Academic literature on the topic 'Storia del pensiero geografico'

La ricerca ricostruisce in chiave genealogica i fondamenti teorici e concettuali della cosiddetta tradizione radicale nera del XX secolo, qui interpretata come una critica della modernità, attraverso l’analisi del pensiero politico dell’abolizionismo nero. Più precisamente, è ricostruito dal punto di vista della storia dei concetti politici moderni il pensiero politico prodotto dai principali esponenti delle lotte contro la schiavitù condotte nello spazio transnazionale dell’Atlantico tra la seconda metà del XVIII e la prima metà del XIX secolo. L’abolizionismo nero è letto come un pensiero politico articolato secondo una costante appropriazione sovversiva del lessico e dei concetti politici moderni. Si mostra che la critica nera agisce secondo due linee costanti: lo ‘sdoppiamento’ dei concetti politici (cioè un movimento di appropriazione e trasformazione) e la sovversione degli assetti spaziali della modernità (cioè la rottura della distinzione tra Stato e colonia). Gli elementi di maggiore originalità del lavoro sono individuabili tanto sul piano contenutistico quanto su quello metodologico. Anzitutto, si tratta del primo studio dell’abolizionismo nero visto da una prospettiva atlantica e di storia concettuale. Il lavoro analizza inoltre diverse tipologie di fonti (petizioni, autobiografie, proclami militari, regolamenti amministrativi, discorsi, romanzi e slave songs) solitamente marginali nella Storia delle dottrine politiche. La tesi è strutturata il quattro capitoli. Nel primo capitolo è presentata un’analisi per temi e concetti del radicalismo nero novecentesco. I tre capitoli successivi sono invece dedicati all’abolizionismo nero e sono strutturati secondo una scansione cronologica volta a individuare tre momenti di discontinuità. Il secondo capitolo discute l’emergere della critica nera durante la rivoluzione americana e all’interno del movimento antischiavista britannico. Il terzo capitolo è invece dedicato alla Rivoluzione di Haiti, interpretata come cesura fondamentale nella storia dell’abolizionismo nero. Il quarto capitolo analizza infine il movimento abolizionista afroamericano.<br>The dissertation provides a genealogy of the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the black radical tradition through a reconstruction of the political discourse and practices of the main black abolitionists of the Atlantic World from the so-called Age of Revolutions to the end of the American Civil War. In particular, the black radical tradition is conceived as a peculiar critique of modernity. Indeed, black critique highlights the constitutive duplicity of modernity (i.e. European and colonial) and produces both a ‘provincialization’ and a transformation of the basic concepts of modern political thought (such as freedom, equality, democracy, nation). In this way, the research shows that black abolitionism is a political thought characterized by two elements: the subversion of modern spatiality and the “doubling” of political concepts. On the one hand, black abolitionism overturns the conceptual distinction between the State, as the space of order, and the colony, as an irrational and uncivilized place. In other words, it shows that slavery, colonialism, and racism are not peripheral moments of modernity but instead one of its foundations. On the other hand, black abolitionists used different political lexicons to communicate a struggle for self-liberation which had its own conceptual originality. The dissertation is structured in four chapters. The first provides a definition of the theoretical foundations of black radicalism in the XX Century, and is focused on some of its main figures. The other chapters provide a reconstruction of the political thought of black abolitionism, defined by three moments of discontinuity. The second chapter is dedicated to the black abolitionists within the American Revolution and the British abolitionist movement. The third chapter is on the Haitian Revolution, conceived as the fundamental turning point in the history of black abolitionism and its critique of modernity. The last chapter is on the African American abolitionist movement.

