Papers by Alberto Giacomelli
Dianoia, 2023
The essay aims to investigate the influence of Lichtenberg’s thinking within Nietzsche’s thought.... more The essay aims to investigate the influence of Lichtenberg’s thinking within Nietzsche’s thought. The first part of the essay analyses the eighteenth-century debate around physiognomy between Lichtenberg and Lavater, with the aim of showing how Lichtenberg anticipates in many respects a dynamic and plural conception of subjectivity. The second part of the essay analyses Nietzsche’s direct references to Lichtenberg between 1867 and 1873. In particular, I emphasise the importance of Lichtenberg’s writing style for Nietzsche and the influence it also had on Schopenhauer. The third part of the essay analyses Nietzsche’s use of Lichtenberg’s thought in the first Untimely Meditation. What emerges is a contrast between Lichtenberg as a sceptical, anti-religious Enlightenment scholar and David Strauss as a cultural philistine. The final part of the essay dwells on the philosophical significance of aphoristic writing, placing it in close relation to Lichtenberg and Nietzsche’s critique of the Cartesian method.
Open Journal Systems, 2022
This paper aims to analyse the philosophical problem of the “universal” from a hermeneutical and ... more This paper aims to analyse the philosophical problem of the “universal” from a hermeneutical and intercultural perspective. The first paragraph of the essay provides a historical-philosophical reconstruction of the concept of the “universal” between the ancient and modern world. The second paragraph focuses on the notion of the “universal” in Hegel. The thesis I argue is that Hegel’s notion of “objective spirit” is intrinsically connected to an interpretive dimension. Consequently, there is not a contradiction, but rather a complementarity, between absoluteness and relativity, universality and singularity. The “universal” in Hegel does not correspond solely to the “objective spirit”, as it encompasses elements of historical particularity that cannot be fully conceptualized. This thesis has allowed me to question the simplistic interpretation of Hegel’s relationship with the Eastern world and, at the same time, to reflect on Hegel’s conception of language. The third paragraph is focused on Nietzsche’s radical critique of the “universal,” with particular reference to his conception of “gay science.”
il Mulino, 2023
This paper intends to propose an original reflection on the relationship
between Nietzsche’s styl... more This paper intends to propose an original reflection on the relationship
between Nietzsche’s style and some specific aspects of the
so-called Sino-Japanese «way of art» (geidō). Firstly, I proposed a
survey of oriental bibliographical sources that Nietzsche personally
consulted. What emerges from this reconnaissance is Nietzsche’s
partial and sometimes naive knowledge of Indian sources and an
almost total absence of direct knowledge of Chinese and Japanese
culture. I then proceeded by way of resonances and comparisons
to highlight certain affinities between Nietzschean language and the
notions of Tao (道) and «way» (dō 道). The affinity between the asystematic and non-denotative style of Nietzsche’s language with the fluid and a-dogmatic character of the Taoist style has legitimised a
comparison between the aphorism and the Japanese short forms of
kōan and haiku. In the final part of the contribution, it was intended
to show how the aphorism does not represent for Nietzsche a
stylistic form of immediate intuition, but rather has to do with the
aesthetic concept of «grace». This concept has been related to the
Japanese concept of «form» (kata 型 or 形).
This article, From cult to care. The body in Nietzsche between eugenics and construction of the s... more This article, From cult to care. The body in Nietzsche between eugenics and construction of the self, points out some pivotal aspects about Nietzsche's reflection on the body. Zarathustra says: “Human being is something that must be overcome”: but what role does the body play in this overcoming? How can this transvaluation of the human being be accomplished? And what does Zarathustra mean when he says Über-mensch? This essay aims to demonstrate why the body is conceived by Nietzsche as a psychophysical whole and as a plurality of impulses. Than it will be shown how Nietzschean notion of the body can neither be reduced to biological aspects, nor can the enhancement of physical faculties and performance be considered a “cult” in Nietzsche’s thought. Through the analysis of the genealogy of values, the Platonic tradition, and the theme of illness, the article develops a critique of both materialistic ontology and an eugenic vision of corporeity. The final goal of the essay is to propose an alternative vision of corporeity, where the body is understood as a privileged way to self-conquest and to self-care, as well as to experiment the art of living and the aesthetics of existence.
