The Issue of Modernity in the Italian Thought

Abstract

The so-called “Italian Thought” is commonly supposed to be a philosophical tradition which has a contentious relationship with modernity. We should consider to what extent this relationship draws up an alternative. Is the Italian Thought another way (an “entry”) to modernity, or another modernity itself? What is at stake here is the meaning of the idea of “modernity”. Talking about the Italian tradition as an “altermodernity”, we suggest to look at the modernity not as a mere time segment, but as such a timing, in which several time models can co-exist. This theoretical shift aims to set the time free, acknowledging it is rooted in the irregular nature of the living being. At the same time, from this perspective, we are invited to re-consider the political vocation of the Italian Thought, due to its capacity to develop new meanings for the issues of the philosophical tradition in order to understand actuality as a living reality.