It is often fascinating to discover the first work of a philosopher, that one through which you enter through his thought; this is what happens with Saggio sullo stato (1918) by Giuseppe Capograssi, one of the most decisive philosopher and jurist in the Italy of the twentieth century. All essential issues that he will deepen in the course of his later works are already present here: the nature and purpose of the state, the question of the modern crisis of the individual, the need to listen the common and ordinary, the statement of   equality of all human beings as a result of the "revolution" made by Christianity.
The method of Capograssi is similar to that of Giambattista Vico, of which he provides here a very rich interpretation: as Vico he is convinced that we can not consider the institutions through which humanity tries to proceed ignoring the genealogy, or pretending to believe it all started with the scientific consideration of reality. In his view there is a not critical knowledge, but equally certain, that precedes the philosophical inquiry and that can not be content to ignore it. If you want to clarify the nature of the state, you should really start from the beginning: before any possibility of scientific consideration.