Economic goods or solidarity? Two different approaches to liberality

I present the reflection “Economic goods or solidarity? Two different approaches to liberality”. Taking the comparison between the Aristotelian and Stoic concepts of liberality as starting point, I demonstrate that Aristotle, guided by the passion and reason dualism, is forced to think of liberality as a virtue of individualcharacter, which prevails over the natural attachment to riches and goods. Ultimately, I aim to show how the virtue of liberality comes from the social dimension of the moral goo

Il corpo animoso. Vitalità e disciplina del corpo nel taijiquan

Nelle pagine che seguono cerco un approccio al taijiquan nella prospettiva di una fenomenologia della corporeità. Della parte storica dirò solo quanto basta a inquadrare il taijiquan nel suo contesto di origine; piuttosto seguirò il filo conduttore offerto dal classico trattato di Zhang Sanfeng sul taijiquan per mettere a fuoco il vissuto corporeo che si sperimenta nella pratica e i concetti generali che lo rendono comprensibile. In conclusione, propongo l’immagine dell’animosità quale risultato cui perviene il corpo educato al taijiquan: intendo una condizione paradossale di vitalità disciplinata, né del tutto attiva né del tutto passiva, grazie a cui si combatte senza combattere fluendo con il ritmo stesso della vita

Die Frage nach der Identität. Überlegungen zu einer hermeneutischen Anthropologie

Im folgenden Beitrag möchte ich einige Überlegungen zu einer hermeneutischen Vorgehensweise in der Anthropologie anstellen, die das Paradigma der “klassischen” philosophischen Anthropologie in der Perspektive der Postmoderne überdenken. Ich plädiere für ein anthropologisches Projekt, das die Tradition der Lebensphilosophie fortsetzt, insbesondere den Anspruch von Otto Friedrich Bollnow auf eine bildlose Anthropologie. Ich versuche, plausibel zu machen, dass die Anthropologie nicht die Natur des Menschen und seine Stellung im Kosmos untersuchen, sondern Identitäten im praktischen Sinn beschreiben sollte. Einen hermeneutische Anthropologie hat dann eine doppelte Aufgabe: Sie arbeitet an den Bildlichkeiten, die Identitäten bilden, sowohl auf der sozialen als auch auf der persönlichen Ebene; zur gleichen Zeit spielt sie eine praktische Rolle, indem sie an Verantwortung für die Lebensgestaltung appelliert. Die mythologische Gestalt des Hermes, der Seelenführer und Beschützer der Übergänge, passt dann perfekt zu dieser Doppelrolle einer hermeneutischen Anthropologie, die nicht nur Theorie macht, sondern auch Bewusstsein und neue Möglichkeiten des menschlichen Fortschritts schafft

Sitzen und Gehen. Zur Hermeneutik des Leibes in den fernöstlichen Künsten

This article criticizes the classical paradigm of philosophical anthropology, which not only tried a scientifically based determination of human identity, but it also contained practical postulates and an implicit teleology. In my paper I argue that the anthropology in our liquid post-modernity should not idealize its status as “first philosophy”. Rather it should remain descriptive and critical. It is therefore urged a transition from a comparative theory of human identity – based on the animal or computer comparison – to a non-idealistic theory of identity. In this respect, the paper offers a contribution to an anthropology of Far Eastern Arts. It focuses mainly on two phenomena: the seated body in Zen Buddhism and the moving body in Taoism. These arts, I argue, have an educational value because they make discover a bodily and mental self-reference, which also means a reference to the other, a self-withdrawal. Through such an identification with the body, an awareness-based identity takes shape; an identity which is broader than Descartes’ concept of consciousness

Un profilo di Alexander Lowen tra psicoterapia e filosofia

This text is a revised version of a speech, given at a conference in Naples in memory of Alexander Lowen (1910-2008) on the tenth anniversary of his death. My remarks try to answer two simple questions, namely what philosophy learns from a system of psychology of personality and psychotherapy such as the one developed by Alexander Lowen, and – turning the perspective around – what a humanistic psychology such as bioenergetics can learn from philosophy. I argue that bioenergetics encourages philosophy to rediscover vitality as a fundamental value and to look with new eyes at themes of its most ancient tradition such as the ethics of pleasure and happiness, which are Lowenian topics par excellence. On the other side, philosophy warns psychologists and psychotherapists against reductionism. Psychology and psychotherapy can learn from philosophy and humanistic culture to proceed in an “integrative” rather than reductionist way, and to stay open to the variety of possible experiences

La forma aperta. L'ermeneutica della vita nell'opera di O. F. Bollnow

Il libro presenta per la prima volta in Italia in forma sistematica il pensiero del filosofo e pedagogista tedesco O. F. Bollnow. Al pari di autori come G. Misch, H. Nohl. e H. Plessner, Bollnow si inscrive nella tradizione di pensiero ermeneutico che risale a Dilthey. Bollnow si è mosso sulla linea di confine tra antropologia filosofica, fenomenologia ed ermeneutica offrendo contributi rilevanti alla cultura contemporanea. Il presente volume offre un'interpretazione unitaria del suo vasto progetto filosofico e pedagogico introducendo la categoria della vita come forme aperta