Carlo Cattaneo, intellectual deeply interested in political economy, politics, philosophy, was a prominent character of Italian Risorgimento, that is the political process that build Italy in the xix century. Indicated by Luigi Einaudi as an Enciclopedico belonging to the last generation of the Italian Enlightenment, the Lombard Cattaneo was a liberal greatly appreciated by Luigi Einaudi and Norberto Bobbio (who defined his thought filosofia militante, that is “militant philosophy”). His liberalism was not only a claim for free economic activity, but also (and overall) a philosophical attitude rooted in Diderot, and, earlier, Galileo and Bacone. Cattaneo is an open-minded philosopher who constantly looks at the natural and social reality, with a profound belief in progress; in other words, a rational social scientist who wants to transform society. Very interestingly, he considers human intelligence, singled out in its collective dimension (psicologia delle menti associate), as the most important factor of economic and social development.

The economic development is based on the same principles which the progress of civilization and ideas is founded on: liberty, volition, intelligence. Thus, also the suitable policy to be followed by public authorities must be set up on those principles. A growing economy must be free from the constraints of administrative rules and tradition. Cattaneo supports free trade and property rights. Volition, intelligence and hard work allow accumulation, investment, technical progress and enhancement of infrastructures, and government must back up this push, reducing uncertainty and establishing a fair fiscal system. Then also agriculture will get benefit from the huge investment needed to increase productivity, and modern entrepreneurship will spread even in the countryside. The dichotomy between advanced industry and backward agriculture does not make sense in Cattaneo’s opinion, since in all sectors human intelligence plays a paramount role in modernizing the economy and engendering social progress.