Il risultato a cui il presente lavoro cerca di giungere riguarda l’affermazione di una logica dell’auto-determinazione del pensiero che sia capace di sottrarsi sia alle difficoltà del fondazionalismo epistemologico sia dell’anti-fondazionalismo in tutte le sue declinazioni postmoderne. In questo senso pensiamo che alcuni aspetti essenziali della filosofia hegeliana siano utili proprio al raggiungimento di tale obiettivo. Il nostro lavoro parte dalla convinzione che l’alternativa non può giocarsi solo fra queste due posizioni, infatti siamo convinti che non sia affatto vero che una volta abbandonato il progetto fondazionalistico, che tradizionalmente ha affermato la metafisica, l’unica alternativa sia il proclamarsi relativisti e scettici, così come fanno le posizioni anti-fondazionaliste. Il lavoro ha la sua origine nell’analisi del terzo capitolo della Fenomenologia dello spirito in cui Hegel assume una posizione critica nei confronti della metafisica. Anzitutto Hegel equipara la metafisica classica alla scienza moderna, riconducendole entrambi al medesimo presupposto ontologico. Tale presupposto induce la coscienza ad un autoinganno: essa genera un mondo sovrasensibile come un vero in-sé contrapposto alla falsità del sensibile. L’intento di Hegel è quello di dimostrare l’autocontraddittorietà di tale mondo, utilizzando la figura del mondo invertito: un secondo mondo sovrasensibile caratterizzato da una inversione rispetto al primo. Questo nuovo mondo, pur nella sua apparente assurdità, rende visibile l’occulta inversione e perversione del primo mondo metafisico. Il crollo dei due mondi lascia trasparire l’unica realtà, quella dell’incessante togliersi di ogni ente, a cui Hegel dà il nome di l’infinità. Si è tentato, infine, di cogliere le conseguenze antimetafisiche di questa posizione, che rende possibile un’alternativa fra il fondazionalismo e il post-fondazionalismo. Insomma, la possibilità di un sapere, che pur non abbandonando l’ambito logico e razionale, sia comunque capace di condurre una critica radicale a qualsiasi tentativo di affermare un principio assoluto e definitivo, diventando in questo modo garanzia della pluralità e della differenza. In questo senso Hegel riesce a connettere e a mantenere due aspetti che apparentemente sono inconciliabili: l’auto-fondazione del sapere e la critica a qualsiasi fondazionalismo.

The aim of this PhD thesis is to study accurately and in depth the figure and the literary production of the intellectual Jacopo Aconcio. This minor author of the 16th century has long been considered a sort of “enigmatic character”, a profile which results from the work of those who, for many centuries, have left his writing to its fate: a story of constant re-readings and equally incessant oversights. This is why it is necessary to re-read Aconcio’s production in its entirety and to devote to it a monographic study. Previous scholars’ interpretations will obviously be considered, but at the same time an effort will be made to go beyond them through the analysis of both published and manuscript sources, in the attempt to attain a deeper understanding of the figure of this man, who was a Christian, a military and hydraulic engineer and a political philosopher,. The title of the thesis was chosen to emphasise how, throughout the three years of the doctorate, my research concentrated in equal measure and with the same degree of importance on all the reflections and activities of Jacopo Aconcio. My object, in fact, was to establish how and to what extent the methodological thinking of the intellectual found application in, and at the same time guided, his theoretical and practical production. I did not mention in the title the author’s religious thinking, which has always been considered by everyone the most original and interesting element of his production, because religion, from the Reformation onwards, was primarily a political question and thus it was treated by almost all the authors involved in the Protestant movement - Aconcio in the first place. Even the remarks concerning the private, intimate sphere of faith have therefore been analysed in this light: only by acknowledging the centrality of the “problem of politics” in Aconcio’s theories, in fact, is it possible to interpret them correctly. This approach proves the truth of the theoretical premise to my research, that is to say the unity and orderliness of the author’s thought: in every field of knowledge, Aconcio applies the rules of the methodus resolutiva, as a means to achieve knowledge and elaborate models of pacific cohabitation in society. Aconcio’s continuous references to method can make his writing pedant and rather complex, but at the same time they allow for a consistent and valid analysis of different disciplines. I have not considered the fact that most of his reflections appear to our eyes as strongly conditioned by the time in which he lived as a limit. To see in him, as some have done, the forerunner of Descartes’ methodological discourse or, conversely, to judge his religious theories as not very modern, is to force the thought of an author who was first and foremost a Christian man of his own time. Aconcio repeats this himself several times in his writings: he wants to provide individuals with the necessary tools to reach a full-fledged scientific knowledge in the various fields, and also to enable them to seek truth incessantly in the religious domain, which is the duty of every human being. The will to find rules, instruments, effective solutions characterizes the whole of the author’s corpus: Aconcio feels he must look for truth in all the arts, aware as he is that anything can become science as long as it is analysed with method. Nevertheless, he remains a man of his own time, a Christian convinced of the existence of God, creator and governor of the world, to whom people must account for their own