In 1969, Emanuele Severino underwent a Vatican trial for the 'fundamental incompatibility' between his thought and the Christian doctrine, and was removed from his position as professor of philosophy at the Catholic University in Milan. The Essence of Nihilism published in 1972, was the first book to follow his expulsion, and to firmly establish Severino's preeminent position within the constellation of contemporary philosophy. In this groundbreaking book, Severino reinterprets the history of Western philosophy as the unfolding of 'the greatest folly', that is, of the belief that 'things come out of nothing and fall back into nothing'. According to Severino, such a typically Western understanding of reality has produced a belief in the radical 'nothingness' of things. This, in turn has justified the treatment of the world as an object of exploitation, degradation and destruction. To move beyond Western nihilism, suggests Severino, we must first of all 'return to Parmenides'. Joining forces with the most venerable of Greek philosophers, Severino confutes the 'path of night' of nihilism, and develops a new philosophy grounded on the principle of the eternity of reality and of every single existent.
Beyond Language (Oltre il Linguaggio) is one of Italian philosopher Emmanuele Severino's major works, wrestling with whether it's possible to think meaningfully outside of the restrictions of language. Increasingly recognised as a truly foundational thinker in the formation of contemporary theory, Severino's ideas around self-expression, forms of communication and the limitations of language continue are brought to the fore in this book. Beyond Language specifically opens the door to the themes that Severino developed in his later works, including the concrete meaning of self-being and the decline of language. The depth and breadth of Severino's philosophical insight is as profound today as it was when first penned in 1992, making this first English translation of a key work in the history of continental philosophy crucial reading for those engaged with contemporary theory.
Written by one of the foremost Italian philosophers of the 20th century, Emanuele Severino's Law and Chance (Legge e Caso) explores the metaphysical categories that underpin the theoretical and practical domination of contemporary science. According to Severino, it is only by tracing the origin of the power of science to the Greek meanings of being and nothingness that it becomes possible to understand not only how science succeeds in achieving its aims, but also how it establishes the very meaning of its own success and power. Severino is increasingly being recognised as a truly foundational thinker in the formation of contemporary theory. The first English translation of this important work, Law and Chance is crucial reading for anyone engaged with the intersection between philosophy and science.
“Two souls live within us”: one is nihilism and the other is destiny.In this collection of essays, Emanuele Severino, one of the most important thinkers of contemporary times, illuminates the meaning of these words and engages with the most profound questions of philosophy, as well as the most essential matters for each one of us. This volumeis precious not only because of its content, but also because it offers an international audience a preview into one of the most original philosophers of all time: this is, in fact, the first volume by Severino to be translated into English. By affirming the eternal nature inherent to each thing, he has opened up a path previously unknown to philosophy.
In this small book, theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft (Nobel prize 1999), philosopher Emanuele Severino (Lincei Academician), and theologian Piero Coda (Pontifical Lateran University) confront one another on a topic that lies at the roots of quantum mechanics and at the origin of Western thought: Determinism and Free Will. "God does not play dice" said Einstein, a tenacious determinist. Quantum Mechanics and its clash with General Relativity have reanimated ancient dilemmas about chance and necessity: Is Nature deterministic? Is Man free? The “free-will theorem” by Conway and Kochen, and the deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by 't Hooft, revive such philosophical questions in modern Physics. Is Becoming real? Is the Elementary Event a product of the Case? The cyclopean clash between Heraclitus and Parmenides has entered a new episode, as evidenced by the essays in this volume.
After Nihilism and Destiny (Mimesis International, 2015), here presented is a second collection of writings by Emanuele Severino, one of the most prominent philosophers of contemporaneity translated for the first time in English. While the first volume introduced the fundamental outlines of Severinian philosophy, in this second text Severino's analysis turns to the contemporary world and its main facets: politics, economics, religion, ethics, and technics guided by science. Page after page, Severino's analysis digs to their deepest roots and deduces what will be their inevitable development. Such «deduction» could also be called «prediction» of the future, but only insofar as what is understood by it is the logical argumentation that shows how the foundation of a thing essentially determines its necessary development. Hence the title: On the Future of the World.
