Philosophers From Italy

"In both Greek and Latin, up until Tertullian, the meaning given to the term “”person“” (which is the equivalent of the Greek “'prosopon”') was that of ‘mask’ or ‘face’. (introduction, p. 9)"

"Only thanks to the concept of persona – a being endowed with dignity and absolute value – brought by Christianity, which makes all men images of God created directly by Him, do all forms of discrimination based on sex, age, race, language, power, wealth, religion, etc. All men are equally worthy of esteem, respect and love, even their enemies, especially the weakest, the poorest, the most humble and defenceless. (introduction, p. 10)"

"Our relationship with truth has something to do with our relationship with each other and with the world."

"It is from the new truths contained in the great philosophical potential of Christianity that Christian metaphysics derives its main characteristics. It will always be a “'creationist”', “'personalistic”', “'spiritualistic”' and “'agapic”' metaphysics. (introduction, p. 15)"

"The concept of person is an acquisition of Christianity. Historically, the word ‘person’ marks the dividing line between pagan and Christian culture. (introduction, p. 9)"

"The world often calls a man fortunate who has many fortunes. As always, the world is mistaken. Fortunate is the man who can find his own being reflected in the being of another spirit, for he truly lives his life to the full. (p. 4)"

"The main merit of the school of Alexandria is that it created theological science, granting Christian citizenship to philosophy and building a solid Christian metaphysics. (p. 23)"

"At the school of Philo, Christian doctors from Alexandria learned to do philosophy and to develop Christian metaphysics, creating a synthesis between Greek philosophy and the philosophical potential of Christianity. (p. 22)"

"The cradle of Christian metaphysics was Alexandria, Egypt. When Christianity was born, this city was the most important cultural centre of the Roman Empire, having taken the place that had previously been held by Athens. (p. 21)"

"There are two salient features of Renaissance culture that influence Metaphysics speculation: spiritual unrest and the secularisation of culture. (p. 10)"

"Only when we listen to the noise within ourselves can we be ready to welcome the words of others. (interlude III)"

"Great metaphysical creations always coincide with the golden age of a civilisation. Whereas the disappearance of Metaphysics is one of the most eloquent signs of a civilisation's decline. (prologue, p. 7)"

"Another peculiarity of humanistic culture is its partial “'secularisation”', which occurs on three levels: in places, in people and in disciplines. (p. 11)"

"Socrates is not a metaphysician in the traditional sense [...] and yet the epithet “metaphysician” rightfully belongs to him, because his study of man goes far beyond the field of science and penetrates the deepest roots of human being and action. (p. 120)"

"Plato is the supreme philosopher, the philosopher par excellence. Undoubtedly, the figure of Aristotle also shines with brilliant splendour. But [...] no other philosopher has influenced the destiny of Western philosophy as much as Plato. His epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, political and aesthetic doctrines, assimilated by Christianity, have become a permanent legacy of medieval and modern culture. The figure of Plato is fundamental, gigantic and multifaceted. In addition to the history of philosophy, it also affects the history of poetry, literature and the Greek language. […] Plato's extraordinary greatness has been recognised throughout the ages. (p. 139)"

"Profound thoughts in a light-hearted soul, that was Franco. You could see it in his face, because even his features matched: a large, high forehead, a compact face that would break into a slight but sincere smile at the slightest thing, eyes that sparkled behind his glasses. He was like that even at Pigafetta High School in Vicenza, a year ahead of us in '53. We would bump into each other during break time and, amid the flood of nonsense, jokes and silly pranks, he stood out because he was smart. He was the prototype not of a good student, but of a boy who had something extra: I never thought of Franco as a nerd, far from it: he was sociable, witty, and sharp in the unwitting contests of intelligence. You found yourself listening to him naturally: you were silent and he spoke, making Giuseppe Faggin's beautiful lessons even more digestible."

"The long and patient exploration of the spiritual world led classical Metaphysics, in its final phase, to the discovery of God: the one God (the One, the Good) of Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus. (introduction, p. 5)"

"One of the problems of the current Church is that the production of happiness has slipped out of its hands. But it is not Nietzsche's fault that the power of the Gospels is fading and the condition of Western man is becoming increasingly paganised."

"Parmenides reaches the highest peak: it is the peak of being, the culmination of metaphysics. Parmenides is the first to conquer this marvellous peak, which, after him, all the other great metaphysicians will also attempt to reach. Parmenides is aware of the greatness of his achievement. [...] Parmenides reached this highest peak not through the senses but through reason. (p. 70)"

"After history has taught us that possession of the Truth often produces fanaticism, and that an individual armed with truth is a potential terrorist, one is led to ask: are relativism and nihilism really the radical evil that we are led to believe? Or do they not also produce an awareness of the relativity of every point of view, and therefore of every religion? And so, do they not convey respect for the point of view of others and, therefore, the fundamental value of tolerance? There is beauty even in relativism and nihilism: they inhibit fanaticism."

