideologies use tropes—as, for example, the Marxists’ use of “reactionary” or “bourgeois”—that refer to a much wider background dichotomy, on which they base their arguments to discredit those of their opponents or to reinforce those of their supporters. Using this approach, I show how the Marxist theorist and leading German politician Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932)—one of the founders of modern Social Democracy—made a step-by-step critique of the Social Democratic Party’s orthodox Marxist tropes and core narrative that thoroughly undermined their arguments. Bernstein, I further suggest, was a particularly good example of a political moderate because he did not altogether reject the claims of his radical Marxist opponents but rather accepted those parts of their reasoning that he considered valid. By thus opening the way for constructing an anti-radical Marxist narrative, Bernstein’s example shows how moderates can “steal a page” from the radicals’ playbook to create alternative narratives whose central opponents are the radicals themselves. I conclude by briefly discussing two contemporary thinkers—Norberto Bobbio and Karl Popper—who went further than Bernstein in the development of a fully fleshed anti-radical narrative.

Law and politics in posmodernity: internationalist liberalism

The most popular stream in international relations studies is associated with political realism as such emphasizes competition between States always seeking an advantageous position, whose description shows that such a rivalry can be ruthless. However, internationalist Liberalism explores alternatively the association tactics that help States to position themselves strategically on the international stage by seeking allies with those who share common interests. The promotion of cooperation agencies enables the study of the growing influence of actors other than national States, and recognizes the relative independence of the international environment with its own and distinct logic, although associated with the traditional logic of national interest and security. The paper aim is to explore the positions that John Rawls, Norberto Bobbio and Luigi Ferrajoli put forward. The method is qualitative, using documentary analysis techniques on secondary sources. It is concluded that the agreements and institutions arising from international liberalism restrict the action of States, seeking limitation to armed conflicts, the protection of human rights and the conditions for a more distributive global justice.

A LOOK AT THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL STATE OF AFFAIRS RECOGNIZED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF BRAZIL

Approaching factors of multiple orders and touching the national Penitentiary and Prison System is to seek to understand the roots and constraints of the formal and legal structure assumed by penal establishments that, today, are recognized as an “Unconstitutional State of Things” due to decision, in 2020, in the Argument of Non-compliance with Fundamental Precept n. 347 at the Honorable Court of the Federative Republic of Brazil. First of all, here we have bibliographical research (supported by literature of political and legal classics, eg, Immanuel Kant, Norberto Bobbio), documental ( vg Constitutions of 1824 and 1988, angular and underlyingly supported) and jurisprudential (Arguição de Descumprimento of Fundamental Precept - ADPF n. 347 sustained in a jusphilosophical construct), with a qualitative and interdisciplinary focus, on the recognition of the "Unconstitutional State of Things" to fall on the Prison System in Brazil with a view to critically and reflexively understanding the prison environment and the vectors that affirm the “state of affairs”.

Democratic Revolution or Coup D’etat: Government of Fan Noli in Albania

The aim of this paper is to study closely the political developments of June 1924 in Albania to bring convincing facts, that the priest Fan Noli, did not come to power in a democratic way as formulated in the text of the History of State and Law in Albania, but with a coup d’etat, which interrupted the democratic and institutional processes that began with the establishment of all powers of the rule of law by the National Assembly of Lushnja in January 1920. The descriptive and comparative method was used in this study to understand the evolution of institutional culture since the founding of the state. The historical method of well-known sociologists and political scientists, Max Weber, David Easton, and Norberto Bobbio, it was worth looking at the political system as a set of institutions and political processes, in mutual interdependence, arising from free democratic elections. The study hypothesis is confirmed through the analysis of historical variables provided by archival sources and publications and memoirs of serious authors, domestic as well as foreign. The study results bring to the conclusion that the history of political institutions must be written with scientific objectivity, according to the Latin maxim, history is the teacher of Leibniz's life and method, that the present is full of the past, and charged with the future.
 
 Received: 7 September 2022 / Accepted: 24 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023

‘The ideological tree is always green’: Norberto Bobbio and the future of ideology studies

ABSTRACT This article locates Norberto Bobbio within the field of ideology studies. After historicising Bobbio’s contribution to the study of ideas, it reflects on some of the key themes that punctuated his work. In doing so, it shows how many of Bobbio’s concepts and ideas can be used to evaluate recent political change. Not only can Bobbio help us to understand our ‘age of uncertainty’, but he can also be used as a point of reference when we try to historicise phenomena like populism.