This book centers around a dialogue between Roger Penrose and Emanuele Severino about one of most intriguing topics of our times, the comparison of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence, as well as its extension to the notions of human and machine consciousness. Additional insightful essays by Mauro D'Ariano, Federico Faggin, Ines Testoni, Giuseppe Vitiello and an introduction of Fabio Scardigli complete the book and illuminate different aspects of the debate. Although from completely different points of view, all the authors seem to converge on the idea that it is almost impossible to have real "intelligence" without a form of "consciousness". In fact, consciousness, often conceived as an enigmatic "mirror" of reality (but is it really a mirror?), is a phenomenon under intense investigation by science and technology, particularly in recent decades. Where does this phenomenon originate from (in humans, and perhaps also in animals)? Is it reproducible on some "device"? Do we have a theory of consciousness today? Will we arrive to build thinking or conscious machines, as machine learning, or cognitive computing, seem to promise? These questions and other related issues are discussed in the pages of this work, which provides stimulating reading to both specialists and general readers. The Chapter Hard Problem and Free Will: An Information-Theoretical Approach is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
La parola díkē, comunemente tradotta con «giustizia», nasce in un contesto religioso e poi giuridico, ma ha in realtà un significato più profondo, che compare per la prima volta nella più antica testimonianza del pensiero filosofico: il frammento di Anassimandro. Si può dire che l'avvento della filosofia coincida con l'avvento di tale significato – quello che Aristotele chiama «il principio più stabile». Díkē designa l’incondizionata stabilità del sapere. E richiede la stabilità incondizionata dell'essere. Riguarda tutto ciò che l'uomo può pensare e può fare. In rapporto con essa si svolge l'intera storia dell'Occidente. Se nel Giogo Severino aveva puntato l'attenzione sulla conseguenza decisiva per l'uomo della tradizione occidentale, resa esplicita da Eschilo, ovvero che l'incondizionata stabilità del sapere e dell'essere è il «vero» rimedio contro il dolore e la morte, e sul rapporto tra Eschilo e Anassimandro, in questa sua nuova opera si volge invece verso le radici di quel significato. Soprattutto perché díkē e l’Occidente, che ne è dominato, sfigurano il volto della stabilità autentica: il volto del destino della verità. Affrontando il rapporto tra il puro volto del destino e il suo volto sfigurato da díkē, questo libro compie alcuni passi avanti rispetto agli scritti precedenti, da cui pure trae origine. Se comune e già più volte evidenziato è il punto di partenza – la sconvolgente rivelazione della struttura originaria del destino e il suo implicare l'eternità di ogni essente e la necessità del farsi innanzi della terra –, "Dike" rappresenta un'altra via accanto a quella indicata fin dall'inizio dal filosofo per raggiungere il medesimo risultato: l’eternità degli essenti.
In 1969, Emanuele Severino underwent a Vatican trial for the 'fundamental incompatibility' between his thought and the Christian doctrine, and was removed from his position as professor of philosophy at the Catholic University in Milan. The Essence of Nihilism published in 1972, was the first book to follow his expulsion, and to firmly establish Severino's preeminent position within the constellation of contemporary philosophy. In this groundbreaking book, Severino reinterprets the history of Western philosophy as the unfolding of 'the greatest folly', that is, of the belief that 'things come out of nothing and fall back into nothing'. According to Severino, such a typically Western understanding of reality has produced a belief in the radical 'nothingness' of things. This, in turn has justified the treatment of the world as an object of exploitation, degradation and destruction. To move beyond Western nihilism, suggests Severino, we must first of all 'return to Parmenides'. Joining forces with the most venerable of Greek philosophers, Severino confutes the 'path of night' of nihilism, and develops a new philosophy grounded on the principle of the eternity of reality and of every single existent.
This book centers around a dialogue between Roger Penrose and Emanuele Severino about one of most intriguing topics of our times, the comparison of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence, as well as its extension to the notions of human and machine consciousness. Additional insightful essays by Mauro D'Ariano, Federico Faggin, Ines Testoni, Giuseppe Vitiello and an introduction of Fabio Scardigli complete the book and illuminate different aspects of the debate. Although from completely different points of view, all the authors seem to converge on the idea that it is almost impossible to have real "intelligence" without a form of "consciousness". In fact, consciousness, often conceived as an enigmatic "mirror" of reality (but is it really a mirror?), is a phenomenon under intense investigation by science and technology, particularly in recent decades. Where does this phenomenon originate from (in humans, and perhaps also in animals)? Is it reproducible on some "device"? Do we have a theory of consciousness today? Will we arrive to build thinking or conscious machines, as machine learning, or cognitive computing, seem to promise? These questions and other related issues are discussed in the pages of this work, which provides stimulating reading to both specialists and general readers. The Chapter "Hard Problem and Free Will: An Information-Theoretical Approach" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
In this small book, theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft (Nobel prize 1999), philosopher Emanuele Severino (Lincei Academician), and theologian Piero Coda (Pontifical Lateran University) confront one another on a topic that lies at the roots of quantum mechanics and at the origin of Western thought: Determinism and Free Will. "God does not play dice" said Einstein, a tenacious determinist. Quantum Mechanics and its clash with General Relativity have reanimated ancient dilemmas about chance and necessity: Is Nature deterministic? Is Man free? The “free-will theorem” by Conway and Kochen, and the deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by 't Hooft, revive such philosophical questions in modern Physics. Is Becoming real? Is the Elementary Event a product of the Case? The cyclopean clash between Heraclitus and Parmenides has entered a new episode, as evidenced by the essays in this volume.
