Ethics and Economics in Giuseppe Toniolo

Abstract

Introducing the papers of the study congress “Giuseppe Toniolo tra economia e società”, that took place in Pieve di Soligo in October 1988, Gino Barbieri gave his last scientific contribution referring to the centrality of the relationship between ethics and economics in Toniclo’s works. He advised not to see the “quaestio” like a thematic “unicum” that can be hypostatized, as it was a kind of Leibnitzian monad «without any door or window», but to underline the need for a severe historicizing, able to make the problem plain as to its appearance and its evolution, recognising the different moments and phases, with the distinction between critical and theoretical analysis. His advice is much more acceptable in consideration of the late literature about Toniolo: the congress “Aspetti della cultura cattolica nell’età di Leone XIII” (Bologna 1960), the later congresses in Modena (1979) and in Pisa (1981), the study day promoted by «Bollettino dell’Archivio per la storia del movimento sociale cattolico in Italia» at Università Cattolica of Milan (1985) and all monographs and essays issued starting from the end of the 70’s. Historicizing the different moments appears necessary even in the light of a fact that maybe is not always taken into account: the supra-national, or better transnational aspect of Toniolo’s works, which should be studied and considered in relation to the contemporary cultural experiences as for social Catholicism in Belgium, France and Germany. Examples may be the contributions of Villeneuve-Bargemont concerning workers’ employment, wages and public intervention: the conjectures of De Coux and Périn about the problem of the distribution of wealth.

Paolo Pecorari was born on 9 Febuary 1943, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Padova, is presently Professor of Italian Economic History since the national unity at the Faculty of Economic and Bank Science of the University of Udine. Among his works: Ketteler e Toniolo. Tipologie del movimento cattolico in Europa, Città Nuova, Roma 1977; Giuseppe Toniolo e il socialismo. Saggio sulla cultura cattolica tra ’800 e ’900, Patron, Bologna 1981; Luigi Luzzatti e le origini dello «statalismo» economico nell’età della destra storica, Signum, Padova 1983; Economia e riformismo nell’Italia liberale. Studi su Giuseppe Toniolo e Luigi Luzzatti, Ed. Universitarie Jaca, Milano 1986; II protezionismo imperfetto. Luigi Luzzatti e la tariffa doganale del 1878, Ist. Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Venezia 1989; Toniolo. Un economista per la democrazia, Studium, Roma 1991.