Dario Galli as Historian of Philosophy and Scholar of Antonio Rosmini

Abstract

The article features the preface and the first chapter by Dario Galli, Studi rosminiani, Cedam, Padova 1957. The text and the bio-bibliographical introduction to Dario Galli are edited by Claudio Tugnoli.

Dario Galli (1909-1991) was a pupil of Giovanni Gentile. Professor of philosophy and history at the classical high school gymnasium “L. Galvani” in Bologna, he obtained a free teaching assignment in History of Philosophy at the University of Bologna, where he held some courses in the history of philosophical thought. There are three fundamental essays in his career as a scholar: Il pensiero greco, Cedam, Padova 1954; Studi rosminiani, Cedam, Padova 1957; Il Teocentrismo di S. Agostino, Patron, Bologna 1962. The second essay includes the philosopher from Rovereto among the thinkers who do not exhaust themselves in a specific historical period but, with their action, go beyond the era in which they faced challenges and controversies. According to Rosmini, philosophy is corrupted if it repudiates theology, but theology, in turn, runs into very serious errors if it goes ahead without philosophy. Galli was convinced that Rosmini’s thought was destined to remain current in every age and saw in Rosmini’s system «a continuous and well-watched effort to reconcile science with philosophy, the dogmatic spirit with the critical one, empiricism with rationalism, religious needs with political reality, tradition with the spirit of modern civilization».