Norberto Bobbio’s political philosophy, between theory and ideology

ABSTRACT The article explores Norberto Bobbio’s thought regarding the complex relationship between theory and ideology, and the possible mutual influences between them. The essay first clarifies what Bobbio means by ‘theory’ and what connection he establishes between theory and political philosophy. The first section reconstructs Bobbio’s distinction between four ways of conceiving political philosophy, and his preference for the formal value-free approach of what he defines as a ‘general theory of politics’. The second section focuses on whether a general theory of politics, seeking to clarify the basic concepts of political language and provide purely descriptive definitions, is in fact possible. The third section deals with this same question starting from a debate between Bobbio, Passerin d’Entreves and Scarpelli sparked in 1954 by Felix Oppenheim’s book Dimensions of Freedom. Likewise, Bobbio’s last course in political philosophy on the topic of ‘revolution’ offers insights into his ‘empirical-analytical’ method, in which conceptual analysis is deeply related to the observation of reality and the study of history (fourth section). To conclude, the last paragraph returns to the complex relationship between theory and ideology in Bobbio’s thought, by highlighting elements of continuity and discontinuity, with the tradition of analytical philosophy.

Two teachers of intellectual hygiene: Norberto Bobbio and Raymond Aron on the role of the intellectuals in modern society

ABSTRACT This article examines Norberto Bobbio and Raymond Aron’s views on the role of the intellectuals in modern society and focuses on Bobbio’s Politics and Culture and Aron’s The Opium of the Intellectuals. Published in 1955, both books show how the two thinkers interpreted the duties and the responsibilities of intellectuals during the Cold War. Bobbio and Aron refused to embrace political Manichaeism and effectively practiced the art of dialogue and civil disagreement as an antidote to the rising political polarization and sectarianism of their time. The article explores their exchanges with the Italian and French communists and fellow travellers and focuses on their critique of the intellectuals’ preference for bold narratives and good acting at the expense of providing careful analyses of concrete institutions and practices. We conclude that Bobbio and Aron continue to serve as models of responsible public intellectuals who can teach us how to appreciate and defend liberal democracy today.

The genesis of Bobbio’s liberalism (1939-1955): between classics old and new

ABSTRACT This essay aims to reconstruct the ‘genetic’ phase of Norberto Bobbio’s research on liberalism, through the theoretical confrontation he developed with some reference liberal authors, which we usually call ‘classics’. The paper reconstructs, first of all, the path of Bobbio from the years of his liberal formation, which took place in the sign of the works of Benedetto Croce, to the first gradual departure from the Crocian concept of freedom during the years of the Resistance. After the end of the Second World War, also thanks to the encounter with Karl Popper’s work, Bobbio’s arrival to the methodological individualism took place as well as the definitive departure from the idealistic and Croce's conception of freedom. The systematic criticism Bobbio addressed to his idea of liberalism, was developed in the volume Politics and culture, a crucial work to understand what the philosophical foundations of liberalism are according to Bobbio. The interpretation he gave of Benjamin Constant’s thought is important for two different reasons: firstly, starting from Constant, Bobbio anticipated as early as 1954 the famous Isaiah Berlin’s distinction between negative and positive liberty; secondly, this interpretation is fundamental to highlight the particularity and the anomaly of Bobbio’s liberalism.

Authority, authoritarianism, politics, power, freedom and violence at the Instituto de Filosofia e Teologia (IFT): an analysis through Hannah Arendt and Norberto Bobbio

Through a discussion of some concepts such as “Authority”, “Authoritarianism”, Politics, Power, Freedom and Violence, from Hannah Arendt and Norberto Bobbio, an approach is made on the Instituto de Filosofia e Teologia (IFT), which existed In Sao Paulo Brazil. Inter-congregational institution, which emerged as a proposal to adapt priestly formation to the novelties of the Second Vatican Council, in 1965, within a context of polemics and political contests external and internal to the Catholic Church, the IFT was extinguished in 1969. The way H Arendt and N. Bobbio address the concepts of Authority and its correlates helps to better understand the facts.

Norberto Bobbio: libertà dell’arte, censura ed erotismo

The philosopher Norberto Bobbio was an important exponent of Italian liberalism and exerted considerable influence on Italian political thought of the second half of the twentieth century. The article examines the few texts by Bobbio relating to cinema. These are three essays published between 1961 and 1962 concerning censorship, freedom of art and eroticism. In these essays Bobbio expresses an opinion contrary to censorship but he critically judges the spread of eroticism in cinema and literature. He therefore calls for an evolution of customs capable of setting limits on erotic excesses. The underestimation of rules – also noted by other commentators in references to other areas of his thought – is a weakness in Bobbio’s reflection of censorship

Political Change and Revolution: Political Philosophy Lessons [Mutamento politico e rivoluzione: lezioni di filosofia politica].Norberto Bobbio, 2021. Rome, Donzelli. xxiii + 558 pp, €35.00 (hb)

Journal of Applied PhilosophyVolume 39, Issue 3 p. 536-538 Book Review Political Change and Revolution: Political Philosophy Lessons [Mutamento politico e rivoluzione: lezioni di filosofia politica]. Norberto Bobbio, 2021. Rome, Donzelli. xxiii + 558 pp, €35.00 (hb) Edoardo Bellando, Edoardo Bellando [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3050-4678 Stony Brook UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Edoardo Bellando, Edoardo Bellando [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3050-4678 Stony Brook UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 25 January 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12565Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume39, Issue3Symposium on Media EthicsJuly 2022Pages 536-538 RelatedInformation