This contribution is meant to compare Japanese artistic practice and Western Aesthetics. By means... more This contribution is meant to compare Japanese artistic practice and Western Aesthetics. By means of the concept of 'kire', which in Ryosuke Ohashi's thinking constitutes nature's cutting action towards artistic figuration, this article claims to focus on the way in which the Japanese experience of the Beautiful strictly connects with a close relationship of dis/continuity (kire-tsuzuki) between immediate naturalness and art as technical craft. This paradoxical in/distinction, initially emerging in shintoistic architecture, has been placed against and compared with the dualistic metaphysics of Platonic origin, which can be found in Western Gothic architecture. The sanctuary and the cathedral have thus made possible an intercultural rethinking on the different, though still comparable, ways of perceiving the time, the space, the world of the senses and the sacred.
This essay highlights some issues regarding the current relationship between the aesthetic and ar... more This essay highlights some issues regarding the current relationship between the aesthetic and artistic experience of Japan and of the West. A comparison between Hokusai's pictorial work Tiger in the snow and some crucial notions of Nietzsche's philosophy (such as the dance and Heiterkeit) will form the basis for a critical de-construction of Takayama Rinjirō's interpretation of Nietzsche's thought. Then we shall show how the peculiar Japanese ethical and aesthetic concept of kire, theorized in Ryōsuke Ōhashi's work, can have a theoretical relevance for the contemporary Western aesthetic reflection. Through the analysis of some specific pictorial and poetic experiences (Van Gogh, Takahashi, Bashō), and through the study of some passages of Nietzsche's Thus spoke Zarathustra, we shall also show how Japanese thought can help to extend the boundaries of the traditional Western definition of aesthetics by problematizing its categories.
La vostra fredda giustizia non mi piace".Riflessioni critiche tra giustizia retributiva e riparat... more La vostra fredda giustizia non mi piace".Riflessioni critiche tra giustizia retributiva e riparativa a partire da Nietzsche
La pratica del tradurre convoca il problema della possibilità di restituire specularmente il «mon... more La pratica del tradurre convoca il problema della possibilità di restituire specularmente il «mondo altro» -per usare un'espressione di hashi -nel proprio: essa, come rileva Benjamin nel suo saggio Il compito del traduttore, non può essere semplice trasmissione o comunicazione. 1 Nel tentativo di rendere nei nostri termini una preghiera esoterica, una cantilena antica, di restituire le narrazioni mitologiche, le leggende amoro-
This paper aims to emphasize the crucial link between the untimely dimension and the role of art ... more This paper aims to emphasize the crucial link between the untimely dimension and the role of art in Nietzsche's thought. This connection will be highlighted by the analysis of some cultural and existential paradigms – namely Lebensformen – which Nietzsche outlines from the Second Untimely Meditation On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. The aim is therefore to display a reconstruction of Nietzsche's critique to the society of his time through the understanding of some exemplary characters and some 'conceptual personifications' (Lebensformen) like the historian, the journalist, the scientist, the teacher and overall the 'cultural philistine'. Furthermore, the speech will sketch some 'human types', representing, for Nietzsche, the chance of a new cultural renaissance (the poet, the musician and overall the artistic genius).Through this inspection, it is intended to show both the undeniable actuality of the Untimely Meditations, as well as their utopian and problematic aspects. In particular, the Second Untimely Meditation will be compared with The Birth of Tragedy, in order to show that, this work, although published in 1874, represents a sort of Erkenntniskritische Vorrede à la Benjamin and it concerns the idea of art proposed by Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, since, in this work, Nietzsche offers a picture of Greek civilization which is on antipodes of a scholarly monumental-antiquarian historiography.
Il contributo intende porre in rilievo il decisivo legame tra inattualità e arte nel pensiero di Nietzsche attraverso alcune considerazioni sui paradigmi culturali ed esistenziali, ovvero sulle Lebensformen, descritte da Nietzsche a partire dall'Inattuale Sull'utilità e il danno della storia per la vita. In questo senso si proporrà una ricostruzione della critica di Nietzsche alla società del suo tempo attraverso l'interpretazione delle figure esemplari e delle personificazioni concettuali dei 'tipi' dello storico, del giornalista, dello scienziato, dell'insegnate-educatore-religioso in quanto filistei culturali da contrapporre ai 'tipi' del poeta, del musicista e in generale del genio artistico in quanto sperimentatori e profeti di una nuova renaissance culturale. Di tale ricognizione si intenderanno mostrare da un lato l'incontrovertibile attualità e il potenziale profetico, dall'altro gli elementi utopici o caduchi. Il particolare si mostrerà come l'analisi della seconda Inattuale riveli il rapporto di continuità sussistente tra il ruolo ascritto da Nietzsche all'arte nella Nascita della tragedia (ossia vivificare lo spirito della Grecità tragica), e il ruolo attribuito alla storia. L'obiettivo è quello di mostrare come, sebbene pubblicata in seguito (1874), la seconda Inattuale costituisca la 'premessa gnoseologica' all'idea di arte veicolata nella Nascita della tragedia, dal momento che essa propone un'immagine della Grecità agli antipodi della dotta storiografia monumentale-antiquaria.
