Roberto Felice Ardigò (28 January 1828 – 15 September 1920) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

philosopher. He was an influential leader of Italian

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

and a former

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Biography

Ardigò was born in Casteldidone, in what is now the

province of Cremona The province of Cremona (; Cremunés dialect, Cremunés: ; ; Emilian dialects, Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona. The province occupies the central section of Pa ...

, in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, and trained for the priesthood. He resigned from the Church in 1871 after abandoning theology and faith in 1869. He was appointed as a professor of theology at the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

in 1881, at a time when a reaction to idealism had taken place in philosophical circles. Ardigò's "positive philosophy" was a synthesis of various philosophical and scientific theories, including positivism, evolutionism, and spiritualism. He also held controversial beliefs that women are subordinate to men and that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Inspired by

Auguste Comte Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (; ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the ...

, Ardigò differed from Comte in that he considered thought more important than matter and insisted on psychological disquisition. He believed thought was dominant in every action and the result of every action, and that it disappears only in a state of general corruption. He died by suicide at

Mantua Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...

in 1920, at the age of 92.

Works

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References

External links

* 19th-century Italian philosophers 1828 births 1920 suicides Clergy from the Province of Cremona Italian republicans 19th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Academic staff of the University of Padua Writers from the Province of Cremona 1920 deaths {{italy-philosopher-stub

Biography

Works

Further reading

References

External links