Essayists From Italy

"The undersigned was among the first to denounce the inadequacy of the Pope's comments on terrorist violence and to gently suggest that he reread Benedict XVI's lecture in Regensburg, when Ratzinger, with foresight, confronted Islam with the problem that this religion has with the use of the sword, that is, force and coercion."

"An open society is [...] open to as many people as possible with different and perhaps conflicting ideas, ideals and beliefs — it is open to as many as possible, but not to everyone. It is closed, on pain of self-destruction, only to the intolerant, that is, to those who, believing themselves to be in possession of absolute truths and exclusive values, attempt to impose these truths and values at any cost, even with tears of blood. (p. 11)"

"Europe is its history. “And this history is not the history of an idea that allows only one tradition, but the history of a tradition that allows the most diverse and daring ideas”."

"Supreme values are the subject of conscious choices: they are neither “proven” theorems nor “self-evident” and “self-founding” axioms."

"Christianity was the most important political event in the West: by religious decree, the state cannot be everything. Theocracy, therefore, is not part of Europe's destiny."

"Quite a few intellectuals, undoubtedly well-intentioned, have repeatedly emphasised the fact that Europe does not have today, and will have even less tomorrow, a single philosophy, a single faith, a single morality. They have seen and continue to see this as the weakness of the West and the fragility of Europe. In short, Europe would be weak without such a “unifying idea, a single faith” to proudly oppose other cultures that are far more monolithic and dogmatic."

"Life is understood through life. The past is understood through the present: it is present “experience” that makes past experiences relevant, that gives blood to shadows, that brings them back to life."

"The continuous proposal of alternatives and relentless criticism are the two pillars on which all scientific research is based."

"Having more theories available that allow us to see different aspects of an event and attempt to discard existing theories is not a weakness, but a strength."

"Despite the long history of the “controversy over method”, which has seen a series of attempts – from Dilthey to the Frankfurt School – to deny (especially by some historians, sociologists and philosophers) the unity of the “scientific method”, today it seems increasingly clear that scientific theories are constructed, tested, confirmed or rejected through a “single methodology”."

"Popper developed what is today the most rigorous, articulate and devastating critique of Marxism."

"Closely connected with the idea of “rationality”, understood as a critical attitude, Popper developed the theory of the “open society”. Critical of “historicism”, i.e. the claim that one can grasp the “laws” that guide the whole of human history, Popper opposed “holism” (i.e. the idea that society can be known in its entirety) and “utopianism” (the idea that society can be “changed” in its entirety according to a deliberate plan)."

"Popper argues that the worst aspects of Marxism stem from Hegelianism, namely historicism and totalitarianism. Not only Hegel, but also Marx is a “false prophet”."

"Living is learning. Science evolves in a Darwinian way: through trial and error."

"At the beginning of the academic year 1946-1947, Karl R. Popper received an invitation from the Secretary of the Moral Science Club in Cambridge to give a lecture. This was the occasion for the clash between Popper and Wittgenstein on the tasks of philosophy. But here is what happened the day after Popper gave his lecture. The next day, Popper recounts in his Autobiography, on the train to London, there were two students sitting opposite each other in my compartment, a boy reading a book and a girl reading a left-wing newspaper. Suddenly, the girl asked, “Who is this Karl Popper?” And the boy replied, “Never heard of him”. Such is fame. (I later learned that the newspaper contained an attack on “The Open Society”)."

"“'Information does not produce imperatives”'. And, therefore, it is not logically possible to move from being to ought to be. This, in short, is the law of Hume, the great division between indicative assertions and prescriptive assertions, between facts and values. This law is a death sentence for natural law and tells us that values are not based on science: they are based on our “choices of conscience”. (p. 62)"

"[...] the Christian idea of man “made in the image and likeness of God” has created, on a political level, a tension that runs through the entire history of the West. It is, in fact, an ideal which, despite compromising and even murky vicissitudes, between ‘theocratic’ temptations and ‘satanocratic’ rejections of political power, has exerted, throughout history, a sometimes overwhelming pressure on its antithetical worldly element. “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's”: with this, the principle that Káysar is not Kýrios entered history – political power was desacralised, the worldly order relativised, and Caesar's demands subjected to a judgement of legitimacy by an inviolable conscience. On this basis, Origen could justify, against Celsus, the refusal of Christians to associate themselves with the cult of the emperor or to refuse to kill in obedience to his orders."

"Without inspiration, without the Muses' enchantment, no artist, no matter how skilled they may be, can be considered a true artist."

"[On the teaching of philosophy in secondary schools] In France and Spain, where it has been almost eliminated from secondary schools, they have regretted it. In Germany, there is no possibility of an intermediate level of knowledge. A philosopher like Gadamer is much better understood in Italy than in Germany. He once told me that when he came here he felt like he was in a sanctuary: all those young people who came to hear him had tools of understanding that no other country had."

