mercoledì 17 aprile 2013

Florence as the new model of ethical virtus in the world



Time has come for a New Humanism. In an age of globalization and crisis of values we urgently need to reconsider  humanistic values.
Martha C. Nussbaum aroused a public debate on Humanism with her book “Not for profit. Why democracy needs the humanities”. At the London City the traders are required to take a test in ethics.
A new wind is blowing and ethics can be the new direction of the world.
Florence has been the centre of Humanism and this city had powerful Humanistic thinkers.
In such a dark age as Italy is going through, after a technocrat government that completely alienated Italians and their humanistic traditions, it can be useful to remember two of the most fervid minds of Florence: Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini.
Both men belonged to the Florentine oligarchy, although Guicciardini’s family was wealthier and more prominent than Machiavelli’s.
Both thinkers during those tormented years were stimulated by Italian tragedy to examine the historical events.
Their reaction in a time of political crisis was creative in the highest degree, for it contributed to the formulation of new concepts of politics and of the historical process, which is indeed what we lack of today.
Today we live in a world populated by an entitlement culture, made of egotism and primarily concerned with financial interests that tend to favor a selected oligarchy.
We live in a culture where personal success is principally measured on compensation. We live in a time where the policies of democratic systems have been infected by financial power provoking a vacuum in terms of culture and values.
Following the example of those fervid thinkers today we should educate our society in visualizing virtus, which means to relaunch ethics as a primary value for the future leading classes.
For this reason, for its history and tradition and as a symbol of Humanism in the world, Florence should become an open space for training (visualization) the future ruling classes in ethics.
International symposiums and meetings on ethics should be organized in this city. Teaching Ethics to the world could be the new economy for this city, in virtue of her glorious past.