Felice Momigliano

thumb|Felice Momigliano in 1904 Felice Momigliano (1866 - 1924) was an Italian historian and writer. Il proletariato ebraico e il sionismo Felice Momigliano, Il proletariato ebraico e il sionismo, in Nuova Antologia di lettere, scienze ed arti, series IV, volume CVII, della raccolta volume CXCI, September-October 1903, Direzione della Nuova Antologia, Roma, 1903, pp. 403-424 As if the poor twentieth century didn't already have enough problems to solve, it is about to inherit another one that originated in the final years of the nineteenth century: Zionism. Many Jews, especially those from the East, are agitated by the prospect of a new, less legendary exodus to the land of their fathers. How did this movement of disintegration and aggregation come about? As it gradually descended from the rosy heights of sentiment to the grey lowlands of reality, how did it evolve? By its very nature, this phenomenon is of interest to psychologists and sociologists. (p. 403) Stripped of its entire religious and national superstructure, the Zionist movement derives its raison d'être from the economic factor: 'That German Jew Marx', as Bakunin called him in his heated polemics, can rejoice: the people to whom he belonged are now demonstrating, through action, the paramount importance of the economic factor in historical dynamics. The Jewish proletariat is the father of Zionism. (p. 403) Bauer had tried to explain the antagonism between Jews and Christians by reducing it to a religious antagonism. Marx, who has little faith in the miracles of abstract ideology, shifts the terms of the problem and, as is easy to imagine, turns it into an economic issue. (p. 404) According to the author of Das Kapital, the Jew had emancipated themselves by 'Judaizing' Christians; whereas, to truly emancipate themselves, they would have had to 'de-Judaize' themselves or, more accurately, disappear, taking their conception of commerce with them. We believe we are not failing in our admiration for the mighty champion of socialism when we say that, with the exception of a few statements in which you can see the lion's claw, the arguments put forward by Marx in this polemic are no more valuable than one of the many newspaper quarrels. At the time he was writing, he was completely unaware of the history of the Jews. His father had broken with the traditions that bound him to Judaism and converted to Christianity; his son was unaware of his people's past and of the social role of Judaism. The fearsome scourge of the capitalists did not know that the earliest advocates of the poor and the oppressed had been the prophets of Israel, whose wrath was one of the vital pulses of humanity; he did not know, to use the words of that mad genius Nietzsche, that the Jews had been the apostles of the morality of slaves, which triumphed over and overcame the morality of masters; 'victi victoribus legem dederunt'. Marx saw Judaism only through the lens of capitalist mammonism; for him, the quintessential example was Rothschild, and he raised the yellow flag of anti-Semitism. (pp. 404–405) The modern Jew is not the Semite who embodies the typical qualities of the patriarchs or of Ezra and Nehemiah's companions, but rather the natural product of centuries of segregation in the ghetto. In the fetid and painful dens of the Juiveries and the Judenstrasse, the Jewish soul was shaped and hardened; there, as a result of centuries of prohibitions, a people of farmers was transformed into a people of traffickers. (p. 405) Western anti-Semitism is merely one episode in the class struggle that rages beneath the surface of contemporary society: it is the protest of the landed gentry rebelling against the total domination of finance, the indignation of the nobility, tied to the land that once ensured their supremacy, now languishing under the influence of these intruders [the Jews], once regarded as filthy scum, now the masters of the bank. (p. 408) Graetz, the last and most authoritative historian of the Jews, acknowledges that Jews are merchants and bankers because they have been forced to do nothing else. This claim could be corrected as follows: It is the Jewish bourgeoisie, not the vast majority of Jews, that has become a profiteering class. However, neither the anti-Semites nor the philo-Semites have written the history of the Jewish bourgeoisie, that is to say, of the few Christianised and Hellenised Jews of the West, rather than of the vast masses of Jews – Romanians, Russians and Eastern Europeans – who make up the most wretched hordes of proletarians in the entire world. (p. 410) Leone Tolstoi Felice Momigliano, Leone Tolstoi, A. F. Formiggini, Modena, 1911 Incipit Before me is a portrait of Tolstoi in his sixties, reproduced from a woodcut by Bryden. The impression can be summed up as follows: 'Here is a man who has struggled hard!' His head is monumental; his forehead is rugged, granite-like, Victor Hugo-esque, furrowed with wrinkles; his [eyebrows] are thick and bushy, between which flash eyes that are astonished and focused on the inner world, but not so much that they do not reveal an immense kindness for everything they see and will see in the melancholy spectacle of the world; his nostrils are wide and fleshy; he has a thick, prophetic beard, in the midst of which are outlined his full, sensual lips; and his entire appearance conveys a restless concern, a mixture of benevolence, pity and the anguish of someone who knows he is arriving at a sad hour for humanity. Quotes For the Russians, the Caucasus is a land of dreams: Aleksandr