Philosophy Festival 2021
The theme chosen for the 2021 Edition is " Freedom ".
A concept that contains within itself a plural and problematic dimension.
This time, I felt it was necessary to make some historical references.
Let's start from the beginning...
Cicero summarises these first reflections of ancient thought on fate:
«There were two opinions on which the ancient philosophers were divided, some thought that everything depends on fate, so that this destiny expresses the force of necessity. (Heraclitus, Aristotle were of this opinion), others thought that the voluntary movement of the soul occurs without any intervention of fate; Chrysippus as arbiter seems to have chosen the middle position; but in fact he refers to those who want to think that the movement of the soul is free from any constraint. »
Roman mythology, which had also drawn many divinities and myths from Greek mythology, possessed some that belonged only to their rites, such as that of the goddess Liberty who symbolically represented the personal freedom of each individual and, later in their civil history, the right reserved for those who enjoyed Roman citizenship.
In Greek civilization the concept of freedom was reserved mainly for politics and religion.
Within the framework of this binding authority of the State, however, ancient Greco-Roman thought left room for the freedom of the citizen who enjoyed civil rights, with the exception of certain categories.
An intellectualistic vision, which we find in the Socratic theses, is based on the principle of the attraction of good and the involuntary nature of evil: for which man by his nature is oriented to necessarily choose the good. If instead the individual does evil this happens because of the lack of knowledge of what the true good is: evil is never voluntarily free but is the consequence of human ignorance that mistakes evil for good.
Even for Aristotle, a voluntary and free action is one that arises from the individual and not from external conditioning factors, provided that it is prepared by the subject with adequate knowledge of all the particular circumstances surrounding the choice: the more accurate this investigation is, the freer the corresponding choice will be.
From here we come to the definitions and concepts expressed within the context of rationalism, empiricism and enlightenment by philosophers such as: Hobbes, Locke, Condillac.
The perspective of the conception of freedom changes completely with the philosophers Kant and Hegel.
The master classes, which will be held in Piazza Grande, will propose current reflections on the concept of Freedom, and will question philosophy with respect to an experience as essential as it is enigmatic, such as that of trying to be free.
Many initiatives, exhibitions and installations located in the wonderful historic center of Modena