Francesco d'Assisi come spunto, nel film di Rossellini, per una riflessione sui temi della marginalità sociale e dell'anticonformismo.

L'esperienza cristiana di Francesco d'Assisi ha ispirato non solo la letteratura religiosa del suo tempo, ma ha costituito un punto di riferimento anche per l'elaborazione filosofica e teologica dei maestri francescani, come si evince dall'analisi di una questione quodlibetale di Pietro Tommaso relativa al fenomeno delle stimmate del Poverello. Il testo del maestro catalano, in confronto anche con testi simili precedenti o coevi, si presenta come un testimone interessante della temperie culturale dei primi decenni del Trecento, dal momento (...) che analizza la stimmatizzazione di Francesco non tanto per uno scopo apologetico, quanto piuttosto come come locus philosophicus grazie al quale elaborare alcune riflessioni sul rapporto tra natura e soprannatura e in merito alla potentia Dei absoluta. The Christian experience of Francis of Assisi not only inspired the religious literature of his time but also constituted a reference point for the philosophical and theological elaboration of the Franciscan masters, as it can be deduced from the analysis of a quodlibetal question of Petrus Thomae about the phenomenon of the Poverello's stigmata. The text of the Catalan master, in comparison also with similar previous or coeval texts, arises as an interesting witness of the cultural age of the fourteenth century early decades, since it analyzes the stigmatization of Francis not so much for an apologetic purpose, but rather as locus philosophicus thanks to which it is possible to elaborate some reflections on the relationship between nature and supernature and on the potentia Dei absoluta. (shrink)

Il saggio discute la lettura proposta da Francesco Novati della figura di san Francesco d’Assisi, a partire dalla interpretazione di quelle di Dante e Giotto. Alla luce dei rapporti con Gabriele d’Annunzio, la lettura novatiana di Francesco rivela una prospettiva che tende a offrire una visione estetizzante, dannunziana e decadente, immagine della modernità e non sempre aderente al messaggio originario. In questo modo Francesco diviene sostenitore di un progetto di riforma interno alla Chiesa che, con spirito (...) dannunziano, supera il dualismo tra materia e spirito per arrivare quasi a un elogio dell’immanenza. Attraverso una sorta di mitizzazione della figura di Francesco, Novati parla del proprio tempo più che di un personaggio vissuto nel passato. The essay discusses Francesco Novati’s reading of the figure of St. Francis of Assisi, starting from the interpretation of those of Dante and Giotto. In the light of the relationship with Gabriele d’Annunzio, the Novati’s reading of St. Francis reveals a perspective that tends to offer an aestheticising view, which is “dannuntian” and decadent, image of modernity that not always adheres to the original message. In this way, St. Francis purposes an inside reform project of the Church, which, with a “dannuntian” spirit, goes beyond the matter-spirit dualism in order to arrive almost to a praise of the immanence. Through such a mythologisation of the figure of St. Francis, Novati talks about his own time more than about a man who lived in the past. (shrink)