"I am shocked by the idea that there are still people who take seriously Popper's analysis of Plato – “that bitter enemy of freedom”, as Marcello Pera uncritically describes him – without questioning the texts, checking the quotations or comparing them. These are elementary operations. Today, these may be unknown to most people, but they cannot escape the attention of a scholar who aspires to this role or who remembers them."

"The prevailing idea is that knowledge derives from science and that technology solves all problems. Yet popper and the epistemologists have explained that science, by definition, cannot have universal and necessary ideas, but only ideas that are consistent with a paradigm that is dominant at that particular moment. The beauty of philosophy is that it can also contain opposing systems, because our ideas are not definitive."

"Plato can be considered the philosopher who is both the easiest and the most difficult to read."

"I leave no room for euthanasia. I don't say, “Let me die”. But, “Let me die as nature intended”. Neither you nor I. Nature. Take the case of Piergiorgio Welby, whom I followed closely. Welby did not essentially say: pull the plug. But: let nature take its course, do not make me a victim of technology that builds something artificial and substitute for nature. It is identical to what John Paul II is said to have said: let me return to my Father's house. The latter had faith, the former did not. For Welby, it was a journey into absolute darkness, for the Pope, into life. But from a human point of view, it is the same understandable request."

"While the term "henology" is widely used in foreign languages, for example in French, it is almost never used in Italian and should therefore be introduced. We have used the initial h because it conveys the harsh spirit of έν, but above all to differentiate the metaphysical term from the current one."

"The democracy to which Plato refers is not ours. For him, democracy is demagoguery, i.e. the lawfulness that leads to chaos. In his view, the flaw of demagoguery is the absolute excess of freedom that slips into licence. It is in this situation that man unleashes his worst instincts...Every government, he tells us, is exposed to deterioration. The three forms of government that Plato imagined – those “of the best”, “of the few” and “of the many” – can become corrupt. But the worst of all is the government “of the best”: the king who turns into a tyrant. Plato was never kind to tyrants."

"[On The Multiple Meanings of Being According to Aristotle] Among the various books I have read and studied on the philosophy of Aristotle, this one by Brentano certainly occupies one of the top places, if not the first."

"Aristotle was not only his critic, but also his most brilliant student. He rejected his doctrine of ideas, but I am not so convinced that he was horrified by his political convictions. He borrowed the ethical virtue as a happy medium between extremes from Platonic thought."

"Camus said that Christ came into this world to face two problems that philosophy will never solve. First: why do I suffer? And second: why am I born with a sign around my neck saying “condemned to death”? Jesus took them upon himself, thus making them sacred."

"Faced with death, one cannot help but cry... Crying is suffering in the face of true evil, and what is more true than death?"

"The acceptability of a scientific theory is relative to the knowledge and technical resources available at a given time. (p. 7)"

"In science, nothing is certain: neither general assertions nor observational assertions. (p. 7)"

"You cannot be a philosopher. You cannot be one because you are a believer. A Catholic cannot be a philosopher'. So said Ugo Spirito to me one day. And this was the claim of most of the most influential philosophical movements of the century just ended. It was the presumption of those idealists for whom philosophy had among its tasks that of bringing to rational awareness contents embedded in “religious myths”."

"(About Susanna Agnelli) She has always been the least Turinese member of the Agnelli family and, one might add, the most public."

"This book is about a survivor: of two world wars, seven popes, the monarchy, fascism, the First Republic and perhaps even the Second, if it is true that it is in crisis. And of six trials for mafia association and murder. It is the biography of a protagonist and witness who is quite unique in the Italian landscape: a friend of popes, heads of state, nuns, beggars, bankrupts, saints, dictators, actresses, emirs, painters, footballers, thieves and mafia colluders. A former powerful figure who is difficult to define as ‘former’, and about whom the younger generations know little and the older ones think they know (almost) everything, even if this is not true."

"Susanna Agnelli, known as ‘Suni’, a nickname that always sounded terribly snobbish simply because she bore it, has always remained a mysterious woman: paradoxically, aloof. A tall, imposing figure with an ironic smile and an equally ironic gaze, little is known about her private life, her children or her friends. She was a sort of manifesto for silent female emancipation. But never, at heart, ostentatious; and perhaps she paid dearly for it."

"Andreotti dreamed of a ‘Christian’ cinema that would compensate for the cultural primacy of the communists. Following his inclination towards concrete things, he listed the box office takings of Roman cinemas for the screening of the film [Gli uomini non guardano il cielo] on the life of Pius X, and compared them with the much higher takings of Siamo tutti assassini. He concluded that films about popes were not ‘box office hits’ even for Roman Catholics, who were supposed to be pious. (p. 51)"

"[...] as Minister of Finance, [Andreotti] had intervened to have a poster changed in which Anna Magnani was dressed as a nun. The problem was called Pascalina Lehnert. Sister Pascalina, who was a kind of ‘housekeeper’ to the Pope, belonged to the order of Franciscan Missionary Sisters, who considered their habit to be ‘desecrated’ by the poster. The poster was changed and some scenes from the film [Suor Letizia] were reshot. Sister Pascalina had won, and Andreotti had earned himself extra credit with Pius XII. (p. 52)"

"Massimo Franco, Andreotti. , Oscar Mondadori, Milano, 2010. ISBN 978-88-04-59563-2"

"The Como people... went to Lierna, where they were terrified by seeing its inhabitants appear, they hid in the mountain woods, the Como people burned their beautiful tower crowned with green laurel, after having put its defenders to flight away."

