Rosminis politische Philosophie der zivilen Gesellschaft

Abstract

Vielfach wird in der Forschung versucht, den italienischen Denker Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855) als "Vorläufer" oder "Wegbereiter" für spätere ideengeschichtliche Etappen einzuordnen, vor allem mit Blick auf die Theologie des XX. Jahrhunderts, speziell der nachkonziliaren Zeit. Die vorliegende Arbeit benennt ebenfalls Themen, die der aus Rovereto stammende Antonio Rosmini in einer Weise diagnostiziert hat, die sich ex post als zutreffend erwiesen hat und die auch heute Aktualität besitzt. Aber das Kernanliegen der Arbeit betrifft Rosminis "Zeitgenossenschaft": Rosmini hat als Beobachter seiner Zeit und als belesener Kenner der "Klassiker" an einem jahrhunderte umfassenden ideellen Gespräch über den Zweck des Gemeinwesens und dessen notwendige Reform teilgenommen. Er hat die "Moderne" als Entwicklungsphase sui generis verstanden und kritisch untersucht, indem er ihre Quellen offen legte. Dadurch besitzt sein politisches Denken einen stark historische Orientierung. Die historischen Untersuchungen, die die vorliegende Arbeit nachzeichnet - Untersuchungen über die kulturgeschichtlichen Epochen, über die Wanderungsbewegungen der Völker, über die Revolutionen, über unterschiedliche Typen von società civile, über die Ausdrucksformen des Bürgerethos - waren zweckgerichtet: Sie dienen letztlich der Politikberatung. Darunter verstand Rosmini allerdings nicht die Unterweisung in die Technik der Macht, sondern die Begründung einer neuen, der Moderne adäquate "Staatsräson" mit der Rehabilitierung eines Begriffs von politischer Gesellschaft, deren exklusives Ziel darin bestehen sollte, den Bürgern freiheitliche Entfaltung und Partizipation zu ermöglichen.

This thesis examines Rosmini's great reformist project for the political society in the centre of which the design of a modern, constitutional civil society (it. società civile) lies which in turn scoops its consciousness for freedom from the Christian ethos. Influenced by the consciousness of crisis so typical for his time, Rosmini realises the necessity of a "new political science". This science should link theory as well as practice and provide the fundamental science of political action, social doctrine as well as political consultation. Goal of the latter being "good politics", with its task of consolidating the community. The unique aspect of this concept is that Rosmini does not define stability as intended purpose of good politics by criteria of traditional instruments of power. He rather makes stability conditional on the justness an individual is able to exercise, with justness being the absence of discrimination. Based on this, he develops his manifesto of "extended citizenry", a sort of universal society of humankind. Traditional reason of state is being replaced by "reason of civil society" for the purpose of liberal evolvement and citizen participation. Taking into consideration the great authors from the Restauration and liberalism (Rosmini being the first Italian to systematically recite Toqueville) and integrating classics from Plato and Aristotle, to Machiavelli, Montesquieu as well as Vico and finally Ferguson and Rousseau, Rosmini searches for reasons for the instability of states. Through this approach his political philosophy obtains a strong historical and cultural-sociological direction. The diachronistic but yet synchronistic observation of different political structures (from states and empires of the antiquity via India to the United States of America) makes it clear that constitution is much more than a body of laws and that a national community is never a mere community of law but always a community of values too. Rosmini thus deduces that sage politics include not only the concern for laws and material wealth but also for the values and beliefs of the citizenry. Admittedly a closer examination of the dynamics of rise and downfall also show him that politics' possibilities of governance are rather limited. This central realisation is one of the pillars of Rosmini's in-depth criticism of a certain "modernity" which he accuses not only of the misconception of the (ontological, factual and ethical) limitations of politics but also of having worn away any limit of mankind's power over man. The resulting permanent endangerment of freedom will be hard to bring under control only by means of constitution. The most important guarantee for freedom according to Rosmini is Christian religion, defining a space beyond political grasp.