Preceded by Karl Jaspers with Dufrenne, Ricoeur’s Gabriel Marcel et Karl Jaspers came out in 1947 without introduction, in an existentialist and Sartrian climate (atheist: Heidegger, Sartre; Christian: Jaspers, Marcel), emphasized by Mounier. Ricoeur relies on elective kinships – but passed over in silence by both Jaspers and Marcel. In 1950 it may seem that Ricoeur shifts to phenomenological and ethical interests while they are in truth contemporary and even earlier. In 1963 Ricoeur denies that the family of existentialism ever existed from any point of view (father, method, themes, problems). Until, in the Entretiens with Marcel (1968), Ricoeur denies the privileged comparison with Jaspers for an opposition. Finally, to rediscover a Marcel / Jaspers closeness but otherwise, between situation and otherness. The Foreword by Karl Jaspers and the review by Gabriel Marcel are translated from French by Paolo Scolari.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the meaning of the idea of happiness within the Orteguian conception of authentic life. In order to understand the diverse aspects of this important topic, we need to situate the issue of happiness within an anthropological and ethical context, and consequently, to reflect upon notions such as self, vocation, destiny, project, mission, enterprise, task and circumstance.
This paper critically analyzes the naturalistic thesis of the necessity of the universe and firstly states its scientific unprovability. Then, with further arguments, it refutes this thesis, proving that the reasons for the existence of the universe cannot be found in the universe itself. Afterwards, starting from this conclusion and Leibniz’s well-known observations concerning being and nothingness, the work demonstrates that nothingness is inconsistent and that the existence of the world implies a totally simple foundation. The paper also shows the incompatibility of a nihilistic conception with the existence of properties and relationships, which the logic that governs the world and makes it intelligible is based on. Finally, the work proves that the cosmos does not derive from the foundation necessarily, but according to an intentional finalism, and that therefore the cosmos exists due to a choice.
This paper deals with Proclus’ philosophy of history, focusing in particular on his In Timaeum. In primis, it will examine his spiroidal conception of the cosmic becoming. In this conception, it will be possible to find the theoretical reasons that lead Proclus to think about the past as the place of a more authentic theological revelation. Thus, it will also become possible to understand why he conceives philosophy as an attempt to approach traditional theological wisdom. In secundis, it will be shown how this way of conceiving philosophy is manifested in concrete terms by Proclus in his interpretation of the Platonic myth of Atlantis, in which a radical syncretism finds its expression. As a whole, the research will allow us to understand the complex process through which Proclus looks at the past as a place of perfection, without conceiving the present and the future in negative terms.
The following article constitutes Part Two of an inquiry into Thomas Aquinas’s theory of time perception, dealing with the psychology of time perception in his commentaries on the De sensu et sensato and De memoria et reminiscencia (§ 1), and applying his account to the analysis of three temporal phenomena: linguistic utterances, musical intervals, and sensible motions (§ 2). The introduction and analysis of the main principles of Thomas’s account, established in his commentary on Physics IV, c. 10-14, may be found in Part One.
Schopenhauer was often characterized as the philosopher of pessimism and irrational will, to be placed at the antipodes of the Kantian optimistic and rationalistic system. The theme and goal of this contribution is to show, on the basis of the examination of three interconnected topics, that Schopenhauer’s theory does not represent the antithesis of Kant’s thought, but rather depends on it. We will point out that both philosophers share following conceptions: 1. the pessimistic concept of nature and history as based on the eternal struggle between their constituting elements; 2. the distinction between empirical and rational consciousness; 3. the idea that human nature is pervaded by an original pain. It is therefore justified, to situate these doctrines of Kant and Schopenhauer within the context of the so-called pre-Darwinian, or better, Lucretian, theories.