Per una critica all'interpretazione heideggeriana della volontà di potenza 1 Non a un maestro, ma... more Per una critica all'interpretazione heideggeriana della volontà di potenza 1 Non a un maestro, ma ad una guida Non per devozione, ma per gratitudine.
Alberto Giacomelli «Spirito è la vita che taglia nella propria carne». Zarathustra e il pathos de... more Alberto Giacomelli «Spirito è la vita che taglia nella propria carne». Zarathustra e il pathos del linguaggio 1 Permeate dall'elemento del πάϑοςda intendersi non solo e semplicemente come carica emotiva, ma soprattutto nel senso di autentica sofferenzale pagine nietzscheane non sono affatto neutrali: esse lasciano il loro fruitore più forte o più debole, più sicuro o più incerto, più angosciato o più sollevato, e comunque mai indifferente. La lettura di Nietzsche invoca dunque un coinvolgimento che non è solo teoretico, ma investe il concetto di esperienza da intendersi come ciò da cui si esce trasformati e trasfigurati, ed acquista senso solo per chi è disposto ad uscire dalla «pace del giorno» propria della quotidianità e ad attuare quella modificazione della propria vita che è la filosofia.
L'Incontro internazionale di studio «Franco Volpi interprete del pensiero contemporaneo», svoltos... more L'Incontro internazionale di studio «Franco Volpi interprete del pensiero contemporaneo», svoltosi il 19 novembre a Padova nello storico Palazzo del Bo, ha voluto assumere il carattere di doveroso tributo, atto a ricordare la figura di un maestro crudelmente e immaturamente scomparso il 14 aprile scorso. Nel suo saluto inaugurale il Magnifico Rettore dell'Università di Padova, Giuseppe Zaccaria, ha evocato la straordinaria conoscenza filologica di Franco Volpi, allievo di Giuseppe Faggin ed Enrico Berti, al quale nel 1972, appena ventenne, aveva chiesto la tesi che andò poi a costituire l'oggetto della sua prima pubblicazione (Heidegger e Brentano. L'aristotelismo e il problema dell'univocità dell'essere nella formazione filosofica del giovane Martin Heidegger, Cedam, Padova, 1976). Stile della persona e stile della ricerca si fondevano nella figura di Franco Volpi, che studiò e si perfezionò a Padova, dove dal 1977 fu borsista del CNR, dal 1980 ricercatore, dal 1987 professore associato di storia della filosofia e dal 2000 professore ordinario di storia della filosofia contemporanea. Specialista del pensiero tedesco e della tradizione aristotelica, concentrò la propria attenzione su questioni di ontologia, fenomenologia e filosofia pratica, mosso da una curiositas che
il Poligrafo, 2022
Il presente volume si propone di restituire tutta la feconda complessità
del dialogo – implicito ... more Il presente volume si propone di restituire tutta la feconda complessità
del dialogo – implicito ed esplicito, diretto e indiretto – di Heidegger
con i suoi poeti d’elezione. Si tratta di un confronto che riguarda sia
la poesia dell’antica Grecia (Omero, Pindaro, Eschilo, Sofocle), sia quella
tedesca (Trakl, George, Hölderlin, Hebel, Rilke, Goethe, Mörike, Celan,
Silesius), francese (Char, Rimbaud) e giapponese (Basho). Ne emerge
una riflessione articolata e corale su questioni decisive e attuali relative
all’essenza e al ruolo dell’arte, alla funzione del linguaggio, al destino
della tecnica e in definitiva al senso della verità.
Mimesis, 2022
In the first paragraph of the paper, I aim to show the semantic richness and at the same time the... more In the first paragraph of the paper, I aim to show the semantic richness and at the same time the ambiguity of the notion of imagination. I therefore try to show how the notion of imagination tends to be distinguished from that of fantasy. In the second section, I briefly reconstruct the characteristics of Einbildungskraft in Kantian reflection and compare them with the notions of Bildungskraft and Phantasie in the work of Jean Paul Richter. While for Kant, fantasy is mostly disconnected from sensible reality and thus proves to be an unreliable faculty from a gnoseological point of view, for Jean Paul Richter it represents the most fertile and creative cognitive faculty. This romantic conception of the Phantasie is taken up in aesthetic terms by the Schlegel brothers, who recognise in it the essential endowment of genius. The last paragraph of the paper focuses on the social and existential phenomenon of hikikomori. Japanese youths confined in their rooms and addicted to virtual reality seem to be the perfect example of imaginative decadence, yet I try to show how precisely the virtual and digital fields can provide an opportunity for imaginative and creative practice.
