Cultura europea e terza via cattolica italiana

European culture and Italian Catholic third way

Abstract

The very first issue of “third option” was theorized between 1863 and 1864 by W.I. Kettler. In Die Arbeiterfrage und das Christentum (1864) Kettler criticized both the liberal system and the radical-Lassallean system, and his work would influence France and Italian Catholics. Focusing on the Italian context, where Giuseppe Toniolo was the most relevant figure, social Catholicism arose not only from a theoretical formulation of the corporation in economic and legal terms. Toniolo’s corporation issue was broadly understood in the social field and would be resumed by the Christian Democrats during the Post-Second World War for a congruous solution of social conflicts.