Negli studi sul pensiero medievale la questione delle filosofie francescane si presenta come controversa a proposito della definizione di una essenza del pensiero francescano – in relazione alla figura di Francesco d’Assisi –, di temi di riflessione specifici e del rapporto con le tradizioni filosofiche precedenti.Si tratta di un francescanesimo controverso pure all’interno di una stessa tradizione storiografica, come quella Neoscolastica, in cui studiosi come Gilson, Vignaux e Boehner ne hanno sottolineato il carattere prevalentemente agostiniano o aristotelico.Partendo dalla consapevolezza (...) della problematicità della questione, il saggio si sofferma sui possibili caratteri comuni delle teorie della conoscenza in alcuni pensatori francescani tra XIII e XIV secolo, come Pietro Giovanni Olivi e Pietro Aureolo, a partire dai concetti di conversio, intentio e reflexio e dal loro rapporto con la tradizione agostiniana.Si delineano così teorie della conoscenza che privilegiano l’attività e l’immediatezza del conoscere, sia per la conoscenza diretta sia per quella riflessa.Infine, tali caratteri si possono cogliere pure in un autore non francescano ma secolare come Nicola di Autrecourt, la cui teoria della conoscenza ha fatto parlare di un internalismo vicino a quello delle correnti francescane del XIV secolo. In conclusione, se da una parte non si può ipostatizzare l’idea di caratteri comuni del pensiero francescano, dall’altra si può forse parlare di un comune universo discorsivo in cui la figura di Francesco d’Assisi mostra la propria portata filosofica nella storia. In the History of Medieval Philosophy’s studies, the question of Franciscan philosophies has been the subject of controversy concerning the definition of an essence of Franciscan thought, about the relationship with Francesco d’Assisi, of specific topics of reflection and relationship with the previous philosophical traditions.It is a controversial Franciscanism even within the same historiographical tradition, such as the Neo-Scholastic one, in which scholars such as Gilson, Vignaux and Boehner have emphasised its predominantly Augustinian or Aristotelian character.Starting from the awareness of the problematic nature of the issue, the essay focuses on the possible common peculiarities of the theories of knowledge in some Franciscan thinkers between the 13th and 14th centuries, such as Pietro Giovanni Olivi and Pietro Aureolo, starting from the concepts of conversio, intentio, reflexio and their relationship with the Augustinian tradition.Thus the theories of knowledge are delineated which privilege the activity and the immediacy of knowing, both for direct and reflected knowledge.Finally, these features can also be grasped in a non-Franciscan but secular author like Nicola di Autrecourt, whose theory of knowledge has made mention of a type of internalism close to that of the 14th century Franciscan movement. Therefore, in conclusion, while on the one hand the idea of common particularities of Franciscan thought can not be hypostatised, on the other hand we can perhaps speak of a common discursive universe in which the figure of Francesco d’Assisi shows his philosophical significance in history. (shrink)

L’articolo intende approfondire la questione del Medioevo come luogo di narrazioni a partire dal romanzo di Louis De Wohl dedicato ad Agostino d’Ippona, _Una fiamma inestinguibile _ e dal tema della retorica. Il tema della retorica, come una delle dimensioni possibili in cui rappresentare la storia, dà vita sia a una peculiare narrazione _descrittiva_ del Medioevo, plurale e variegata, sia a una narrazione _creatrice_ della storia stessa, dal momento che la potenza della parola di Agostino viene colta nella sua capacità (...) di incidere e trasformare la storia stessa. Il contributo si conclude con l’analisi di alcuni tratti salienti di altri romanzi di ambientazione medievale di De Wohl, su Francesco d’Assisi e su Tommaso d’Aquino, per osservarne la peculiare rappresentazione di Medioevo che a tratti sembra andare oltre agli schemi storiografici degli anni in cui sono scritti. _The article intends to explore the question of the Middle Ages as a place of narrations starting from Louis De Wohl’s novel about Augustine of Hippo, _The Restless Flame_ and the theme of rhetoric. The subject of rhetoric, as one of the possible dimensions in which to represent history, gives rise both to a peculiar _descriptive_ narrative of the Middle Ages, plural and variegated, and to a narration that _creates_ history itself, since the power of Augustine’s word is captured in its ability to affect and transform history itself. The paper concludes with an analysis of some salient features of other medieval novels by De Wohl, on Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas, in order to observe the peculiar representation of the Middle Ages that emerges, which at times seems to go beyond the historiographic schemes of the years in which they were written_. (shrink)

L’articolo esamina l’episodio della _spogliazione_ di Francesco d’Assisi intersecando la lettura delle prime narrazioni della vita del santo e dei romanzi contemporanei che hanno raccontato la sua vicenda. L’atto di rinuncia ai beni paterni e la rottura che esso determina lungo il corso della vita di Francesco vengono posti in relazione al tema della follia, che costituisce un cambio del paradigma con cui guardare il mondo e la sua logica. La scelta di Francesco di rinunciare al potere (...) e alla proprietà proprie del mondo, oppone ad esse una nuova logica che si traduce non nella rinuncia al mondo, ma nella capacità di trascenderlo rimanendo al suo interno. _The article examines the episode of the _dispossession_ of Francis of Assisi by intersecting the reading of the first narrations of the life of the saint and contemporary novels that have told his story. The act of renouncing his father's goods and the rupture that it determines along the course of Francis' life are placed in relation to the theme of folly, which constitutes a change of paradigm with which to look at the world and its logic. The choice of Francis to renounce the power and the property of the world, opposes to them a new logic that is translated not in the renunciation of the world, but in the capacity to transcend it by remaining within it_. (shrink)