actions. To neglect this fact in order to construct a “character”, a generic forerunner, but not participant, of whatever philosophical current, is a dangerous and sidetracking operation. In this study, I have highlighted how Aconcio’s arguments only reveal their full meaning when read in the context in which they were born, without depriving them of their originality but also without charging them with meanings they do not possess. Through a historical-doctrinal approach, I have tried to analyse the complex web of theories and events which constitute the substratum of Aconcio’s reflection, in order to trace the correct relations between texts and contexts. The thesis is therefore organised in six chapters, dedicated respectively to Aconcio’s biography, to the methodological question, to the author’s engineering activity, to his historical knowledge and to his religious thinking, followed by a last section concerning his fortune throughout the centuries. The above-mentioned complexity is determined by the special historical moment in which the author lived. On the one hand, thanks to the new union between science and technique, the 16th century produces discoveries and inventions which make available a previously unthinkable number of notions and lead to a “revolution” in the way of studying and teaching the different subjects, which, by producing a new form of intellectual, involved in politics but also aware of scientific-technological issues, will contribute to the subsequent birth of modern science. On the other, the 16th century is ravaged by religious conflicts, which shatter the unity of the Christian world and generate theological-political disputes which will inform the history of European states for many decades. My aim is to show how Aconcio’s multifarious activity is the conscious fruit of this historical and religious situation, as well as the attempt of an answer to the request of a new kind of engagement on the intellectual’s behalf. Plunged in the discussions around methodus, employed in the most important European courts, involved in the abrupt acceleration of technical-scientific activities, and especially concerned by the radical religious reformation brought on by the Protestant movement, Jacopo Aconcio reflects this complex conjunction in his writings, without lacking in order and consistency, differently from what many scholars assume. The object of this work, therefore, is to highlight the unity of the author’s thought, in which science, technique, faith and politics are woven into a combination which, although it may appear illogical and confused, is actually tidy and methodical, and therefore in agreement with Aconcio’s own intentions and with the specific characters of European culture in the Renaissance. This theory is confirmed by the reading of the Ars muniendorum oppidorum, Aconcio’s only work which had been up till now unavailable. I am persuaded that only a methodical reading of Aconcio’s works, without forgetting nor glorifying any single one, respects the author’s will. From De methodo (1558) onwards, all his writings are summae, guides for the reader who wishes to approach the study of the various disciplines. Undoubtedly, Satan’s Stratagems (1565) is something more, not only because of its length, but because it deals with the author’s main interest: the celebration of doubt and debate as bases on which to build religious tolerance, which is the best method for pacific cohabitation in society. This, however, does not justify the total centrality which the Stratagems have enjoyed for centuries, at the expense of a proper understanding of the author’s will to offer examples of methodological rigour in all sciences. Maybe it is precisely because of the reforming power of Aconcio’s thought that, albeit often forgotten throughout the centuries, he has never ceased to reappear and continues to draw attention, both as a man and as an author. His ideas never stop stimulating the reader’s curiosity and this may ultimately be the best demonstration of their worth, independently from the historical moment in which they come back to the surface.

The aim of this PhD thesis is to study accurately and in depth the figure and the literary production of the intellectual Jacopo Aconcio. This minor author of the 16th century has long been considered a sort of “enigmatic character”, a profile which results from the work of those who, for many centuries, have left his writing to its fate: a story of constant re-readings and equally incessant oversights. This is why it is necessary to re-read Aconcio’s production in its entirety and to devote to it a monographic study. Previous scholars’ interpretations will obviously be considered, but at the same time an effort will be made to go beyond them through the analysis of both published and manuscript sources, in the attempt to attain a deeper understanding of the figure of this man, who was a Christian, a military and hydraulic engineer and a political philosopher,. The title of the thesis was chosen to emphasise how, throughout the three years of the doctorate, my research concentrated in equal measure and with the same degree of importance on all the reflections and activities of Jacopo Aconcio. My object, in fact, was to establish how and to what extent the methodological thinking of the intellectual found application in, and at the same time guided, his theoretical and practical production. I did not mention in the title the author’s religious thinking, which has always been considered by everyone the most original and interesting element of his production, because religion, from the Reformation onwards, was primarily a political question and thus it was treated by almost all the authors involved in the Protestant movement - Aconcio in the first place. Even the remarks concerning the private, intimate sphere of faith have therefore been analysed