![Research paper thumbnail of Compassione, autonomia e vulnerabilità. Considerazioni sull’“etica” di Nietzsche a partire da Martha C. Nussbaum, in B. Giacomini- F. Marin (a cura di), Autonomia e vulnerabilità, «Paradosso», 1/2021, Il Poligrafo, Padova, ISSN: 1128-3459, pp. 39-56. [Preview].](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/95284039/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Il Poligrafo, 2021
Compassion, Autonomy and Vulnerability. Considerations on Nietzsche’s “Ethics” starting
from Mart... more Compassion, Autonomy and Vulnerability. Considerations on Nietzsche’s “Ethics” starting
from Martha C. Nussbaum
The paper aims to focus on Nietzsche’s conception of pity, compassion, empathy and mercy. In the essay, these notions are intertwined with those of vulnerability and autonomy. I have shown how these notions are intrinsically linked to those of vulnerability and autonomy and how Nietzsche’s thought takes up and reformulates, in relation to these themes,
some important concepts from the ancient Greek world. In order to shed light on Nietzsche’s complex reflections on autonomy and vulnerability, I have widely referred to and reworked some essays by Martha Nussbaum. Taking up passages from Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca and the Stoics, Nussbaum shows how already in the ancient world compassion was considered a harmful sentiment and an unbalanced relationship that creates deteriorating forms of dependency. What emerges from these perspectives is that for the most part in the ancient world the repudiation of compassion has nothing to do with insensitivity, brutality or tyrannical behaviour: if anything, it is compassion itself that is the source of anger and cruelty. I also intended to interpret the figure of Zarathustra in the light of some fundamental Stoic virtues (independence, freedom, detachment, clemency, magnanimity). In conclusion I have shown how in the Genealogy of Morals compassion comes close to the Christian psychological feeling of shame.
![Research paper thumbnail of Estasi e geometria. Benjamin e le anime del Modernismo tedesco tra Espressionismo e Bauhaus, «Estetica. Studi e ricerche», 1/2022, il Mulino, Bologna, ISSN 2039-6635, DOI: 10.14648/104251, pp. 209-226. [Preview].](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/90700985/thumbnails/1.jpg)
il Mulino, 2022
The essay intends to shed light on some previously unpublished aspects that characterise the firs... more The essay intends to shed light on some previously unpublished aspects that characterise the first phase of Weimar’s Bauhaus, with the aim of contributing to aesthetic reflection on a particularly complex and fertile phase of twentieth-century art. Firstly, I showed how the initial phase of the Bauhaus (1919-1925) was characterised by a «polar» soul, in which a conservative-magical expressionist component and a pragmatic technical-industrial component coexisted. These «souls» find expression in the art of the painter Johannes Itten and the photographer László Moholy-Nagy, respectively. By analysing Walter Benjamin’s interpretation, I then sought to question this polarity, and showed how it is not possible to understand Moholy-Nagy’s artistic language purely in rationalist and functionalist terms. In fact, reading some of Benjamin’s fundamental passages reveals how a magical, mystical and utopian dimension should be recognised precisely within art as technical reproducibility. A decisive example is Moholy-Nagy’s photography, in which the «destructive» character of technique is translated into a revolutionary and messianic chance.
Milano University Press, 2022
The article aims to shed light on the peculiar relationship between Blossfeldt's photographic aes... more The article aims to shed light on the peculiar relationship between Blossfeldt's photographic aesthetics and that of Moholy-Nagy in a novel way. I intended to show, starting with the essay "Short History of Photography" and the review "News about flowers" by Walter Benjamin, the peculiar character of Blossfeldt's photographs collected in his book Urformen der Kunst (1928). What emerges from this photo-collection is first and foremost a fundamental ontological difference between photographs and pictorial chrome-graphs, which I have developed through comparison with Gadamer's reflection on the portrait. I then showed the profound affinity of Blossfeldt's photography with Riegl's reflection on ornamentation, Goethean morphology and Klee's painting. Despite the apparent proximity of Blossfeldt's work to traditional photography and the so-called Neue Sachlichkeit, I have argued, in the last part of the contribution, the affinity of this work to certain aspects of Moholy-Nagy's Neue Sehen. Like Moholy-Nagy, Blossfeldt intends to implement the perceptual possibilities of the human being, giving him access to a new "optical unconscious".
