Combates on historiography: the political history of ideas of Franco Venturi

Abstract

In this article we intend to situate the word of Franco Venturi in the Twentieth Century historiography of the about the Enlightenment. We will start with a presentation of the trajectory of the Italian historian, showing his life experience with the totalitarian ideologies of the century. Subsequently, we will expose the historiographical debate that he presents in the book Utopia and Reform in the Enlightenment (1969), emphasizing his critics to what he named “philosophical tradition of the german Aufklärung” and the “social interpretation of the Enlightenment”. It must be clear that he rejects Marxism as an instrument to the understanding of Enlightenment, giving preference to approaches that depart from individuals and their concrete relations. Lastly, we will analyze Venturi’s ideas about the origins of the socialism/communism in the Eighteenth Century, discussing his view on Marx’s ideas and Marxism theory.