in this light: only by acknowledging the centrality of the “problem of politics” in Aconcio’s theories, in fact, is it possible to interpret them correctly. This approach proves the truth of the theoretical premise to my research, that is to say the unity and orderliness of the author’s thought: in every field of knowledge, Aconcio applies the rules of the methodus resolutiva, as a means to achieve knowledge and elaborate models of pacific cohabitation in society. Aconcio’s continuous references to method can make his writing pedant and rather complex, but at the same time they allow for a consistent and valid analysis of different disciplines. I have not considered the fact that most of his reflections appear to our eyes as strongly conditioned by the time in which he lived as a limit. To see in him, as some have done, the forerunner of Descartes’ methodological discourse or, conversely, to judge his religious theories as not very modern, is to force the thought of an author who was first and foremost a Christian man of his own time. Aconcio repeats this himself several times in his writings: he wants to provide individuals with the necessary tools to reach a full-fledged scientific knowledge in the various fields, and also to enable them to seek truth incessantly in the religious domain, which is the duty of every human being. The will to find rules, instruments, effective solutions characterizes the whole of the author’s corpus: Aconcio feels he must look for truth in all the arts, aware as he is that anything can become science as long as it is analysed with method. Nevertheless, he remains a man of his own time, a Christian convinced of the existence of God, creator and governor of the world, to whom people must account for their own actions. To neglect this fact in order to construct a “character”, a generic forerunner, but not participant, of whatever philosophical current, is a dangerous and sidetracking operation. In this study, I have highlighted how Aconcio’s arguments only reveal their full meaning when read in the context in which they were born, without depriving them of their originality but also without charging them with meanings they do not possess. Through a historical-doctrinal approach, I have tried to analyse the complex web of theories and events which constitute the substratum of Aconcio’s reflection, in order to trace the correct relations between texts and contexts. The thesis is therefore organised in six chapters, dedicated respectively to Aconcio’s biography, to the methodological question, to the author’s engineering activity, to his historical knowledge and to his religious thinking, followed by a last section concerning his fortune throughout the centuries. The above-mentioned complexity is determined by the special historical moment in which the author lived. On the one hand, thanks to the new union between science and technique, the 16th century produces discoveries and inventions which make available a previously unthinkable number of notions and lead to a “revolution” in the way of studying and teaching the different subjects, which, by producing a new form of intellectual, involved in politics but also aware of scientific-technological issues, will contribute to the subsequent birth of modern science. On the other, the 16th century is ravaged by religious conflicts, which shatter the unity of the Christian world and generate theological-political disputes which will inform the history of European states for many decades. My aim is to show how Aconcio’s multifarious activity is the conscious fruit of this historical and religious situation, as well as the attempt of an answer to the request of a new kind of engagement on the intellectual’s behalf. Plunged in the discussions around methodus, employed in the most important European courts, involved in the abrupt acceleration of technical-scientific activities, and especially concerned by the radical religious reformation brought on by the Protestant movement, Jacopo Aconcio reflects this complex conjunction in his writings, without lacking in order and consistency, differently from what many scholars assume. The object of this work, therefore, is to highlight the unity of the author’s thought, in which science, technique, faith and politics are woven into a combination which, although it may appear illogical and confused, is actually tidy and methodical, and therefore in agreement with Aconcio’s own intentions and with the specific characters of European culture in the Renaissance. This theory is confirmed by the reading of the Ars muniendorum oppidorum, Aconcio’s only work which had been up till now unavailable. I am persuaded that only a methodical reading of Aconcio’s works, without forgetting nor glorifying any single one, respects the author’s will. From De methodo (1558) onwards, all his writings are summae, guides for the reader who wishes to approach the study of the various disciplines. Undoubtedly, Satan’s Stratagems (1565) is something more, not only because of its length, but because it deals with the author’s main interest: the celebration of doubt and debate as bases on which to build religious tolerance, which is the best method for pacific cohabitation in society. This, however, does not justify the total centrality which the Stratagems have enjoyed for centuries, at the expense of a proper understanding of the author’s will to offer examples of methodological rigour in all sciences. Maybe it is precisely because of the reforming power of Aconcio’s thought that, albeit often forgotten throughout the centuries, he has never ceased to reappear and continues to draw attention, both as a man and as an author. His ideas never stop stimulating the reader’s curiosity and this may ultimately be the best demonstration of their worth, independently from the historical moment in which they come back to the surface.

