Villari, Pasquale (1827–1917)

Pasquale Villari was the most famous Italian historian of the second half of the nineteenth century and the author of what is considered the first ‘manifesto’ of positivism in Italy, ‘La filosofia positiva e il metodo storico’ (Positive Philosophy and the Historical Method) (1866). Based on a historicist approach partly inspired by Vico and De Sanctis and on a preference for Mill over Comte, Villari’s positivism is commonly described as ‘critical-historicist’ or ‘methodological’ in contrast to more scientistic and naturalistic versions. His historiography focused on Italy and particularly Florence during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In his essays on the philosophy, theory, and methodology of history he attempted to define the specific nature of history as a moral/social science in its relation to philosophy, art and the natural sciences. He was also the author of numerous essays on educational matters and the arts, and an authoritative political and social commentator.