The value of philosophy not as a survey of the " major problems " , not as a metaphysical or other building systems , but as a spiritual exercise , according to the definition of the late Pierre Hadot , or how to care for the soul - of his first , and then perhaps also of the other - is returning to the forefront , especially in times such as ours, of great moral uncertainty , confusion and loss of direction . philosophy , therefore, in its original sense of seeking wisdom , practical wisdom , capable of directing our lives. in this context, it also moves the volume that we present .
Amethyst series , recently formed , directed by Maurizio Schoepflin , is notable for its attention to themes and figures of contemporary reflection from personalism to Edith Stein, from feminist Theology in Wittgenstein , and promises new interesting proposals . the author, philosopher of academic , professor of philosophy , is part of the Community of San Leolino in Chianti , which deals with the relationship between Christianity and contemporary culture. text part of its from discomfort , by the confusion of so many young people - but not only - in our society, which , although they meet the material needs of life, seem absolutely helpless in the face of spiritual needs , which are no less real and less important.
Us - Meucci aptly writes - the era of narcissism , who lives in the myth of self-realization, based on the assumption that human nature is good and that it should only allow her to express themselves freely, to achieve his ends intrinsic happiness. Corollary is essential that the ' individual should not consider itself from external criteria to his experience , moral or religious they are, but only from within himself, that from what he feels and he feels. this illusion is helped by psychology , which took the functions once performed by the religion , becoming itself a form of secular humanism , based on the cult of the self. takes no great effort to see the failure of this myth of the self , as well as of psychology as a science, and then imposes in all its seriousness, the comparison with the art of the ancients - the classical philosophers , from Socrates and Plato - who have seriously addressed the problem " know thyself" , owero the problem of man and the meaning of life . At the " art of the ancients " is dedicated precisely the central chapter of the book - chapter seems to us that central not only in a spatial sense - but the discussion continues , rightly , addressing "the problem of the modern ," because we are such .
We discuss here the extent to which modernity and its problems , such as those that come by the contribution of science , neuroscience, sociology , cultural anthropology, etc. . - Require different solutions from those that brought the great classical philosophical tradition . At the same time we take into account the fact that the ancients had no religious experience of Christianity , so we did not feel like the problem of the essential singularity of the individual: paradoxically , it is not wrong to say that the first modern book are the Confessions ' of Augustine , where the Magna quaestio that ' arises is precisely that of the subject.
The author examines , therefore , summarily and with language more comprehensible to all , figures, and problems of modernity , including some significant contemporary films , discreetly leaving the reader with a final call to " sculpt their own statue of himself ," or to take lovingly care of one's life , making it a unique artwork . A task. this, which is available to everyone and that is a duty for everyone , even in the knowledge that the work of art can not end on this earth.
Marco Vannini