"Commander Gabriele D'Annunzio, I know of nothing that equals the harmony of your captivating words, the energy of your victorious work. With the devoted, grateful heart of an Italian and an artist, I hope your wishes be fulfilled. For beautiful Italy, for great Italy, for her noblest son, for his valiant comrades, eja, eja, eja, alalà!"

"It was the beginning of June; summer was arising out of spring, like an aloe from a field of grass."

"He wanted to possess not the body but the soul of that woman; and to possess her entire soul, with all her tenderness, all her joys, all her fears, all her anguish, all her dreams, in other words, the entire lief of her soul; and to be able to say: I am the life of her life."

"And in the kisses, what deep sweetness! There are women's mouths that seem to ignite with love the breath that opens them. Whether they are reddened by blood richer than purple, or frozen by the pallor of agony, whether they are illuminated by the goodness of consent or darkened by the shadow of disdain, they always carry within them an enigma that disturbs men of intellect, and attracts them and captivates them. A constant discord between the expression of the lips and that of the eyes generates the mystery; it seems as if a duplicitous soul reveals itself there with a different beauty, happy and sad, cold and passionate, cruel and merciful, humble and proud, laughing and mocking; and the abiguity arouses discomfort in the spirit that takes pleasure in dark things."

"The woman bent down to pick up the fallen pomegranate from the grass. It was ripe, it had burst open in the fall, stained her white dress. The vision of the laden barge, the pale island, the flowery meadow returned to her loving spirit along with the Creator's words: 'This is my body...Take and eat..."

"But the daily tasks and prayers of men, the ancient city tired from having lived too long, the ravaged marble and worn out bells, all those things oppressed by the weight of memories, all those perishable things were rendered humble in comparison with the tremendous blazing Alps that tore at the sky with their thousand unyielding spikes, a vast, solitary city that was waiting, perhaps, for a new race of Titans."

"[...] represents the breaking of the integrity of the person, the splitting of good from evil, and above all the birth of a man's dialogic relationship with himself. Here, as in the best pages on the splitting of consciousness, Stevenson experiments with the principle so dear to the novel of adventure and mystery, and made intensely problematic by Dostoevsky's work, according to which everything in man lives on the border of its opposite: nobility of soul thrives on the border with abjection, love on the borders of hatred, good on those of evil. In these terms Markheim's confession to himself takes place in the tragic doubling on the fatal threshold [...]."

"The orientalist vision of the Holy Scriptures even becomes popular with the illustrated editions of the Bible, from that of Gustave Doré of 1866, imaginative but with precise oriental references, to the very widespread one edited by [[James Tissot] ], which includes views of the cities, maps, architectural reconstructions and topographical surveys of the sacred stations with the aim of making biblical archeology reliable, otherwise distorted, as the curator claims, by the fervent imagination of the artists. In one sense or another, the drive to seek the living testimonies of the Holy Scriptures in the Eastern reality of the moment, and to permeate a disenchanted West, was relaunched in the second half of the nineteenth century by the neo-spiritualist attempt to reaffirm the primacy of faith in the era of scientific materialism ."

"Jekyll is not just an example of hypocrisy, capable how is it to repress Hyde, the one who is "hidden", while enjoying ignoble (and indefinite) gratifications through him. He embodies the prototype of the scientist who Faustianly rises above others by sublimating in his research of "transcendental medicine", in the inescapable gesture, the liberation of repressed instincts."

"The Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt [...] traveled across much of Palestine in a passionate search for places and people who would allow him an adequate reconstruction of crucial scenes from the Gospels [...]. Precisely because he feels he is the last witness of a world in the process of slow but inexorable change, his reconstruction of evangelical scenes and episodes, conducted through careful historical research, is extremely meticulous in detail and overloaded with a heavy and erudite."

"The Tuscan capital does not conquer its guests with a spectacle which, like the bewitching embrace of the Venetian lagoon, or the intensity of the Neapolitan panoramas, or the picturesque Roman ruins, can be reduced to a tourist stereotype. The reserve, the sense of proportion, the intellectual rigor of its architecture, no less than the rationality of a landscape combed by the hand of man, mainly attract cultured and refined people. In the eyes of the citizen of tumultuous London or of the sooty industrial cities, Florence with its hills and its basin bisected by the Arno reveals itself as an ideal microcosm, the idea of ​​a city immersed in a arcane harmony."