ABSTRACT
The difficult relationship needs to be submitted to a new ideal of “participation” by which the “ratio” of modernity, linked to the perception of individual identity, would be immersed in the “relationship” per se, like in republican tradition. Rather, what is needed is an effective presence of citizens in concrete activities and institutional places where they can meet each other, activating processes of dialogue, mutual relationships, and association in this way. The wealth of Jean Charles Leonard Sismondi’s experience within Coppet’s circle is not totally linked to Mme de Stael but to the “group” represented by the members: Benjamin Constant, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Charles Victor de Bonstetten, and August Wilhelm Schlegel. In a nutshell, Sismondi’s main problem becomes understanding the process that makes it possible to express the social identity of the single individuals involved in modern organizations whose complexity could hamper their direct participation in political life.
