ALESSANDRO PASSERIN D'ENTRÈVES: FRONTIER MAN

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a biographical profile of Alessandro Passerin d'Entrèves from a recurrent key of observation in the interpreters, commentators, colleagues and friends of the Italian philosopher. This particular key of observation makes reference to both a birth trait of the author - cultural and anthropological as well as an intellectual characteristic. We refer here to adjectives such as frontalier, uomo di frontiera, which often appear associated with Passerin in homages, analyzes and debates within and outside the academic arena. To trace the biographical profile, we divided life facts from Passerin’s experience in three distinct countries: Italy, England and the USA. This choice is not arbitrary, for it is the author himself who asserts its relevance in the preface to the 1967 version of The Notion of State. In making the decision to investigate this statement and to take it as a lens in the observation of the author's life and work, we open the way to understand why commentators and scholars attribute to him and to his work adjectives such as "cosmopolitan", " middle path "," frontalier ".