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.
