What Remains of Man and of the World: Reflections on the Age of Ecological Crisis

Man and world look like residuals: human being is an organic remnant relic), as the survivor of a process of self alienation, in which the machine has been elected as a despot; world (or nature) is exhausted in the attempt to maintain a balance. The contemporary massive technological development seems supported by the idea that man is a Homo faber authorized to operate on nature without limits. This is the idea of a superior being with a dominant role in the world. The Judaic-Christian tradition has certainly promoted this idea; but it reproduces in another dimension the relations typical of the greek oikos: not justice, but authority and subordination for advantage the “head of the family”. Renouncing to want own the Earth (like an ordinary thing) can perhaps open the way for a new ethic

Soggetto vivente. Un confronto con la “filosofia dell’animalità”

In his book Felice Cimatti suggests a research of “man’s animality” based on a particular concept of “subjectivity”: accordingly to Heidegger and the greatest part of the western thought, only human being is a subject; so animal isn’t a subject and seems radically different from man; it appears as absolute “other”. Any trace of animality in human being can just be a result strictly mental. But subject can otherwise shows any living being, like reminded from J. von Uexküll and H. Plessner. Through this view it is possible to see animal dimension like an indissoluble intersection with human dimension and the research of animality in human nature obtains another, deep, essential relevance

Il potere della violenza. Su alcune riflessioni di G\ufcnther Anders

Violence manifests itself in many forms but in modern times it has to be faced mainly as political power and technological development. Both forms of power demote the human individual to an "inferior\u201d being, diminished in potential and in nature. This thoughtless and superficial diminution risks creating something inhuman and monstrous, as happened under Nazism with its totalitarian system, and then occurred again with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the problem does not reside only in the past, and the threat is all too present and must be faced with seriousness and determination. With impeccable theoretical consistency and deep moral sense, Anders reflects on the obligation that in order to recover man's humanity against technocratic and political violence, it is necessary to resort by actions that are in turn also "violent" in order to be genuinely effective

Il potere della violenza. Su alcune riflessioni di Günther Anders

Violence manifests itself in many forms but in modern times it has to be faced mainly as political power and technological development. Both forms of power demote the human individual to an "inferior” being, diminished in potential and in nature. This thoughtless and superficial diminution risks creating something inhuman and monstrous, as happened under Nazism with its totalitarian system, and then occurred again with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the problem does not reside only in the past, and the threat is all too present and must be faced with seriousness and determination. With impeccable theoretical consistency and deep moral sense, Anders reflects on the obligation that in order to recover man's humanity against technocratic and political violence, it is necessary to resort by actions that are in turn also "violent" in order to be genuinely effective

Una filosofia per la neurofisiologia: Weizsacker e la forma dell'esperienza

The German doctor and physiologist Viktor von Weizsäcker believes philosophy is like an indispensable support for natural sciences, in particular for biology and neurophysiology. Man is not only a physical body and his subjectivity is very important in the study of human nature and in medicine. The introduction of subjectivity in sciences is possible by collaboration with philosophy; philosophy can transform a cluster of quantitative data in experiences with “a form”, or in the narrative of a living being

“Weltoffenheit”: zeitgenössische philosophische Anthropologie im Zwischenbereich von Geist und Natur

Philosophical Anthropology in 20th century has focused on the relation between natural and cultural dimension in human being. On this issue, of course, there have been many different conclusions. In this paper, I deal with Arnold Gehlen’s and Helmuth Plessner’s points of view. Gehlen considers the “biological deficiency” of man the condition of an unconditioned and full “opening to the world” and the transformation of man innto an “artificial being” (increasingly far from nature). Instead, Plessner thinks that man is always a “natural animal” and that he can be an “eccentric being” only by means offered by his own nature. For this reason his “opening to the world” is conditioned, since culture is always interweaved with nature

Un’etica dell’aggressività: considerazioni sul pensiero di Arnold Gehlen

Arnold Gehlen, one of the major representatives of contemporary Philosophical Anthropology in Germany, was a staunch conservative and a supporter of the Nazi Regime. In accordance with recent ethological studies carried out between the 50s and the 60s, particularly by Konrad Lorenz and Irenäus Eibl-Eibensfeld, Gehlen gave a new value of instinct in human behaviour. A decisive role was attributed especially to aggressive impulses. Human beings are biologically defective and they can survive only with a particular strategy: they have to act to change the conditions of their natural life, and aggressive impulses, translated into work and self-assertion, are a warranty of good outcome. According to Gehlen, aggressiveness is necessary, but also problematic, because it needs to be expressed. Contemporary Western societies are characterized by high comfort and little hard work; democracy does not need violent fights, and aggressiveness is repressed. Ultimately, concludes Gehlen, these Societies are founded on principles that produce a decadent culture which, in its turn, leads to non stabilized situations. Therefore he forebode the return of the virtues of war and those of strong States based on hierarchical organizations. What he seems to propose, then, is an aggressive government for an aggressive nature

Perché un’antropologia filosofica: le motivazioni di Helmuth Plessner

Philosophical anthropology flourished in Germany in the early 20th century and seeked to recover the unity of human nature, thus opposing dualistic tendencies in philosophy and science. Helmuth Plessner was one of the most important exponents of this line of thought. In the development of western thought, from Descartes to Heidegger, Plessner finds the maturity for a new philosophical study of the human being. According to Plessner, Heidegger’s in-depth analyses of human nature are not sufficient. Life is not only “existence” (in Heidegger’s sense). Due to his overriding interest in the ontology of Dasein, Heidegger takes no account of concrete life, which is always mingled with a body. Existence can be defined only once life has been defined. Life anticipates and contains existence, thus linking human beings with any other organism. Accordingly, life is the best ground in which the principle of human specificity can be rooted. Nevertheless, it is true that a new, respectable anthropology shouldn’t be dogmatist and shouldn’t frame absolute concepts. Rather, it has to reflect openly upon human sciences, without claiming for supermacy. In Plessner’s opinion, the human being remained essentially inscrutable