I cinque Maine de Biran italiani: per una ricostruzione degli studi biraniani in Italia dalla metà del XIX secolo ad oggi

The Five Italian Maine de Biran: for a Reconstruction of Biran Studies in Italy from the mid19th Century to the Present · The Italian reception of Maine de Biran’s philosophy has been dominated by Catholic spiritualism. However, even though this type of interpretation has marked its reception from the outset, in reality Biran’s work has been read in Italy from very different perspectives. This article will show how the Catholic spiritualist reading is only one of the five different readings of Maine de Biran in Italy between 1858 (the year in which the first article on Biran was published) and 2020 (when last book devoted to the philosopher of effort appeared). One of these five readings, perhaps the most forgotten, sees in Biran a philosopher of action who pioneered the psychology of the subconscious (1911-1915). Two other readings, also partly forgotten, provide a Neo-Kantian interpretation (1911-1915) and the spiritualist realist interpretation (1910-1939) of Maine de Biran’s philosophy. Today, only two of the five readings of Biran are still in play: the Catholic spiritualist reading in its existentialist version (1947-) and the anti-reductionist physio-psychologist reading (1979-)