Lo scopo della dissertazione “Formazione e pratica del pensiero orchestrale di Hector Berlioz. Caratteri poetici e strategie del suono” è quello di indagare i tratti essenziali del pensiero di Berlioz in merito all’orchestra riprendendo in considerazione gli elementi della sua educazione giovanile. In particolare, le nozioni ricavate dai suoi insegnanti di composizione Le Sueur e Reicha e dai corsi di medicina brevemente frequentati a Parigi sono indagate con approccio rinnovato, alla luce di nuovi filoni di studio indagati dalla musicologia negli anni più recenti. Sono analizzate anche le recensioni di Berlioz, alla ricerca di elementi che aiutino a comprendere la sua musica con le argomentazioni destinate a quella altrui. È analizzato anche il percorso della trattatistica che da un iniziale approccio di tipo pratico tipico del XVIII secolo, giunge con il trattato di Berlioz a una forte connotazione poetica delle risorse strumentali e orchestrali. Nella seconda parte della dissertazione sono analizzate invece alcune opere di Berlioz e alcune questioni generali concernenti il suo modo di scrivere per l’orchestra, specialmente in relazione ad altri parametri musicali. Nella dissertazione notevole attenzione è data al rapporto fra questioni tecniche e poetiche, proponendo un approccio leggermente rinnovato.<br>The purpose of the dissertation “Development and practice of Hector Berlioz’s orchestral thought. Poetical features and sound strategies” is to investigate the main traits of Berlioz’s thinking about orchestra by reconsidering the elements of his early education. In particular, the notions acquired from his composition teachers Le Sueur and Reicha and from the medicine courses he briefly attended are examined with a renovated approach, in the light of new lines of study explored by musicology in recent years. Berlioz’s reviews are also analyzed, in the search of elements useful to understand his music through the arguments addressed to others’ music. The dissertation also examines the itinerary of theoretic music literature which, from an initial approach connoted by practice as it was typical in the 18th century, reaches with Berlioz’s treaty a strong poetical connotation of instrumental and orchestral resources. The second part of the dissertation deals with some of Berlioz’s works and with some general issues related to his way of writing for the orchestra, especially in relation to other musical parameters. In the whole discussion, sensible attention is put on the relation between technical and poetical issues, suggesting a quite renovated approach.

Lo scopo della dissertazione “Formazione e pratica del pensiero orchestrale di Hector Berlioz. Caratteri poetici e strategie del suono” è quello di indagare i tratti essenziali del pensiero di Berlioz in merito all’orchestra riprendendo in considerazione gli elementi della sua educazione giovanile. In particolare, le nozioni ricavate dai suoi insegnanti di composizione Le Sueur e Reicha e dai corsi di medicina brevemente frequentati a Parigi sono indagate con approccio rinnovato, alla luce di nuovi filoni di studio indagati dalla musicologia negli anni più recenti. Sono analizzate anche le recensioni di Berlioz, alla ricerca di elementi che aiutino a comprendere la sua musica con le argomentazioni destinate a quella altrui. È analizzato anche il percorso della trattatistica che da un iniziale approccio di tipo pratico tipico del XVIII secolo, giunge con il trattato di Berlioz a una forte connotazione poetica delle risorse strumentali e orchestrali. Nella seconda parte della dissertazione sono analizzate invece alcune opere di Berlioz e alcune questioni generali concernenti il suo modo di scrivere per l’orchestra, specialmente in relazione ad altri parametri musicali. Nella dissertazione notevole attenzione è data al rapporto fra questioni tecniche e poetiche, proponendo un approccio leggermente rinnovato.<br>The purpose of the dissertation “Development and practice of Hector Berlioz’s orchestral thought. Poetical features and sound strategies” is to investigate the main traits of Berlioz’s thinking about orchestra by reconsidering the elements of his early education. In particular, the notions acquired from his composition teachers Le Sueur and Reicha and from the medicine courses he briefly attended are examined with a renovated approach, in the light of new lines of study explored by musicology in recent years. Berlioz’s reviews are also analyzed, in the search of elements useful to understand his music through the arguments addressed to others’ music. The dissertation also examines the itinerary of theoretic music literature which, from an initial approach connoted by practice as it was typical in the 18th century, reaches with Berlioz’s treaty a strong poetical connotation of instrumental and orchestral resources. The second part of the dissertation deals with some of Berlioz’s works and with some general issues related to his way of writing for the orchestra, especially in relation to other musical parameters. In the whole discussion, sensible attention is put on the relation between technical and poetical issues, suggesting a quite renovated approach.

Fin dall’Antichità la riflessione sulle tematiche economiche accompagna l’uomo, ben prima della «svolta» scientifica settecentesca. Nel basso medioevo, ed in particolare nel XIII secolo, la riflessione sull’economico assunse un rilievo del tutto particolare, ad opera dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori. I francescani rappresentarono una peculiarità assoluta, la loro «altissima povertà» diede luogo ad una riflessione intorno al discorso economico di grande spessore e del tutto singolare. Interesse, prezzo, valore, capitale, proprietà, possesso, uso, furono le principali categorie economiche oggetto di un indagine, tutta francescana, che da Bonaventura da Bagnoregio, Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, Giovanni Duns Scoto fino a Guglielmo d’Occam, caratterizzò la riflessione dell’Ordine intorno all’etica economica tra la seconda metà del XIII e prima metà del XIV secolo. I francescani misero a punto un lessico economico capace delle più sofisticate interpretazioni del reale. Un pensiero, quello economico francescano, che non si esaurì nel Duecento, ma rimodellò il rapporto dell’uomo con i beni ed il denaro per molti secoli a venire. Una profonda ed originale analisi cui i francescani sottoposero l’agire umano in chiave etico–economica.