Da una celebrazione all'altra. Temi e problemi di esegesi cattaneana

Starting from the first centenary of Carlo Cattaneo's birth in 1901, the Author reviews the publication of his works in concomitance with the interpretation and diffusion of his thinking. From the first ample collection of writings, down to Bertani and other friends, to the anthology by Gaetano Salvemini, from Alessandro Levi's monograph to the interpretations of Norberto Bobbio and Luigi Ambrosoli, the article shows the interweaving between the exegesis and the piecing together of Cattaneo's dispersed works, the complete retrieval of which is being undertaken by the Italo-Swiss Committee set up in 1946. It ends with the new national edition of his works, which on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death in 2019 saw the publication of the fourth volume of his Lettere, the eighth volume in the entire collection.

The Pacifism of Bertrand Russell during the Great War

ABSTRACT Through a brief analysis of the reflections of some prestigious contemporary philosophers such as Norberto Bobbio, Mulford Quickert Sibley, Wilhelm Emil Mühlmann, Michael Allen Fox, David Cortright, Larry May, John Rawls, Eric Reitan, Johan Galtung and David Boersema, this essay reconstructs Russell's pacifist commitment during the First World War. This dramatic event represented a real watershed for his multifaceted and ingenious personality, leading to his new political and civil commitment. Through a series of articles and lectures, he fought against militarism, was in favour of a world government and underlined the psychological causes of war (the difference between ‘creative’ and ‘possessive’ impulses). All this coincided in part with the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, the ideas of which he initially shared; at the time of the Leeds Convention (1917), he believed that the March revolution would involve a complete political and economic change at the international level by removing the causes of war. It was not by chance that he decided to join the Independent Labour Party, a choice that marked his separation from the Liberals. Although the latter explored in depth different forms of pacifism, Russell implicitly recalled the formula ‘Pax enim non belli privatio’ by Baruch Spinoza, supporting a fundamental paradigm of the modern political theory.

Violência social e violência contra a pessoa idosa: Duas faces da mesma essência

Apoiado em pesquisa bibliográfica de especialistas na área de violência e violência contra idosos, assim como em documentos oficiais do governo brasileiro, o artigo objetiva trazer à discussão a problemática da violência e da violência sofrida pela pessoa idosa no contexto brasileiro. O Brasil passa por mudanças significativas e profundas em sua estrutura etária e o contingente de idosos só tende a aumentar. Concomitante a esse aumento, crescem também, na mesma proporção, os desafios que o país tende a enfrentar face a esta realidade. É realizada uma abordagem de cunho sociológico sobre o tema da violência com o objetivo de compreender, situar, conceituar, caracterizar e problematizar a violência dentro do contexto social e sua manifestação na sociedade. Para tal nos valemos das ideias de Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Max Weber, Michel Missi, Willem Schinkel, Norberto Bobbio, Edgar Morin, Thomas Hobbes, dentre outros. O texto conclui afirmando que a violência entre seres humanos parece fazer parte da própria história da humanidade, e que violência doméstica e os maus-tratos a idosos não devem ser entendidos fora do contexto da violência social/estrutural em que os indivíduos e as comunidades estão inseridos. É necessário, portanto, que o conjunto da sociedade tenha uma visão mais ampliada, que permita a percepção de que o enfrentamento da violência contra o idoso ultrapassa a análise criminal e exige a aplicação dos princípios que norteiam a Política Nacional do Idoso e o Estatuto do Idoso.

La costumbre en el ordenamiento jurídico privado colombiano: visión desde la teoría analítica del derecho y la teoría de la interacción estratégica

En la dogmática jurídica tradicional, la Ley y la Costumbre son los modos de manifestación típicos del Derecho. En el siglo XX, de las tesis iusfilosóficas de Norberto Bobbio (1950), nace la Teoría Analítica del Derecho, según la cual, “el Derecho es el discurso prescriptivo del Legislador”. Dentro de este marco conceptual, la norma consuetudinaria ha recibido una atención residual como problema teórico; con todo, la Ley y la Costumbre han constituido fuente del Derecho desde lege data, es más, las mores maiorum han precedido cronológicamente a la Ley. Solo el estudio de Bruno Celano (1995) propone una posición moderada en la dialéctica analítica de Bobbio, dando lugar a la Teoría de la Interacción Estratégica; con esta, el profesor de la Universidad de Palermo, no pretermite la formación espontánea de las reglas sociales. No es intención del autor exponer un trabajo de teleología jurídica vasto, con una exposición detallada de núcleos iusfilosóficos que, desbordarían el natural contenido de una lección divulgadora. Si se espera, sostener una defensa razonada del importante rol de la Costumbre en el ordenamiento jurídico privado colombiano