Philosophers From Italy

"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)"

"There are two values I am not willing to give up: freedom and equality. No one can impose their conception of life, their ideas or their beliefs on others. Even if freedom is never absolute [...], everyone must be able to choose how to live their life, without coercion or intimidation. Only when we are free can we take responsibility for our choices, our actions and their consequences: freedom is the cornerstone of personal autonomy; it is what allows each person to become the protagonist of their own life. At the same time, however, in order for freedom not to remain an abstract value, it is necessary to organise the conditions conducive to its exercise, first and foremost among which is equality. If I do not have the same rights as others and if I do not have the material means to assert them, I cannot automatically be free to choose what I want to do or to achieve what I desire."

"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."

"The neutrality of sociometry conceals a precise ideology: psychology is thus in a typical situation of “objectification” and of a loss of intentionality and meaning in its theoretical operations and practices; it provides a typical example of the “forgetting of meaning” referred to by Husserl in “The Crisis” [...] The need for a genetic investigation that reveals the intersubjective root of neurosis, reacting to the “solipsistic” danger of psychoanalysis, remains the most interesting and valid aspect of Moreno's research. [...] The intersubjectivity that Moreno wishes to assert in diagnosis and therapy reveals itself to be an abstract intersubjectivity, or, as we would say in phenomenological language, unfounded."

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

"Autumn is the season of man, because it is like us: a death that is not without fruit."

"Humanism remains a deeply religious and essentially Christian culture. However, the shift in the cultural epicentre – from God to man – generates a new spirituality marked by tensions and anxieties unknown in the previous era. (p. 10)"

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

"The transition from one era to another is never instantaneous. Epochs are historical periods spanning several centuries, and cultural transitions last a few centuries. (p. 9)"

"Existence appears as an “ex-sistere” from nothingness."

"The God of Clement's Christian metaphysics is endowed with intelligence, will, freedom, power and goodness. (p. 32)"

"Origen embraces the key principle of Christian metaphysics, the theorem of creation. With Clement, he affirms that everything that is not God was drawn from nothing. He is the only principle of all things. (p. 55)"

"The substance of Nicholas of Cusa“s thought is above all Christian and Platonic. And the term 'substance” is used here in its proper and rigorous sense. In fact, in Cusano's system, Platonism constitutes a substantial element and not simply a formal and expressive one. (p. 18)"

"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)"

"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 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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"Philosophy is an inventory of thoughts in the flow of life."

"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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"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)"

"When I wandered around Naples sixty years ago, breathing in the salty air amid the cries of the fishmongers, I certainly did not encounter the Absolute Spirit, which advances through history via its dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. I was assailed, painfully and sweetly, only by the manifold reality. I saw the faces of the Neapolitans, their mocking expressions, with an ancient and popular wisdom, at one with the courtly and familiar misery of the “most noble Naples”, between the baroque solemnity of the monuments and the squalor of the slums. I told myself that Hegel's “Ratio” was far removed from all this, from the beauty of the women, from the dazzling glances of the dark eyes behind the long lashes of the girls down in Via Toledo and Chiaia, in the boisterous cheerfulness that greeted you everywhere, even in poverty, even in the tattered multicoloured clothes drying in the alleys in the night breeze, under the moon. Was it perhaps the Absolute that was the subject of the real world, of history, or rather the multiplicity of individuals, with their authentic needs? (from “'L'assoluto e l'odor di pesce”', p. 20)"

"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."

"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)"

"Christianity reveals many mysteries that are completely inaccessible to reason. Such are the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation, sanctifying grace, the Mystical Body, and the resurrection of the flesh. (introduction, p. 7)"

"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)"

"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!"

"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."

"Poor Nietzsche! He was the only philosopher who had the singular privilege of being held responsible for nothing less than a world war."

"[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."

"If a party is unable to uphold a basic principle such as equality between children, regardless of their parents' sexual orientation, then it is no longer a party with which one can identify."

"It is in Christianity that the spirit becomes self-transparent consciousness, a reality ‘in and of itself’ (to use the language of Hegel), free initiative and absolute freedom. (introduction, p. 9)"

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

"Methodological atheism is precisely a way of living as if God did not exist, or regardless of God, or regardless of those who claim to impose their values in the name of God."

"Too often we forget that the opposite of relativism is absolutism. (p. 15)"

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

"Against this fundamentalism, I believe we must return to the Enlightenment. [...] I particularly like what is called radical Enlightenment, that of Spinoza for example, that of Diderot, that of the Marquis de Sade. [...] How much violence... yes, he theorizes it, describes it in his novels, while some guardians of morality, such as various pedophile priests and those who have covered up for them and continue to do so, actually commit it."

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

"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)"

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

"I fully identify with the anti-idolatrous component of Christianity."

"Every culture has a need for the divine, more like a need for love."

"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)"

"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."