A Project conceived by Massimo Adinolfi
With the Scientific Curatorship of Massimo Adinolfi and Paolo Massarotti
Created by Fondazione Campania dei Festival
Supported by Campania Region
In Collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II
and with Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Campania

Following the success of the past years, the Fondazione Campania dei Festival is about to present the 3^rd edition of the project “Adopt a Philosopher”. In 2022 the project will feature great news since it changed its name into "Adopt a Philosopher + a Scientist", who will be respectively Massimo Adinolfi and Paolo Massarotti. So the new edition will embrace more creative ideas than before, allowing to deepen an open debate about a fascinating double subject “The Soul and the Techne”.

The project will start from February 2022 and it will continue until next April. During these three months, two of the most prestigious philosophers and scientists on the national scene will hold special lessons in many high schools of Campania. The students involved in the project are now attending the last two years of the general upper secondary education, as required by the Italian school system to obtain a diploma.

The lessons held by both scholars will be an opportunity to develop plenty of universal topics by facing them from the point of view of philosophy and science – whose dichotomy seems to be overcome today – in a discussion that will involve the student community.

THE NEW PROJECT

Robert Musil, one of the greatest writers (as well as an engineer) of the 20^th century, ironically defined the soul as “that which crawls away and hides whenever someone mentions algebra”. The idea behind this 3^rd edition of “Adopt a Philosopher” is very simple: try not to run away. It's not just a test of bravery: it's a necessity. The algebraic series – that is to say: the ability of the contemporary technoscience to change the face of the world – are now everywhere: in our homes, in our workplaces, in our moments of leisure. There is no aspect of our common experience that is not mediated in a certain way by scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, it is easier to think about what we traditionally mean by the soul as “some little capital at our disposal” through the material objects of the world rather than through the products of our imagination, emotions, and feelings. Therefore, one of the two things must occur: either we can alarmingly denounce the techno-scientific colonization of the world in which we live (as of Habermas) and seek improbable shelters (or we hope for even more problematic revolutions), or we can draw from thought other resources to inhabit this world. In this second case, there is still a truth that Musil’s belief suggests: we cannot reject our times without being damaged in the process.

During the last two centuries, philosophy has provided great sources to deal critically with the issue of technique. Both thinkers “adopted” at school will use these sources – with freedom of judgment and research – to show the paths of a possible “ontology of modernity” to the students (or perhaps better: to discuss with them about it). There is no doubt that current events are profoundly marked by the ongoing technological acceleration, but it is also common ground that science appeals to philosophy, and knowledge in general, for further clarification.

This edition also features a new formula: philosophers and scientists are meant to work together at school to jointly reflect upon the social, political, and cultural impact caused by scientific development and its almost infinite technological branches. As a result, the more pervasive the transformation becomes, the more it is necessary to encourage a better exchange between different kinds of knowledge, subjects, and skills, beyond all valid specialisms. Besides, the overcoming of the gap between the “two cultures” is so visible that only brain laziness can still imagine the humanistic and the scientific side as separate and not communicating worlds.

Can we still use the word “soul” amid the world, without sounding too fancy or aristocratic, but also without unjustified prejudices? Can we just “think about the technique” without forgetting the meaningfulness of this word, as its ancient Greek origin is clearly meant to suggest? “Adopt a Philosopher (and a Scientist)” believes that this approach is possible, and tries to carry it out with the people the most motivated to do so: our girls and boys. In schools: gyms of the present, hope for the future.

Massimo Adinolfi