Intersezioni | 2024 | N. 2

The paper provides an overview of the relationships between the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) and the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1946). After a short biographical sketch of the personal contacts between the two authors, it discusses the textual references Cassirer makes to Uexküll. The discussion highlights a two-fold influence of Uexküll’s theoretical biology on Cassirer’s philosophy – or, differently said, the presence in Cassirer’s works of two separate hermeneutic approaches. The first has an anthropological-philosophical character and tries, in a problematic way, to use Uexküll’s Umweltlehre to support the thesis of the special position (Sonderstellung) of human beings compared to nonhuman animals. The second approach, an epistemological one, seeks to understand how Uexküll’s theoretical biology (a form of neovitalism) fits into the complex history of contemporary German philosophy of biology.

The paper focuses on Bonhoeffer’s conception of moral autonomy. The first part sheds light into Bonhoeffer’s critique of philosophical ethics, in general, and, in particular, of Kantian ethics. The second part presents a conception of autonomy which is no longer based on the transcendental subject, but on the adherence of the will to God’s revelation in Christ. This conception of autonomy has a formal side as well as a content side. From the formal point of view, autonomy implies conformation to the form of Christ. From the point of view of the content, autonomy is explained within the framework of the doctrine of mandates: man is autonomous when he fulfils the essence of his proper mandate.

Schelling’s understanding of the concept of pain acquires a major theoretical significance in the writings of the period 1809-1811 (Philosophical Inquiries into the Essence of Human Freedom, the fragmentary dialogue Clara, the Private Lectures in Stuttgart, the uncompleted work about the Ages of the World). Intriguingly, the notion of pain is not only connected to the problem of evil, but to other pivotal topics in Schelling’s philosophical work, such as the notions of life and organism. In particular, the metaphor of birth is closely intertwined with the definition of pain both as concerns the analysis of the single living being and as regards the universe as a whole and the problem of God.

Throughout the history of Western thought, astrology has been viewed as either a dangerous or false science, or as a true and superior science or art, that can provide practitioners with access to divine truth. However, a middle ground appears unattainable. The article presents two opposing perspectives on astrology: Theodor W. Adorno’s contemporary view, which considers astrology as an instrument of power in consumer society, and Michael Scot’s scientific foundation of astrology developed during the Middle Ages in light of Arabic-Latin translations. The aim of the article is to show how Scotus’ epistemology establishes «the science of the stars» as the supreme science and places the human being and the study of the soul at the centre of the cosmos in the 4th distinction of the Liber introductorius, known as De anima.

In October 1921 Albert Einstein visited Italy. He delivered three lectures in Bologna at the invitation of the mathematician Federigo Enriques. Prior to his arrival in Bologna, Einstein was in Florence, where his sister Maja resided with her husband Paul Winteler. During that period Einstein formed a strong bond with the city of Dante, which remained intact throughout his life. This article presents unpublished documents and new testimonies concerning Einstein’s relationship with Florence and Italy.

Starting with a reconstruction of the fundamental characteristics of the historiography on Giovanni Gentile produced in the second half of the twentieth century, the essay confronts some moments of the celebrations held on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of the philosopher’s death. In the second part of the essay, the actual idealism-fascism nexus is examined in order to identify permanences and assonances.