Il «galileismo morale» di Galvano Della Volpe

This essay deals with Galvano Della Volpe’s interpretation of Galileo Galilei between 1947 and 1957, focusing on the experimental theory of knowledge. First of all, the author shows that this interpretation arises in the period 1947-1948, when Della Volpe had already outlined his understanding of the Marxian anthropology as an experimental science of bourgeois society and capitalistic economy. Furthermore, the author maintains that the same interpretation has been enhanced by the Italian philosopher in his Logica come scienzapositiva (1950), through a critical examination of the Neo-Kantian reading of Galilei.The author also argues that the resulting reconsideration of the Marxian thought as a generalization of Galilei’s experimentalism to social and moral sciences has important repercussions on history of philosophy. Finally, the author compares Della Volpe’s methodology of philosophical historiography with the results of his work as historicist oh philosophy, in particular as interpreter of Galilei and Marx.