1,721,023 research outputs found
The (failed) education of the lector philosophus
Full text linkThe essay focuses on the figure of the «lector philosophus», to
whom the Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus is explicitly addressed: not
the contemplative and isolated wise man, nor the philosophers of
the future, with whom one can engage in an esoteric debate on truths
that are disguised and muffled between the text lines, but a varied
cultural and social class abundantly present in the Netherlands at
the time. An aristocracy of the mind (open to rational research,
against dogmatism), of the economy (free market, against the
monopoly of large commercial companies), and of religion (tolerant
and libertarian minority cults). It is a plurality of individuals that
have to be educated to the definitive liberation from all theological
prejudice, on the basis of that deistic «fides universalis» which
Spinoza’s biblical exegesis outlines in the first fifteen chapters of the
treatise: a theology open to reason and intended to support, at the
political level, the democratic-republican faction against the
repressive authoritarianism of monarchy and official cults. On the
other hand, the grand political and pedagogical design of the
treatise preventively excludes the «vulgus», whose ignorance and
superstitions irremediably put them in the hands of the Calvinist
church and of the Orange family. However, the design of a democracy
without «vulgus» will soon prove to be doomed to failure
Vico e Spinoza, moderni eccentrici
No full textAs long as we dwell solely on the explicit references to Spinoza in Vico’s works
(for example as the ‘fatalist’ who denied divine providence) we can not get beyond
direct, and essentially banal, comparisons. Things change considerably,
however, when we begin to move beyond these outer layers and seek out Spinozian
traits, both in form and substance, in Vico’s ideas. In the vast wealth of
criticism on the relationship between these two authors, this essay proposes some
specific, in-depth, philosophico-political observations; from the collective and
anti-individualistic ‘common nature’ of rights and the ‘imperium’, to the links
between theology and politics; from the criticism of the Cartesian metaphysical
subject, to the strategic primacy of democracy in modern forms of power
Il realismo e l'utopia. Su More e Spinoza
No full textRationalism, deism, freedom and tolerance-recognition, republican pacifism: this paper offers an insight into a few themes on which a comparison (very often neglected in scholarship) between ‘utopian’ More and ‘realist’ Spinoza can be based. Notwithstanding the differences between these authors’ political philosophies, there are some significant similarities in argumentation and in the common philosophical grounds on which they are rooted: the ruins of finalism and of universal principles. Both Utopia, a reversed mirror image of society, and Spinoza’s political treatises show a deep awareness of the situatedness and relativity of culture (‘reason’) as opposed to reality: they show an awareness of the inescapable overflow of reality and the inadequacy of any political-philosophical claim on it, and yet never give up the possibility of action. Extreme realism, paradoxically enough, at the beginning of the modern era
La ragione e il pensiero ignoto (sul Croce di Renato Serra)
No full textThroughout his life Renato Serra engaged in a constant dialogue with Croce, both in personal and intellectual terms. The two were friends and highly regarded each other in spite of the fact they often embraced profoundly different views. This paper examines the way Serra took issue with Croce's work. In his view, the Neapolitan philosopher, who played a dominant role in Italian culture at the time, represented the coldness of the 'system', the intention of accounting for the particular on the grounds of the universal: an attitude that Serra could neither share nor appreciate in front of the real suffering of life and insurmountable 'universal injustices'. Nevertheless he admired Croce's intellectual strength, the endless distress of the "undiscovered thought" that he exaltedly and tormentedly disentangled. This is why Serra both criticized and regarded Croce, showing him respect even when their relationship abruptly and resentfully came to an end
Un moderno alla maniera degli antichi: sullo Spinoza di Strauss
No full textSullo Spinoza di Strauss: la critica alla modernità spinoziana e le sue retroazioni sulla filosofia di Strauss
«Esame di coscienza: triste». Sul Diario di trincea di Renato Serra
No full textIl Diario di trincea, vergato poco prima della morte al duro contatto della guerra e solo da pochi anni disponibile in versione integrale,, pone per molti aspetti in una nuova luce il profilo del giovane intellettuale
Il testamento di Spinoza
No full textTradotti per la prima volta in italiano dall'originale tedesco, il volume raccoglie tre saggi giovanili di Leo Strauss su Spinoza, risalenti rispettivamente al 1924, al 1926 e al 1932. Si tratta di studi per molti aspetti originali, sui rapporti tra fede e ragione, teologia e politica, tradizione ebraica ed esegesi biblica
Il moderno incompiuto (sullo Strauss di Spinoza)
No full textLa Prefazione precede la prima traduzione in italiano (dal tedesco) di tre saggi straussiani su Spinoza, pubblicati a cavallo tra gli anni '20 e '30 del secolo scorso. Vi si ricostruisce il ruolo che Spinoza svolge nella complessiva riflessione di Leo Strauss, tra i più originali ed enigmatici filosofi del Novecento
Carissimo Serra / Illustrissimo professore (sul carteggio Serra-Croce)
No full textAttraverso il carteggio tra Renato Serra e Benedetto Croce emergono sia il senso di un rapporto personale "vero", a lungo caratterizzato dalla stima e dall'amicizia, sia i termini di un netto dissenso intellettuale, scandito da visioni del mondo, della vita e della cultura (specie della presa della filosofia sulla vita) radicalmente alternative e inconciliabili. Una doppia relazione, personale e intellettuale, destinata a consumarsi, fino alla brusca rottura finale
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