Sergeevič Puškin and Michail Jur'evič Lermontov have celebrated its charms. That rugged region of mountains, verdant with endless meadows, caressed by the scents of the warm midday winds, and alive with women of strong and gentle beauty, offers passionate and daring young men what they most long for: sun, mountains, freedom, the songs of wandering poets, and the captivating smiles of tall, slender women. (Chap. II, p. 13) In 'The Cossacks', Tolstoy's most notable work, autobiography merges with fiction. The poet does not part from the observer. As a poet, the author, in contact with nature untouched by civilisation and among people unaware of the morbid complexities of urban life, celebrates a life of freedom, strength and daring. With his recent memories of the feeble and hypocritical life of the city still fresh in his mind, the novelty of this new existence stands out before the young man in all its most beautiful and most appealing colours. He recognises the goodness of the natural, almost primeval state, in which the notion of sin is banished, because the soul is unaware of guilt. In this book, mystical anxieties are, as it were, overwhelmed by the momentum of a life that is full, vigorous and manly active. (Chap. II, pp. 14–15) In Sevastopol Sketches, we can already find, in embryonic form, all the essential elements of Tolstoy's thought and art. The volume contains the impressions of the bombardment of Sevastopol, as they were etched into the soul of a wonderful observer, of a young man who, from that time onwards, was drawn by the impulse of feeling to the brotherhood of mankind, of a Russian who was firmly convinced of the futility of reason and will in the face of the laws of a transcendent fate by which mankind is guided.A novel? No, because it lacks the central plot point that would link the various episodes narrated. A historical work? No, because it is clear that the characters described are products of the author's imagination. So, is it a historical novel? Yes, but not in the way we Latinos usually understand this literary genre. (Chap. III, pp. 16–17) For Tolstoy, as for all apostolic minds focused on action rather than thought, the three fundamental problems of practical philosophy – the religious, the moral and the social – appear as three different aspects of a single problem. The essence of religion is morality and nothing but morality; therefore, he endeavours to restore Christianity to its original form, before it was intellectualised by the influence of Greek philosophy or moulded into a doctrinal system. True religion, like true morality, is reduced to an awareness of the intimate relationship between humankind and the first cause, to the joy of living in God, of identifying one's own being within the universal being, of beating in rhythm with the infinite. (Chap. VII, p. 37) At its core, Tolstoy's mysticism boils down to intuitively postulating an absolute, immanent reality of which we are aware: our aspiration towards goodness. (Chap. VII, p. 37) In its negative form, as a critique of the shortcomings of modern civilisation, and in its positive form, as a movement to elevate and intensify the meaning of life, Tolstoism won over countless minds in every country, even though they did not agree with the ultimate, radical conclusions reached by its founder. (Chap. XII, p. 72) The central problem of Tolstoism is as old as civilisation itself and can be formulated as follows: By meeting human needs in a more varied and more secure way, does civilisation promote spiritual development, or does it instead stifle the virtue of the spirit? Does civilisation liberate our 'self', our essential 'self', from the bondage of the external world, or does it rather clip its wings and prevent it from flying freely? (Chapter XII, pp. 72–73) [...] This attitude of protest against progress is a Judeo-Christian concept that views any attempt to extend human dominion over the universe as a sin of pride; it is the enslaved East rising up against the virile Aryan spirit, audax omnia perpeti; it is the mournful, intrusive litany of oppressed souls who, in the creations of art and the wonders of science, see nothing but unbridled presumption, a reckless glorification of human arrogance, as humanity dares to defy the absolute power of divinity. (Chap. XII, p. 73) With his exasperated and exasperating manner, Jean-Jacques Rousseau presented this problem to humanity. When asked whether progress in the arts and sciences contributes to human happiness, Rousseau answered no, with compelling and passionate logic. Tolstoy goes even further. His concern is not so much with the greater or lesser amount of well-being that civilisation can bestow on humankind as with the question of whether civilisation does not threaten the highest moral values. (Chapter XII, p. 74) Explicit The soul of the Slavic people listens to the harmonious music of the voices from the East, which repeat to it the timeless message that health lies within us, that the external world cannot give us peace, and that life has value only insofar as we imbue it with the immortal part of ourselves. Healthy mysticism does not mean ecstasy, asceticism, self-annihilation or self-contempt; rather, the divine – that is, the supreme harmony of consciousness – is attained through the rigorous and steadfast practice of the moral law. Moral ideals can and must bring life to the aesthetic and dynamic civilisation of our time. The great guardian spirits of great peoples meet on this soil; and on the grave of Yasnaya Polyana, the cypress branch