"[Natural law] does not come from outside (and therefore is not heteronomous) but from within (and in this sense is autonomous: it is the law that reason itself gives to man or, better still, it is the law that man himself gives himself through his own reason): it is not the result of arduous and abstruse speculation and its perception is so easy that it appears almost intuitive. :*Quoted in Giuseppe Brienza, “”Who was Battista Mondin, missionary and theologian“”, “'Formiche.net”', 4 February 2015."

"Negative theology and positive theology are almost like the wheels of a bicycle. Just as a bicycle cannot move forward if the two wheels do not turn together, so there can be no valid theology if the negative and positive approaches are not used together. The positive path alone leads to anthropomorphism, idolatry, and blasphemy. The negative path leads to agnosticism and atheism."

"The historical position of Iamblichus was constantly debated: to some of his judges he seemed greater than his time and his academic position; to others, including Zeller, he appeared inferior to his fame. His originality lies in having believed that the religious inspiration of the Neoplatonic school was of decisive or fundamental importance for the development of doctrine. Therefore, in having sought to innovate it by drawing on the tradition of syncretism, esoteric priesthood, and mystical passion. (La scuola di Giamblico, “'School of Iamblichus”', XXX, p. 186)"

"Plotinus devoted himself to the methodical task of transforming the direction of studies so that it corresponded to the greatness of the empire and its current problems. To this end, he started again from Plato and the interpretation of Plato; instead, he proposed Aristotle and his method as a subject of study and discussion. When Gallienus, who had recognised him as Caesar, rose to supreme power, he also had the authority and character of official teacher of the empire's philosophy. ('La vita e l'opera di Plotino, “'The Life and Work of Plotinus”', V, p. 37)"

"There is a faith that is enriched by the concepts of reason, and there is a reason that is enriched by the gifts of faith. (introduction, p. 6)"

"Never did the sky of Turin, with the still snow-capped crown of the Alps, appear to me with solar clarity as when, on 28 April 1945, the nightmare of war ended. The city was invaded by thousands of vehicles which, previously hidden because the Germans intended to requisition them, now proceeded honking their horns through the centre in a joyful popular celebration. The city, a third of which had been destroyed by bombing, thought only of rebuilding from that moment on, in the fervent climate of hope that had taken hold of the entire nation. (from “'Le scimmie di Sartre”', p. 58)"

"Only with God and in God can man hope to fulfil himself. The study and knowledge of God are the burning embers that (together with worship and prayer) fuel the flame of our hope."

"The thought of Proclus towered over the entire philosophy of his time as the last great system of Greco-Roman speculation, and offers our thought the dual value of the most elaborate solution to all problems, not only of the Neoplatonic school but of classical philosophy and the form in which it communicated almost immediately to Christian thought in the Middle Ages and the modern age. (Le scuole neoplatoniche, “'The Neoplatonic Schools”', XXXVII, p. 222)"

"Criticism is not only corrosive—if it dissolves old bonds, it is because it creates new solidarity. (p. 73)"

"Adrienne had a very high spirituality with many mystical manifestations (including stigmata). By conversing assiduously with her and noting down her confidences, B. slowly developed his own theological vision."

"My latest book is entitled La Trinità: Mistero d'Amore (The Trinity: Mystery of Love) and has been reprinted for a second edition. Of all the books I have written (more than a hundred), this is the most beautiful and the most original. I also consider it my ‘masterpiece’. The mystery of the Trinity is a mystery of Love, which is realised and expressed in the Three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the basic idea of the book, the idea that inspired me: total Love; Love, in the strongest sense of the term, is truly everything!"

"Fallibility is not a theory, but an attitude, a way of life, a philosophical option that Peirce did not see as dominating the practice of research, but rather as lurking in the folds of science. Absolute knowledge, that is, knowledge free from the constraints of criticism, would, in his view, have precluded any renewal of inquiry. (pp. 28-29)"

"Christianity is a religion and not a philosophy: an act of salvation (a Heilsgeschichte) and not philosophical speculation. Its goal is not, like philosophy, to provide an exhaustive explanation of reality, but to establish a relationship of communion between man and God. (introduction, p. 7)"

"(With the COVID-19 pandemic) We have gone from a city [Milan] that fed on its own light, conquered with Expo, to this desert that invades, as Stefano Boeri would say, its squares. We are in the “'Wasteland”' of Eliot."

"The individual, whose fundamental characteristic for Moreno is spontaneity-creativity, aligns himself with the role: when a conflict arises, more or less consciously, between the subject and the role, between the individual and the given model, illness, anxiety and neurosis arise."

