Limits of Power: Gaetano Filangieri’s Liberal Legacy

Abstract

Whilst scholars working on Hispanic liberalism have looked for its roots in close connection with French liberalism, the present text aims at opening a new path. First of all, it argues that the kingdom of Naples developed one of the first lines of liberal thinking within the Spanish monarchy, the one developed by Gaetano Filangieri (1752-1788) in his masterpiece The Science of Legislation (1780-1791). The success of this piece was not limited to the Hispanic space, as in its time it drew the attention of other liberal thinkers including Benjamin Constant (1767- 1830) who translated The Science of Legislation into French (1822-1824), as well as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790). Secondly, it will introduce some of the main arguments of Filangieri’s political thought that made of him a liberal thinker and one of the most intriguing authors during the first constitutional moments in the Hispanic space. Finally, this text attempts an explanation of Filangieri’s success, as we believe it was not only due to his position as a pioneer of liberal ideology but most of all, because his political theory was in close communication with the political needs and practices of the Hispanic space.