La reflexión de Francesco D'Agostino procede a partir de una sintética presentación de la genealogía y de los sucesivos desarrollos del concepto de "persona" en la cultura occidental, deteniéndose específicamente sobre su reciente identificación positivistá con la categoría de "sujeto de derecho" - y sobre su consiguiente manipulabilidad pragmática y normativa. Tal paradigma ha entrado en crisis, como testimonian las irresolubles problemáticas surgidas en torno a la disciplina legal del bias, y en particular a la dificultad, que se deriva (...) directamente, de contener normativamente toda tentación de un superpoder biopolítico: ni el intento empirista de rehabilitar el concepto de base de la capacidad de autodeterminación, aparece verdaderamente serio y persuasivo. Más prometedora resulta en cambio la propuesta de regresar a una fundamentación del derecho en la persona y en su concreta corporeidad: yendo más allá de las propuestas de Stefano Rodota, puestas fecundamente en confrontación con el personalismo de Elio Sgreccia, D'Agostino sugiere tomar en serio la idea de "biografía" para redescubrir en el fondo un integrado, por ser relacional, concepto de persona humana. En este empeño teorético aparece rico de consecuencias el paso de la consideración prioritaria de los cuerpos a aquella de la "carne", mucho más densa desde el punto de vista filosófico y teológico: tanto por vía de su referencia intrínseca a la vulnerabilidad, como por su estructural apertura, alternativa a la cerrazón individualista del cuerpo en sí mismo, a la relación con el otro por sí mismo y sobre todo con el Dios encarnado. (shrink)

Carmelo Bene is not simply to be counted among the "big players" of the twentieth century, but is the author of a "genetic mutation" in theater practice. There are, in Asia, some hermits puppeteers who daily set up a show for the gods, that is for anyone, but anyone to pass, human or animal, is welcome. Acting for the desert means to embody a posture that goes beyond the duality between nature and artifice: event that bases its effectiveness in gratitude, (...) in the surplus of life that goes from the emptiness outside to the inner one, infinitely small. (shrink)

It is hard to define cultural modernity. Nonetheless, apparently there is no match between biological and cultural evolution, between biological and archaeological data. The features of cultural modernity cannot be seen as a direct consequence of the biological origin of our species. A second crucial aspect is that the subsistence strategies, technological and symbolic traditions of Neanderthals are not significantly different from those of modern humans living in Africa and the Near East at the same period. Europe, at the level (...) of human evolution, was a cul-de-sac and not a disseminating centre. Bifaces reached Europe a million years after their invention in Africa. Homo sapiens and Neanderthals thus evolved in parallel, even though speed and cultural forms varied from one population to another. It now seems clear that the features we recognize as ‘modern’ appeared in different regions and in different human groups. It would be the same later with the invention of agriculture, writing, state societies, which appeared separately at several points on the planet. (shrink)

On the basis of recent advancements in both neuroscience and archaeology, we propose a plausible biocultural mechanism at the basis of cultural evolution. The proposed mechanism, which relies on the notions of cultural exaptation and cultural neural reuse, may account for the asynchronous, discontinuous, and patchy emergence of innovations around the globe. Cultural exaptation refers to the reuse of previously devised cultural features for new purposes. Cultural neural reuse refers to cases in which exposure to cultural practices induces the formation, (...) activation, and stabilization of new functional and/or structural brain networks during the individual lifespan. The invention of writing is interpreted as a case of cultural exaptation of previous devices to record information, in use since at least the Early Later Stone Age and the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The measurable changes in brain structure and functioning caused by learning to read are proposed as an exemplar case of cultural neural reuse. It is argued that repeated cycles of cultural exaptation, development of appropriate strategies of cultural transmission, and ensuing cultural neural reuse represent the fundamental mechanism that has regulated the cultural evolution of our lineage. A general predictive model of when and under which circumstances the proposed mechanism should be expected to occur is proposed, and the relationship of our mechanism with gene-culture coevolutionary models is discussed. (shrink)

In the following article, I will try to describe and, thus, share with my readers those moments and those segments in my life that have allowed me to be involved in the experience of musical improvisation, which is comprised of the gestures, ideas, and emotions that, together, encompass the musical objects of improvisation, and the desire, the pleasure of sharing these objects in their shaping and creation.