One of the most prominent debates in contemporary Thomism has been that of the historiography of the Dominican Thomist school. In 1958, Cornelio Fabro wrote a paper explaining the reasons why, in his view, the most famous commentators of this school, among them Domingo Bañez, would have misinterpreted the meaning of the actuality of the esse by identifying it with existence. Santiago Orrego responded to the Fabriana criticism, thus giving us the opportunity to study both positions and the metaphysical value of this passage from esse to existentia.
Utilizing Blumenberg’s critical analysis of Husserl’s phenomenology, this article aims to reconstruct and interpret the most important aspects of Blumenberg’s own phenomenological anthropology. Special attention is paid to his theory of life-world, which accounts for the self-evident structures of meaning that shape everyday human experience, and whose historical configurations are addressed by Blumenberg.
Thanks to the combination of his attentiveness for spiritual life with an intuitive ecological sensibility, in his work Thomas Berry was able to propose a new relationship between religion and science. In particular, his encounter with Teilhard de Chardin was crucial for the development of an understanding of human beings as a phenomenon arising within the very evolutionary process of the universe. The present paper concentrates on three fundamental aspects of Berry’s works: first of all, the understanding of the contemporary ecological crisis in terms of a value crisis; secondly, the need to integrate Christian cosmology with scientific discoveries; and, finally, the idea of an emerging Ecozoic Era. The main aim of this research is to bring to light Berry’s call to achieve an understanding of both the psychic and physical dimensions of the universe in order to envisage human activity as an integral part of the ecosystem and to embrace healthier relationships between humans and the planet.
About sixty years after the first Italian translation, the new edition of Husserl’s Experience and Judgement reconstructs with philological accuracy the sources of the work, illustrates its complex internal texture, and the Wirkungsgeschichte of this milestone work that inaugurates a new understanding of the concept of experience. In the Foreword the editor, who was able to successfully render the often-obscure language of the work, explores the «secret plot» of Husserl’s reflection in the transition from static phenomenology to genetic phenomenology.
In this paper, we analyze the challenges opened up by the posthumous collection of Husserlian manuscripts entitled Grenzprobleme der Phänomenologie. Analysen des Unbewusstseins und der Instinkte - Metaphysics. Späte Ethik. Texte aus dem Nachlass (1908-1937) and its partial Italian translation Fenomenologia dell’inconscio. After specifying the most appropriate way of understanding the Grenzphänomene in Husserlian phenomenology, we discuss in depth two key concepts of genetic phenomenology only recently debated by the Italian phenomenologists: dreamless sleep and unconscious. Husserlian’s inquires on temporality is essential and constitutive to both issues.
This article discusses the theses argued in A. Aguti’s volume, Morale e Religione. Per una visione teistica, Morcelliana, Brescia 2021, in which the issue of the theistic foundation of ethics is addressed. The article argues that theism has a convincing motivational value vis-à-vis the acceptance of ethics, while it does not have as much value from the point of view of its justification. The basis for a non-naturalistic moral realism is a robust theory of the good.
Written in the first person, the Selbstdarstellung (Self-portrait) offers a clear and lively presentation of Kazimierz Twardowski’s biographical and intellectual path, as well as a testimony of how modern Polish philosophy was born at the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Twardowski emerges as a young philosopher and pupil of Brentano, a scrupulous teacher who was very attentive to the education and autonomy of his students, and a tireless organizer of philosophical life in Poland. Twardowski’s Selbstdarstellung is presented for the first time in Italian translation. It is preceded by a brief introduction which takes into consideration various historiographical interpretations.
H. Blumenberg, Realität und Realismus (P. Carreras), p. 221 – G. Bonacina (a cura di), Filosofia e storia: una relazione ancora possibile? (F.A. Gambini), p. 223 – F. Brusori, La mente come specchio flessibile (M. Pirazzoli), p. 227 – G. Cambiano, Filosofia greca e identità dell’Occidente (R. Pozzo), p. 229 – F. Colombo, Verità e democrazia (C. De Florio), p. 232 – A. de Laurentiis, Hegel’s Anthropology (S. Achella), p. 235