Ardigò, Roberto

Ardigò, Roberto (rōbĕr`tō ärdēgô`), 1828–1920, Italian positivist philosopher. His early life was spent in the priesthood, from which he withdrew in dissatisfaction at the age of 43. Later he was a professor at the Univ. of Padua (1881–1909) and defended his conviction that human knowledge originated in sensation against the philosophical idealism then popular in Italy. Most of his writings were collected in Opere filosofiche (12 vol., 1882–1912); he also wrote La scienza della educazione (3d ed. 1909).