ScienzaNuova, a Place for Dialogue between Sciences and Philosophy
THE FIRST EDITION OF THE INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION SEMINAR WILL TAKE PLACE IN MERANO FROM JULY 23 TO JULY 29, FOR AN AUDIENCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN RESEARCH AND CREATIVE WORKDifferent forms of knowledge can dialogize while maintaining awareness of their origins, by collaboratively comparing their interpretations and looking into their own sense. This is the purpose of ScienzaNuova (NewScience), a project by Bocconi’s ASK Research Center in collaboration with Merano’s Academy of German-Italian Studies. The first edition will take place on July 23-29 in Merano, thanks to the support of Fondazione Cariplo,
"Our intent is to initiate a permanent collaborative forum where a seminal interaction between various forms of knowledge of our time can unfold. ScienzaNuova aims to promote awareness of the role of scientific and technical knowledge, of how it can serve humanity, of how science acknowledges the issues posed by ethics. We do not expect a 'contamination' between sciences and philosophies to ensue, but rather their differences and their autonomy to surface", explains Gino Zaccaria, philosopher at Bocconi and scientific director of the project along with Ivo De Gennaro, philosopher at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, and Mauro Carfora, physicist at the University of Pavia.
In this first edition of ScienzaNuova, entitled The human being in space and time, the dialogue will be between philosophy and physics, in front of a critical audience, formed by those who represent the future of research and creative work – some twenty young researchers already selected, in addition to anyone interested in the dialogue. "The structure is not that of a festival, intended to disseminate knowledge, but that of a forum, aimed to create a dialogizing scientific community", specifies Zaccaria.
The week will be composed of workshops led by scholars, who will offer their own research into the core issues of their disciplines to an interdisciplinary dialogue and debate.
"Fondazione Cariplo", says the President, Giuseppe Guzzetti, "looks at ScienzaNuova as a valuable opportunity to build a culture of collaboration between citizens and science, conscious that in tomorrow's society, where research and innovation are practiced responsibly, knowledge and scientific practices will increasingly emerge from an interactive relationship between science and citizens. ScienzaNuova is a place of dialogue and collaboration between sciences and philosophy. Fondazione Cariplo believes in dialogue between forms of knowledge. Since 1991, it has supported more than 30,000 initiatives by donating 2.8 billion euros. In its first 26 years, 1,900 scientific research projects have been realized for a total of 446 million euros".
In the afternoon workshops, named LinguaNuova, particular attention will be paid to languages, which are not seen as tools for communication, but as forms of knowledge. "A well-known position in this regard," says Zaccaria, "is that of mathematician Laurent Lafforgue: he explains the great influence of the French mathematics school precisely with the fact that it did not yield to the 'single language', continuing to reason and spread in its mother tongue, which led it to pursue peculiar research paths. Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi," explains Zaccaria, "well clarifies the relationship between language and science in a passage of his Zibaldone (2400), in which he criticizes Italian reluctance to accept 'new words', even perhaps obtained by adaptation from other European languages, in the following terms (here in the translation by M. Caesar and F. D’Intino): 'To relinquish or ban a new word or a new meaning (however foreign or barbaric it may be), when our language doesn't have the equivalent, or doesn't have one as precise, and accepted with that particular established meaning: this is no different and is no less than relinquishing or banning a new idea, a new concept of the human spirit, and treating it as barbaric and illegitimate'." Greek, German and Italian are the languages ​​at the center of the first edition of the workshop.
by Fabio Todesco