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Papers by Alberto Giacomelli
between Nietzsche’s style and some specific aspects of the
so-called Sino-Japanese «way of art» (geidō). Firstly, I proposed a
survey of oriental bibliographical sources that Nietzsche personally
consulted. What emerges from this reconnaissance is Nietzsche’s
partial and sometimes naive knowledge of Indian sources and an
almost total absence of direct knowledge of Chinese and Japanese
culture. I then proceeded by way of resonances and comparisons
to highlight certain affinities between Nietzschean language and the
notions of Tao (道) and «way» (dō 道). The affinity between the asystematic and non-denotative style of Nietzsche’s language with the fluid and a-dogmatic character of the Taoist style has legitimised a
comparison between the aphorism and the Japanese short forms of
kōan and haiku. In the final part of the contribution, it was intended
to show how the aphorism does not represent for Nietzsche a
stylistic form of immediate intuition, but rather has to do with the
aesthetic concept of «grace». This concept has been related to the
Japanese concept of «form» (kata 型 or 形).
Il contributo intende porre in rilievo il decisivo legame tra inattualità e arte nel pensiero di Nietzsche attraverso alcune considerazioni sui paradigmi culturali ed esistenziali, ovvero sulle Lebensformen, descritte da Nietzsche a partire dall'Inattuale Sull'utilità e il danno della storia per la vita. In questo senso si proporrà una ricostruzione della critica di Nietzsche alla società del suo tempo attraverso l'interpretazione delle figure esemplari e delle personificazioni concettuali dei 'tipi' dello storico, del giornalista, dello scienziato, dell'insegnate-educatore-religioso in quanto filistei culturali da contrapporre ai 'tipi' del poeta, del musicista e in generale del genio artistico in quanto sperimentatori e profeti di una nuova renaissance culturale. Di tale ricognizione si intenderanno mostrare da un lato l'incontrovertibile attualità e il potenziale profetico, dall'altro gli elementi utopici o caduchi. Il particolare si mostrerà come l'analisi della seconda Inattuale riveli il rapporto di continuità sussistente tra il ruolo ascritto da Nietzsche all'arte nella Nascita della tragedia (ossia vivificare lo spirito della Grecità tragica), e il ruolo attribuito alla storia. L'obiettivo è quello di mostrare come, sebbene pubblicata in seguito (1874), la seconda Inattuale costituisca la 'premessa gnoseologica' all'idea di arte veicolata nella Nascita della tragedia, dal momento che essa propone un'immagine della Grecità agli antipodi della dotta storiografia monumentale-antiquaria.
del dialogo – implicito ed esplicito, diretto e indiretto – di Heidegger
con i suoi poeti d’elezione. Si tratta di un confronto che riguarda sia
la poesia dell’antica Grecia (Omero, Pindaro, Eschilo, Sofocle), sia quella
tedesca (Trakl, George, Hölderlin, Hebel, Rilke, Goethe, Mörike, Celan,
Silesius), francese (Char, Rimbaud) e giapponese (Basho). Ne emerge
una riflessione articolata e corale su questioni decisive e attuali relative
all’essenza e al ruolo dell’arte, alla funzione del linguaggio, al destino
della tecnica e in definitiva al senso della verità.
from Martha C. Nussbaum
The paper aims to focus on Nietzsche’s conception of pity, compassion, empathy and mercy. In the essay, these notions are intertwined with those of vulnerability and autonomy. I have shown how these notions are intrinsically linked to those of vulnerability and autonomy and how Nietzsche’s thought takes up and reformulates, in relation to these themes,
some important concepts from the ancient Greek world. In order to shed light on Nietzsche’s complex reflections on autonomy and vulnerability, I have widely referred to and reworked some essays by Martha Nussbaum. Taking up passages from Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca and the Stoics, Nussbaum shows how already in the ancient world compassion was considered a harmful sentiment and an unbalanced relationship that creates deteriorating forms of dependency. What emerges from these perspectives is that for the most part in the ancient world the repudiation of compassion has nothing to do with insensitivity, brutality or tyrannical behaviour: if anything, it is compassion itself that is the source of anger and cruelty. I also intended to interpret the figure of Zarathustra in the light of some fundamental Stoic virtues (independence, freedom, detachment, clemency, magnanimity). In conclusion I have shown how in the Genealogy of Morals compassion comes close to the Christian psychological feeling of shame.