"Reading and rereading these pages by Robert Nozick we can feel that “'his”' philosophy accompanies us, with luminous intelligence, sensitivity and friendship, in “'our”' examined life."

"I was also “educated” about humanity by the ancient Neapolitan cunning, known as the “art of getting by”, or rather, of surviving what was perhaps invincible poverty. There were, for example, the sellers of fake gold, who approached tourists who had just disembarked or were about to enter Zi' Teresa's shop with brazen impudence to sell them some “knock-offs”, there were the old men of San Gennaro dei Poveri who, for a fee, would go from Piazza Carlo III to people's homes to mourn the dead, and could go as far as Vietri and Sorrento if necessary (for triple or at least double the pay: 150 lire); on every corner there were water sellers offering jugs of ice-cold water, along with improvised vendors of pasta, steaming vermicelli freshly served with a sprinkling of tomatoes and pepper; and there were prostitutes, young and old, selling themselves with the same look, sometimes brazen, sometimes imploring. In books and in small everyday events, I found constant, mutual confirmation [...] (from “'Nella Napoli nobilissima”', p. 31)"

"Once upon a time, the heavens were populated by Deities whom we now consider to be more or less naive human projections. But for centuries, indeed for millennia, they appeared more powerful than men, if not their very creators. There is a Latin word that aptly describes this superiority: ‘'superstitio’'. (p. 18)"

"Inaugurated in 1975 by Peter Singer“s famous pamphlet, ”'Animal Liberation“”, philosophical research into our duties towards animals, the moral rights to be ascribed to them, how it is right to treat them, and which practices — economic, scientific, technological—are consistent with the principles of a normative ethic that includes among its “clients” the grandchildren of Bentham and Kant as much as those of Fido or Pluto, is now vast. (p. 7)"

"In the now extensive and equally varied literature on animal rights, Tom Regan's book [...] occupies a special and prominent place. “'The Case for Animal Rights”' is one of the few attempts to systematise and formulate a broader philosophical theory within which arguments in favour of moral reasons take on their specific meaning. These arguments support, inform and dictate what should be the right treatments, actions, institutions and social practices that involve and affect the relationships between us, human animals, and our fellow travellers in the adventure or odyssey of evolution, non-human animals. (p. 7)"

"It seems clear that the current debate on the alleged dictatorship of relativism is a philosophical debate on the meaning and scope of science, critical reflection, political tolerance, and moral choice. (p. 20)"

"While man is clearly a finite being, in self-transcendence he reveals himself to be “'capax infiniti”'. Self-transcendence “together with culture and freedom, is the third characteristic trait that clearly separates man from animals: man constantly surpasses himself ... in everything he does, thinks, says, knows, loves and achieves."

"[...] anti-humanism is a characteristic feature of certain contemporary philosophies that at first glance are the antithesis of what Severino defends. They are, in fact, philosophies that deny Being and affirm appearance in its disorder, in its accidentality, in the arbitrary games of which man himself is the random result. By insisting on the “'difference”' between appearance and Being, these philosophies attribute to appearance, which for them is the only “reality” (if it can be called that) that can be spoken of, the characteristics opposite to those of Parmenidean Being. Severino, on the other hand, insists on these characteristics and denies the others. But he too reduces man to the domain of appearance and sees him resolved in it. “In Western language,” he says, “‘man’, ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘group’, “people”, ‘social class’ are words that express the forms taken by the persuasion that isolates the Earth, that is, the forms of alienation from truth”. In other words, they are “forms of error”. And so man and his world seem to be dismissed. But the “error” mentioned above can only be committed by Destiny, and so we can see in man “the appearance of Destiny”, that is, the dimension in which only “the occurrence of the mortal” is possible, with all that it implies. (from “Emanuele Severino”, pp. 104-105)"

"I believe that thoughtful men and women, willing to examine the issues of their own lives and those of our fellow travellers on earth, should in any case be grateful to philosophers such as Tom Regan for their commitment, scientific integrity and passion for something that has to do with what we can still call, in our forms of communal living, possible “progress” in ethics. (p. 12)"

"Fundamentalism arises, precisely with this word, in the context of Christianity, particularly Protestant Christianity, especially American. [...] There is also Catholic fundamentalism."

"I believe that we can make sense of the world without necessarily bringing God into it."

"Any human behavior, even the most horrible in the light of certain values, is natural because it is permitted by the laws of nature."

"The link between philosophy and theatre is strong because theatre also deals with the embodiment of cognitive action, that is, making something happen as a sign of something else."

"The foundation of ethics is the practice of ethics; there is no need to base it on anything else."

"Scientists are wrong when, faced with a part of reality that does not correspond to their theory, they try to erase reality instead of modifying the theory."