Anticipazioni della teoria della Restaurazione secondo Carl Ludwig von Haller

Abstract: The rise of political conservatism, considered as a school of thought, is commonly related to the intellectual reaction against the French Revolution. Burke in England, Maistre and Bonald in France, Gentz and Adam Müller in the countries of the German Empire, Carl Ludwig von Haller in Switzerland are mostly viewed as the beginners of a such movement. However these authors did not see themselves as the founders of a new political current; rather they pretended to be the most authentic interpreters of a minority tradition in the modern political thought. Signs of a deeper reflection about this theme can be found especially in Haller’s massive production, from his articles in the Bernese «Litterarischer Archiv», later in his 'Handbuch der Staatenkunde', finally in his monumental 'Restauration der Staatswissenschaften' (6 vols.). XVII century theorists of absolute monarchy (Filmer, Wandalin, Graswinckel, Horn), followers of the natural law (Cumberland, Bodmer), French and English critics of the Enlightenment (Bergier, Gerdil, Dupin, Albrecht von Haller, Justus Möser, Zimmermann, Schlosser, until Wieland), exponents of the historiography of Göttingen (Pütter, Spittler, Martens) are joined by Haller, in a sort of ideal chain, with the early denouncers, since 1789, of a supposed conspiracy against throne and altar (Barruel, Starck) and with the anonimous contributors to counterevolutionary periodicals, like «Eudämonia». It can be viewed here an unconventional picture of the genesis of political conservatism, and a reflex of Haller’s own intellectual character.