between Nietzsche’s style and some specific aspects of the
so-called Sino-Japanese «way of art» (geidō). Firstly, I proposed a
survey of oriental bibliographical sources that Nietzsche personally
consulted. What emerges from this reconnaissance is Nietzsche’s
partial and sometimes naive knowledge of Indian sources and an
almost total absence of direct knowledge of Chinese and Japanese
culture. I then proceeded by way of resonances and comparisons
to highlight certain affinities between Nietzschean language and the
notions of Tao (道) and «way» (dō 道). The affinity between the asystematic and non-denotative style of Nietzsche’s language with the fluid and a-dogmatic character of the Taoist style has legitimised a
comparison between the aphorism and the Japanese short forms of
kōan and haiku. In the final part of the contribution, it was intended
to show how the aphorism does not represent for Nietzsche a
stylistic form of immediate intuition, but rather has to do with the
aesthetic concept of «grace». This concept has been related to the
Japanese concept of «form» (kata 型 or 形).
Il contributo intende porre in rilievo il decisivo legame tra inattualità e arte nel pensiero di Nietzsche attraverso alcune considerazioni sui paradigmi culturali ed esistenziali, ovvero sulle Lebensformen, descritte da Nietzsche a partire dall'Inattuale Sull'utilità e il danno della storia per la vita. In questo senso si proporrà una ricostruzione della critica di Nietzsche alla società del suo tempo attraverso l'interpretazione delle figure esemplari e delle personificazioni concettuali dei 'tipi' dello storico, del giornalista, dello scienziato, dell'insegnate-educatore-religioso in quanto filistei culturali da contrapporre ai 'tipi' del poeta, del musicista e in generale del genio artistico in quanto sperimentatori e profeti di una nuova renaissance culturale. Di tale ricognizione si intenderanno mostrare da un lato l'incontrovertibile attualità e il potenziale profetico, dall'altro gli elementi utopici o caduchi. Il particolare si mostrerà come l'analisi della seconda Inattuale riveli il rapporto di continuità sussistente tra il ruolo ascritto da Nietzsche all'arte nella Nascita della tragedia (ossia vivificare lo spirito della Grecità tragica), e il ruolo attribuito alla storia. L'obiettivo è quello di mostrare come, sebbene pubblicata in seguito (1874), la seconda Inattuale costituisca la 'premessa gnoseologica' all'idea di arte veicolata nella Nascita della tragedia, dal momento che essa propone un'immagine della Grecità agli antipodi della dotta storiografia monumentale-antiquaria.
del dialogo – implicito ed esplicito, diretto e indiretto – di Heidegger
con i suoi poeti d’elezione. Si tratta di un confronto che riguarda sia
la poesia dell’antica Grecia (Omero, Pindaro, Eschilo, Sofocle), sia quella
tedesca (Trakl, George, Hölderlin, Hebel, Rilke, Goethe, Mörike, Celan,
Silesius), francese (Char, Rimbaud) e giapponese (Basho). Ne emerge
una riflessione articolata e corale su questioni decisive e attuali relative
all’essenza e al ruolo dell’arte, alla funzione del linguaggio, al destino
della tecnica e in definitiva al senso della verità.
from Martha C. Nussbaum
The paper aims to focus on Nietzsche’s conception of pity, compassion, empathy and mercy. In the essay, these notions are intertwined with those of vulnerability and autonomy. I have shown how these notions are intrinsically linked to those of vulnerability and autonomy and how Nietzsche’s thought takes up and reformulates, in relation to these themes,
some important concepts from the ancient Greek world. In order to shed light on Nietzsche’s complex reflections on autonomy and vulnerability, I have widely referred to and reworked some essays by Martha Nussbaum. Taking up passages from Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca and the Stoics, Nussbaum shows how already in the ancient world compassion was considered a harmful sentiment and an unbalanced relationship that creates deteriorating forms of dependency. What emerges from these perspectives is that for the most part in the ancient world the repudiation of compassion has nothing to do with insensitivity, brutality or tyrannical behaviour: if anything, it is compassion itself that is the source of anger and cruelty. I also intended to interpret the figure of Zarathustra in the light of some fundamental Stoic virtues (independence, freedom, detachment, clemency, magnanimity). In conclusion I have shown how in the Genealogy of Morals compassion comes close to the Christian psychological feeling of shame.