Written by one of the foremost Italian philosophers of the 20th century, Emanuele Severino's Law and Chance (Legge e Caso) explores the metaphysical categories that underpin the theoretical and practical domination of contemporary science. According to Severino, it is only by tracing the origin of the power of science to the Greek meanings of being and nothingness that it becomes possible to understand not only how science succeeds in achieving its aims, but also how it establishes the very meaning of its own success and power. Severino is increasingly being recognised as a truly foundational thinker in the formation of contemporary theory. The first English translation of this important work, Law and Chance is crucial reading for anyone engaged with the intersection between philosophy and science.
Beyond Language (Oltre il Linguaggio) is one of Italian philosopher Emmanuele Severino's major works, wrestling with whether it's possible to think meaningfully outside of the restrictions of language. Increasingly recognised as a truly foundational thinker in the formation of contemporary theory, Severino's ideas around self-expression, forms of communication and the limitations of language continue are brought to the fore in this book. Beyond Language specifically opens the door to the themes that Severino developed in his later works, including the concrete meaning of self-being and the decline of language. The depth and breadth of Severino's philosophical insight is as profound today as it was when first penned in 1992, making this first English translation of a key work in the history of continental philosophy crucial reading for those engaged with contemporary theory.
“Two souls live within us”: one is nihilism and the other is destiny.In this collection of essays, Emanuele Severino, one of the most important thinkers of contemporary times, illuminates the meaning of these words and engages with the most profound questions of philosophy, as well as the most essential matters for each one of us. This volumeis precious not only because of its content, but also because it offers an international audience a preview into one of the most original philosophers of all time: this is, in fact, the first volume by Severino to be translated into English. By affirming the eternal nature inherent to each thing, he has opened up a path previously unknown to philosophy.
An interdisciplinary history of standardized measurements. Measurement is all around us—from the circumference of a pizza to the square footage of an apartment, from the length of a newborn baby to the number of miles between neighboring towns. Whether inches or miles, centimeters or kilometers, measures of distance stand at the very foundation of everything we do, so much so that we take them for granted. Yet, this has not always been the case. This book reaches back to medieval Italy to speak of a time when measurements were displayed in the open, showing how such a deceptively simple innovation triggered a chain of cultural transformations whose consequences are visible today on a global scale. Drawing from literary works and frescoes, architectural surveys, and legal compilations, Emanuele Lugli offers a history of material practices widely overlooked by historians. He argues that the public display of measurements in Italy’s newly formed city republics not only laid the foundation for now centuries-old practices of making, but also helped to legitimize local governments and shore up church power, buttressing fantasies of exactitude and certainty that linger to this day. This ambitious, truly interdisciplinary book explains how measurements, rather than being mere descriptors of the real, themselves work as powerful molds of ideas, affecting our notions of what we consider similar, accurate, and truthful.
This book presents 50 case studies of contemporary co-housing projects spread all over the world to show how communities of shared living have become a global phenomenon that can serve as a tool to promote social and urban sustainability. By presenting evidence that shared housing experiences are capable of revitalizing sterile urban fabrics and promoting social sustainable practices, the volume situates co-housing experiences as microscale responses to the macroscale challenges posed by environmental degradation and the decline of communitarian ways of living. The volume also reviews the most famous typologies of shared living in different parts of the world across human history. By analyzing historical experiences in different regions of Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, the author shows that living together is part of a historical culture of sharing that is being rediscovered all over the world by people who activate public spaces, work in shared offices or live in contractual communities. The Co-Housing Phenomenon – Environmental Alliance in Times of Changes will be of interest to both professionals and scholars involved in urban design, urban planning and architecture, especially those in the field of sustainable urbanism. It will also be a valuable resource for public agents and civil society organizations dealing with housing, social, environmental and sustainability policies.
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