grown in the Mediterranean sun, which casts its warm rays on your tomb in Staglieno, O Giuseppe Mazzini, can rightly be laid. Vita dello spirito ed eroi dello spirito Felice Momigliano, Vita dello spirito ed eroi dello spirito, Luigi Battistelli, Firenze, 1921 The task of the history of philosophy, which is to present and evaluate the various systems that have succeeded one another from the origins of philosophy to the present day, cannot be considered complete if it merely presents and assesses the doctrines of philosophers who lived before our time, as it must also investigate the process of speculative reason that gave rise to these systems and determine the laws governing their development. In this way, the history of philosophy becomes an integral part of philosophy itself. Anticipating what will be made clearer in the course of our discussion, we state at the outset that any examination of the concept and method of the history of philosophy presupposes a philosophy. (p. 3) The sixteenth century was the most glorious era for Italy, which restored to human reason its titles of nobility. Our philosophy and our civilisation date back to the centuries of the Renaissance, when our country, ravaged by foreigners, gave the other nations of Europe freedom of thought and the autonomy of reason. To use an expression of Göthe's [written in this way], the Renaissance seemed to be the fruit of the union of the sons of God with the daughters of men. (Chapter I, p. 73) After the spring of the Renaissance, Italy's speculative genius seemed to have been rendered barren; in the history of philosophy, our country became a mere geographical term. (Chapter II, p. 160) Around Genovesi, a fine and numerous group of disciples began to form. Most followed the economist, but some also followed the philosopher, such as Melchiorre Delfico, who hailed him as 'the father and creator of our intellectuals'. Delfico was bound to Genovesi by a fervent intellectual affinity. Far more than his intellectual mentor, Delfico emerged as a quintessential figure, happily embodying the culture and philosophy of his time. A man of varied and versatile talents, he explored different fields of knowledge with remarkable mental agility. Nor was the man of action hampered by the thinker, as we find him involved in the attempt to free Bonaparte from the island of Elba, hoping that the Corsican would bring about Italy's redemption. (Chap. III, pp. 165–166) A staunch advocate of liberal principles, Melchiorre Delfico was elected as a deputy during the short-lived constitutional period that followed the 1820 revolt. At the end of this short period of freedom, he withdrew into private life in the quiet of his studies, forging close ties with fellow Neapolitan scientists and writers, who revered him as the 'prince of Neapolitan learning'. Many flashes of truth, or of probable hypotheses accepted by modern science, shine through in his books. (Chapter III, p. 166) [Melchiorre Delfico] In his works, one would search in vain for a fully developed system; one senses a man who, having lived, in his younger years, under a discipline disavowed by reason, rebels against the slavery that stifles the energy of the spirit, enthusiastically embracing – in a way that precludes calm critical scrutiny – the ideas of foreigners who, through fortunate circumstances, had made greater progress than we had. (Chapter III, p. 167) Among his followers, Rosmini has been elevated to the status of a saint. It is said that, upon seeing the beautiful statue of Rosmini by Vela, which depicts the philosopher kneeling in a meditative pose, Bertrando Spaventa exclaimed passionately, in the style of Bruno: "Philosophy never kneels!" (Chapter I, p. 219) The spiritual founder of German nationalism is, without doubt, Amedeo Fichte, a monolithic figure who stood tall like a giant in the midst of the storms of the Sturm und Drang period. He is a single, glowing flame rising towards the sky: no wind can bend it, let alone extinguish it, for it is nourished by an irrepressible and inextinguishable inner energy. If every hero of thought and action concentrates within themselves, like a mirror focusing light, the spirit of the people to whom they belong, and reflects it in its purest and most radiant form, then for no other thinker can it be said, as it can for Fichte, that when we speak of him, we are undoubtedly speaking of the Germanic national spirit, which reveals itself to him and attains a higher level of existence through him. (Chapter I, p. 291) There is something of Spinoza and of St Paul in Fichte: from the former, a love of speculation, a plunging into the abyss of consciousness to find the eternal there; from the latter, a passion for action, a desire to penetrate the minds of others and win them over. (Chapter I, p. 291) Quotes about Felice Momigliano, a Jew, a secondary school teacher, a great philosopher and a great socialist, has committed suicide. Spineless journalists have written maudlin obituaries. Someone mentioned that he was the Vice-Chancellor of the Mazzinian University. Others pointed out that he was a late positivist. But if, along with Positivism, Socialism, Free Thought, and Momigliano, all the Jews who continue the work of the Jews who crucified Our Lord were to die, wouldn't the world be a better place? Would it not be an even greater liberation if, before dying, they repented and asked for the water of Baptism. Agostino Gemelli, Vita e pensiero, August 1924. Moimigliano, Felice Category:1866 births Category:1924 deaths Category:Historians from Italy