Anthony, an eminent Italian writer, born November 1712, at Castiglione, near Salerno. After receiving a preliminary education in his native village, at his father’s desire he commenced the study of scholastic theology, with a view to the ecclesiastical profession. He soon distinguished himself as a proficient in dialectics; but in consequence of his having formed an attachment to a young woman, he was removed by his father to another village, where he found a priest who diverted his attention to different objects. Having been afterwards excommunicated by the archbishop of Conza for acting a part in a comedy, he returned to Castiglione; and finding his mistress married, he re-assumed the cassock, and took priest’s orders at Salerno in 1736. Here he soon distinguished himself so much by his talents, that the archbishop of this town promoted him to the chair of eloquence. At this period Genovesi was a mere school theologian; but he now began to perceive that there were sources of knowledge beyond the scholastic sphere, more extensive, more interesting, and more real than those to which he had hitherto applied. Genovesi entered into this new intellectual world by the perusal of some romances; from these he proceeded to the study of history; and finally applied himself to the study of modern philosophy, particularly the works of Leibnitz and Locke. He then went to the capital, where he endeavoured to maintain himself as an advocate; but becoming disgusted with the details of practice, he soon abandoned it, and devoted himself to study. He improved his knowledge of the Greek, and of several of the modern languages, attended all the most celebrated professors of the university of Naples, and Genovesi soon perceived the imperfections of the system of public instruction. He accordingly resolved to effect its reform, with a view to the amelioration of the condition of his countrymen. Although there existed at Naples a university celebrated for the learning of several of its professors, the pupils had long been accustomed to carry on their studies in private schools. Genovesi having conceived the design of opening one of these seminaries, he procured the appointment of extraordinary professor of metaphysics in the university, in order that he might appear before the public in a known character. He had formed peculiar methods of his own in all the faculties which constitute the philosophical course; and his first essays induced him to publish his Elements of Metaphysics, of which the first volume appeared in 1743, and afterwards, in 1745, his System of Logic. In these two works he made ample use of the doctrines of Bacon, Descartes, Leibnitz, and Locke; and having substituted philosophical doubt for implicit belief, the observation of nature for the speculations of the schools, and reason for authority, he was denounced as an infidel, or at least as an irreligious person, by those who still adhered to the scholastic methods. He was supported, however, by Galiani, archbishop of Tarentum, grand almoner of the king, and grand master of the university; yet notwithstanding this protection he experienced some trouble and difficulty in obtaining the professorship of moral philosophy; and was disappointed in an attempt to procure the chair of theology.

The unjust and obstinate hostility he suffered on account of his theological works diverted him for a time from this path of inquiry, and brought him back to that of philosophy. He published a continuation of his Elements of Metaphysics; but with every new volume he continued to experience the censures and opposition of the partizans of the scholastic routine. Among these were the Cardinal Spinelli, archbishop of Naples, and an Abbé Magli, whom Genovesi covered with ridicule in his work entitled Lettere a un Amico Provinciale. In spite of these continual jarrings, Genovesi obtained the approbation and esteem of Pope Benedict XIV., of several cardinals, and of most of the learned men who at that period flourished in Italy. Of this number was Intieri, a Florentine, alike distinguished for his philanthropical qualities and the extent and solidity of his acquirements. It is to him that Italy is indebted for her first chair of political economy, which he founded at his own expense in the university of Naples, under three conditions, namely, that the lectures should be in Italian, that Genovesi should be the first professor, and that, after his death, no ecclesiastic should succeed him.

Genovesi opened his first course of lectures on the 5th of November 1754, with great success. The novelty and the interest of the subject, the eloquent style and agreeable manner of the professor, attracted a crowd of auditors, and made a deep and lively impression. Nothing, indeed, was talked of but agriculture and commerce. Genovesi afterwards published his Lectures on Commerce, and Carey's Account of the Trade of England translated into Italian by his brother, with notes by himself. The great success of these lectures, which were delivered in Italian, induced Genovesi to draw up a complete code of philosophy in that language, so as to render the work accessible to those classes to whom the Latin tongue was not familiar. He had published in Italian his Meditazioni Filosofiche, on religion and morals; and his Lettere Accademiche, on the utility of the arts and sciences—a treatise written in opposition to the well-known work of Rousseau on that subject. Following out his plan, he began to recast all his Latin works, and to improve their form, so as to render them more generally interesting. The first of these was his treatise on Logic, which went through several editions. Then his Metaphysics appeared, in three parts, viz., on cosmology, theology, and anthropology. In 1767 he published part of a work on the Science of the Rights and Duties of Man; but this was never completed. In all his writings the style is somewhat affected; at the same time they present us with a good exposition of the ideas and systems of the most celebrated philosophers.

After the suppression of the order of the Jesuits, when it became a question with the government whether they ought to be reinstated in their superintendence of public instruction, Genovesi was consulted, and his advice was to replace the scholastic chairs by schools of mathematics, physics, and history; and he proposed one chair for the illustration of Cicero De Officiis.

From the commencement of 1763 Genovesi had felt the symptoms of a dangerous malady; but he continued to teach and to write to the last day of his life; and he had the satisfaction of witnessing the great success of his labours. Since the days of Telesius and Campanella no school had attained more credit and celebrity at Naples than that of Genovesi. Pupils of all ranks flocked to his lectures; and those who heard him generally adopted his ideas. He handled the most abstruse subjects in the most agreeable manner, and thus secured a great command over the attention as well as over the judgment of his pupils. Indeed all that Italy has since produced in philosophical and economical science may be said to have originated in the school which he founded. Genovesi died of a dropsical disorder, September 22, 1769, aged fifty-seven.

The following list of his works is taken from Fabroni, Vite Italienne di scrittori illustri:

1. Disciplinarum metaphysicarum Elementa Mathematica in mores adscripta, 1744-1751, 4 vols. 2. Elementorum Artis logico-criticae libri quinque, Neapol., 1745. 3. Discorso sopra alcuni trattati d'Agricoltura, ibid., 1753. 4. Lettere Accademiche, ibid., 1754. 5. Storia del Commercio della Gran Bretagna, &c., 1757. 6. Della Colonizzazione di Commercio, ibid., 1758. 7. Discorso sopra l'Agricoltura, with a translation into French, ibid., 1759. 8. Discorso sul volgarizzamento del Saggio Francesco sull'Economia de' grandi, Naples, 1765. 9. Meditazioni Filosofiche sulla Religione e sulla Morale, ibid., 1766. 10. Della Filosofia del giusto e dell'onesto, 1768-1776, 3 vols. 11. Universae Christianae Theologiae elementa dogmaticae, historicae, criticae, a posthumous work, Venice, 1771, 2 vols. 4to.