Commentary on Filangieri’s Work

Commentary on Filangieri’s Work addresses almost every important political and social question that Constant, one of the most important liberal thinkers of the nineteenth century, ever discussed. Nevertheless, while scholars have always been aware of the work, from the time of its publication onward it has been the subject of little or no sustained discussion in its own right. This translation will help give the work its deserved importance in political theory. The Commentary is founded on the view that government should maintain a strictly limited role in society: The functions of government are purely negative. It should repress disorder, eliminate obstacles, in a word, prevent evil from arising. Thereafter one can leave it to individuals to find the good. This is Constant’s political and economic credo. Thus, Constant makes no distinction between economic liberalism and political liberalism. They both derive from his commitment to individual freedom.