1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. Norberto Bobbio

Norberto Bobbio Quotes

Norberto Bobbio was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily La Stampa.

Bobbio was a liberal socialist in the tradition of Piero Gobetti, Carlo Rosselli, Guido Calogero, and Aldo Capitini. He was also strongly influenced by Hans Kelsen and Vilfredo Pareto. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. October 1909 – 9. January 2004
Norberto Bobbio photo
Norberto Bobbio: 2   quotes 1   like

Norberto Bobbio Quotes

“Lewis has written that "man makes history." Althusser unleashes a pamphlet at him maintaining that such is not the case: "Ce sont les masses qui font I'histoire." I challenge anyone to find a social scientist outside the Marxist camp who can seriously pose a problem of this type.”

Norberto Bobbio

Source: Telos Nr. 35-38, (1978), p. 11

History , Problem

“If, then, at the end of this analysis, I am asked to take off the mortar-board of the academic and put on the hat of someone deeply involved in the political developments of the age he lives in, I have no hesitation in saying that my preference is for the rule of law rather than of men. The rule of law is now celebrating its final triumph as the basis of the democratic system. What is democracy other than a set of rules (the so-called rules of the game) for the solution of conflicts without bloodshed? And what constitutes good democratic government if not rigorous respect for these rules? I for one have no doubts about how such questions are to be answered. And precisely because I have no doubts I can conclude in all good conscience that democracy is the rule of law par excellence. The very moment a democracy loses sight of this, its inspiring principle, it rapidly reverts into its opposite, into one of the many forms of autocratic government which haunt the chronicles of historians and the speculations of political thinkers.”

Norberto Bobbio

The Future of Democracy: A Defence Of The Rules Of The Game (1984), Ch. 7: The Rule of Men or the Rule of Law

Men , Age , Law , Democracy

Similar authors

Gianni Agnelli photo
Gianni Agnelli 5
Italian businessman
Luciano De Crescenzo photo
Luciano De Crescenzo 1
Italian writer
Rita Levi-Montalcini photo
Rita Levi-Montalcini 15
Italian neurologist
Alessandro Baricco photo
Alessandro Baricco 9
Italian writer
Carlo Rubbia photo
Carlo Rubbia 1
Italian particle physicist
Franco Battiato photo
Franco Battiato 4
Italian singer-songwriter, composer, and filmmaker
Italo Calvino photo
Italo Calvino 44
Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels
Pietro Mennea photo
Pietro Mennea 1
Italian sprinter and politician
Sophia Loren photo
Sophia Loren 32
Italian actress
Cesare Pavese photo
Cesare Pavese 137
Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator