RIVISTA DI FILOSOFIA NEO-SCOLASTICA - 2013 - 1

In this article I consider the structure of the finite consciousness as referring to a originary infinite principle that necessarily establishes it; nevertheless this principle remains ineffable. I will show how the multiplicity of religious languages and traditions could be the expression of this ineffable Name. The awareness of our limitations allows, indeed, the dialogue and a sort of completion among different traditions. Finally, I take into account the inclusive nature of various religious symbols as a possible way to reach a common, and temporarily ultimate, apex of the religious consciousness.

Intentionality is traditionally defined as the property of a mental state to be directed at something presented in a particular way. The fact that we can think about objects which do not exist makes this definition problematic: what kind of things are those objects? The aim of this paper is to analyse the definition of intentionality as a relation in theories which do not admit non-existent special entities. In particular, I consider John R. Searle and Tim Crane’s theories of intentionality and I argue that neither Searle’s notion of a non-ordinary relation between the intentional state and the intentional object nor Crane’s idea of a relation between the intentional state and the intentional content succeed in holding together the traditional definition of intentionality and the purpose to not be committed to some kind of special entities. This intent seems finally hardly compatible with the traditional definition of intentionality.

The common good is the primary objective of the rulers’ mission and therefore it represents also their limit. To lead each man to a virtuous life in perspective of the common good is the intrinsic goal of law. Therefore only when the cardinal virtues are pertaining to justice, which is about the common good, such virtues are relevant to law. Justice is connected with the lex naturalis: thus, only that part of the moral imperative essential to build a strong social cohesion, seen as a voluntary union of people based on the principles of natural law, needs to be protected. How to protect such a justice? Creating the social conditions through which the individual is oriented to virtue on the voluntary basis, among which commands and prohibitions emerge as relevant. The firsts should impose exclusively those acts which are necessary for the common good, and the seconds should prohibit exclusively those acts which are heavily detrimental to it, taking into account the mean level of morality within the mentioned union of people. In this framework some wicked conducted might be tolerated, except those affecting by themselves the ordered harmony.

Even if the term intuitio and other similar concepts (such as notitia or notio intuitiva) are not explicitly cited (apart from a very few insignificant exceptions) in the philosophical-theological vocabulary of the Early Middle Ages (VI-XII centuries), the authors of this period frequently demonstrated in their theories of knowledge the fundamental value of forms of the direct and immediate perception of the truth, which they based on a shared and prevailing gnoseology rooted in exemplarism, as recommended by the Augustinian model. A synoptic examination of texts from some of the most significant evidence of this concept allows for an evaluation of the role of immediate knowledge, which is comparable to the forms of contact between the subject and object of knowledge – what other historical periods would call «intuitive» –, in the most important systems of thought in the Early Middle Ages: from Boethius to Virgil the Grammarian; to Alcuin and the other thinkers of the first Carolingian age; from John Scotus Eriugena to Anselm of Aosta; up to Gilbert of Poitiers to Alan of Lille.

This Lectio magistralis, delivered at Lumsa University in Rome at 21 of september 2012, takes into account the philosophical relevance of the concept of nobility in the fourth treatise of Dante Alighieri’s Convivio. That is an example of assimilation of the language and methodology of the academic culture by the side of poet and, contextually, it is a typical instance of the contemporary controversy about his professionalization and monetization. By this perspective, it emerges, from the ethical and political point of view, a clear project of reforming knowledge and society; in this project a crucial role is covered by the vernacular language.

Juan de la Peña is one of the great theologians of scholastic thought. With a strong background in thomistic philosophy, his lectures on the philosophy of law and the determination marked the course of the legal and philosophical doctrines of the Spanish Scholastics. In this paper, the author tries to deeper into the reception that Juan de la Peña makes of the thesis determinatio of Aquinas.

Antonio Rosmini, while developing his Antropologia in servizio della scienza morale, takes inspiration from the thought of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century naturalists (specifically in the fields of medical science and biology and largely belonging to German cultural area), which, in his moral anthropological proposal, is also crucial in order to better understand the role of reason and will and the relationship among sense, intellect and freedom.