The human intellect has the capacity to assimilate the external world to man. This assimilation takes place according to the proper mode of the intellect that has an intentional manner to know. Thus is realized the act of knowing by which man manages to read from within the different realities, according to the etymology of the Latin word intellectus. Yet the intellect is not the only spiritual capacity of man, but there is also the will. The latter has a special (...) role in the act of intellectual knowledge. It is dependent on the action of the intellect, but it also influences the action of the intellect. In the following article I analyze this interdependence, especially the place of desire in the act of knowledge. Thomas Aquinas attributed desire to the will. In which sense can we attribute desire to the intellect as well? (shrink)

The focus of this paper is on Kant and on a text which has often been drawn upon when talking about the present situation of philosophy at university, namely his 'The Conflict of the Faculties' of 1798. Kant’s claims, though not applicable to the contemporary situation directly, can indeed be worked out in a way which can assign a distinct and clearly identifiable role for university-based philosophy. I need to emphasize, though, that I am not suggesting that this is the (...) only way Kant’s thoughts in this respect can be adapted to and utilized for such an account. Quite the contrary, Kant’s text offers a manifold of highly important options here. In my article I will seek to establish the following claims: a) Kant, in his later years, which therefore amounts to something like his “mature” position, subscribed to a conception of a public use of reason which mainly referred to the Faculties of Philosophy at universities. b) Kant’s dismissal of philosophy according to the school conception of it must not be taken as a dismissal of academic philosophy altogether. Philosophy practiced at university by professionals is vital for Kant to build philosophy as a fully worked out discipline and to answer questions revolving around the issue of the compatibility of the theoretical standpoint and Kant’s own moral theory. c) Neither a) nor b) can be immediately applied to the contemporary situation we find ourselves in. Combining elements of a) and b), however, a possible route for the actualization of Kant’s ideas may open up. At least one of the functions for which university-based philosophy is uniquely qualified is the assessment of the implications of progress in the natural sciences for the conception of a moral standpoint in general, and as such for a core element of our self-understanding as rational beings. (shrink)

El artículo es una aportación al estudio de la antropología política del protohumanismo florentino, centrado en la obra y la figura del maestro de retórica de Dante, el notario Brunetto Latini. Nos ocupamos de exponer la conexión existente entre el desarrollo del gobierno comunal en la península italiana del Duecento y la difusión de una prosa marcadamente pragmática, extendida especialmente entre jueces y notarios, que preconiza la prelacía de la filosofía práctica con respecto a la teoría y la teología. Se (...) toman también en consideración aquellos factores que manifiestan la ruptura del Convivio y de la Commedia de Dante con los supuestos doctrinales de Latini, subrayando la apuesta de Alighieri por una teología poética, que contrasta con la forma de vida inmanente proyectada por la visión enciclopédica del notario, recogida en sus escritos retóricos y políticos. (shrink)

Have we ever been religious? It may seem strange to open an essay on Derrida with a Latourean question. Yet, with regard to religion, what Derrida demonstrates is quite unavoidably this: we have long been, and are still being, Christianized. Whatever else we may have been, perhaps still are, constitutes but the space or espacement offered or relinquished, however reluctantly or even grudgingly (though more often than not quite willingly) to Christianization. This is a space that goes beyond whatever is (...) meant by the word or the concept of ‘religion’, under whatever definition. And though Derrida still refers to it, at times, in terms that have themselves become, for the most part, religious markers (Judaism, Islam, etc.), he leaves no doubt that such name calling is part of the Christianization he otherwise documents. This essay attempts to show that the question (let us call it Derrida's ‘Christian question’) is therefore: what is Christianity? (shrink)

This article analyzes some of the reasons that led to the adoption of vernacular languages as philosophical languages between the 14th and 17th centuries in France and Italy. The article focuses on Descartes’s Discours de la méthode (1637), Sperone Speroni’s Dialogo delle lingue (1542) and Dante Alighieri’s Convivio (circa 1304-1307). The three works not only chose to write philosophy in a language with no philosophical tradition, but also offered a philosophical rationale for this decision. The article exposes and analyzes that (...) set of arguments. Key words: philosphy, vernacular language, Descartes, Sperone Speroni, Dante Alighieri. (shrink)

Dante’s engagement with philosophy cannot be studied apart from his vocation as a writer, in which he sought to raise the level of public discourse by educating his countrymen and inspiring them to pursue happiness in the contemplative life. He was one of the most learned Italian laymen of his day, intimately familiar with Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy, theology, and classical literature. He is, of course,most famous for having written the Divine Comedy, but in his poetry as well as (...) his philosophical treatises and other writings, he freely mingles and synthesizes philosophical and theological language as well extensive references and allusions to scripture and classical and contemporary poetry. While his contributions to world literature and other artistic genres are universally acknowledged, his theological imagination has also remained influential from his own time to the present day. His philosophical legacy, by comparison, remains more difficult to assess, though his writings provide, at the very least, a powerful tool for the study of the landscape of late medieval and Renaissance philosophy. (shrink)

The article highlights the similarities between ancient Greek philosophy and Indian Upanisadic thinking as projects of self-transformation that resort basically to rational means. The strategyadopted combines two basic sets of tools. On the one hand, we resort to elements of contemporary internal critique of 'philosophy' in the West with an emphasis on revised aspects of ancient Greek tradition. On the other, we point to peculiar features of Indian Upanisadic thinking in order to help locating, identifying, and recognizing possible dormant/forgotten characteristics (...) of western philosophical projects. By doing so, we hope both traditions might emerge re-dignified in their role of leading men, through judicious rationality, to the knowledge of the ultimate Truth of beings. (shrink)