Sul carattere della filosofia italiana

The paper aims at exploring the character of Italian philosophy, usually considered of little importance and unoriginal, comparing it with the Italian national character, famously identified by Leopardi in an amoral cynicism and in the lack of an idea of a cohesive society. Despite the difficulty of identifying a peculiar feature of Italian philosophy, the essay tries to trace some underlying motifs and some recurring constants in Italian philosophical culture, identifying them in a certain eclecticism and in a mixture of different motifs, which far from being a stigma and a flaw, could be understood in a different way. The supposed lack of originality and dependence on other philosophical traditions could be interpreted, on the contrary, as a sign of a remarkable openness, ductility and receptivity of Italian philosophy, especially if we look at the ancient Roman culture, where these features represented the greatness of Rome and of the subsequent Italian culture.