This book provides a detailed reconstruction of the origins of Schopenhauer's philosophy and its inherent aporias. It is divided into four parts. The first section delves into the pietistic upbringing of young Schopenhauer and his introduction to philosophy through the teachings of G.E. Schulze, as well as his study of Plato, Schelling, and Kant. Faced with the "negative" outcomes of Kant's criticism, particularly the unknowability of the thing-in-itself, young Schopenhauer initially engaged with Fichte and Schelling (this is covered in the second part of the volume). However, Schopenhauer formed the opinion that these two philosophers, instead of upholding and expanding upon Kant's ideas, ultimately diverge from them. That notwithstanding, he implicitly inherited certain pivotal concepts from Fichte and Schelling. The third part explores Schopenhauer's initial endeavor to formulate a new metaphysics after Kant, known as the theory of "better consciousness." In the fourth part, the book demonstrates how the internal contradictions within that theory and Schopenhauer's transformative encounter with Indian wisdom (Hinduism and Buddhism) lead him to abandon his first attempt at a system and develop his metaphysics of will. The last and most substantial chapter of the book focuses on the author's analysis of the inherent aporias within Schopenhauer's mature system, approaching them from a genetic perspective.

Since the 1780s, Western philosophy has been largely under the spell of Immanuel Kant's transcendental philosophy. In this book, Maurizio Ferraris offers a number of important criticisms of Kant in a book of two parts, written 21 years apart. The first part of the book, 'Observation', originally published in 2001, lays the foundations of Ferraris' New Realism, foreshadowing the realist turn that has become characteristic of 21st century philosophy. The second part, 'Speculation', written in 2021, outlines a complete metaphysical theory of realism. What ties both parts of the book together is the the notion of hysteresis, the ability of effects to survive even when their causes have ceased to exist.

This book explores the complex domain of social reality, asking what this reality is, how it is composed and what its dynamics are in both theoretical and practical terms. Through the examination of some of the most important contemporary theories of social ontology, the book discusses the fundamentals of the discipline and lays the foundations for its development in the political sphere. By analyzing the notion of State and the redesign of ontology, the author argues in favor of a realist conception of the State and shows the reasons why this promotes a better understanding of the dynamics of power and the actualization of a greater justice between generations. This book captures the relationship between different generations within the same political context, and presents it as a necessary condition for the re-definition of the concepts of State and meta-State.

During his late period, Nietzsche is particularly concerned with the value that mankind attributes to truth. In dealing with that topic, Nietzsche is not primarly interested in the metaphysical disputes on truth, but rather in the effects that the "will to truth" has on the human being. In fact, he argues that the "faith in a value as such of truth" influenced Western culture and started the anthropological degeneration of the human type that characterizes European morality. To call into question the value of truth is therefore necessary, if one wants to help mankind to find her way in the labyrinth of nihilism. In this new addition to Nietzsche scholarship, Gori explores the origin and aim of the philosopher's late perspectival thought by merging the theoretical with the historical approach, with a special focus on the epistemological debate that influenced Nietzsche. As a result, the book provides a contextual reading of the issue that supports the idea that Nietzsche's attitude in addressing the problem of truth is, in a broad sense, pragmatic.

Ranging from Antiquity to contemporary analytic philosophy, it provides a concise but thorough analysis of the arguments developed by some of the most outstanding philosophers of all times. Besides the aesthetics of music proper, the volume touches upon metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of language, psychology, anthropology, and scientific developments that have influenced the philosophical explanations of music. Starting from the very origins of philosophy in Western thought (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle) the book talks about what music is according to Augustine, Descartes, Leibniz, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, the Romantics, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Susanne Langer, Bloch, Adorno, and many others. Recent developments within the analytic tradition are illustrated with particular attention to the ontology of the musical artwork and to the problem of music and emotions. A fascinating idea which recurs throughout the book is that philosophers allow for a sort of a secret kinship between music and philosophy, as means to reveal complementary aspects of truth.

During his late period, Nietzsche is particularly concerned with the value that mankind attributes to truth. In dealing with that topic, Nietzsche is not primarly interested in the metaphysical disputes on truth, but rather in the effects that the "will to truth" has on the human being. In fact, he argues that the "faith in a value as such of truth" influenced Western culture and started the anthropological degeneration of the human type that characterizes European morality. To call into question the value of truth is therefore necessary, if one wants to help mankind to find her way in the labyrinth of nihilism. In this new addition to Nietzsche scholarship, Gori explores the origin and aim of the philosopher's late perspectival thought by merging the theoretical with the historical approach, with a special focus on the epistemological debate that influenced Nietzsche. As a result, the book provides a contextual reading of the issue that supports the idea that Nietzsche's attitude in addressing the problem of truth is, in a broad sense, pragmatic.

This book explores the complex domain of social reality, asking what this reality is, how it is composed and what its dynamics are in both theoretical and practical terms. Through the examination of some of the most important contemporary theories of social ontology, the book discusses the fundamentals of the discipline and lays the foundations for its development in the political sphere. By analyzing the notion of State and the redesign of ontology, the author argues in favor of a realist conception of the State and shows the reasons why this promotes a better understanding of the dynamics of power and the actualization of a greater justice between generations. This book captures the relationship between different generations within the same political context, and presents it as a necessary condition for the re-definition of the concepts of State and meta-State.

Since the 1780s, Western philosophy has been largely under the spell of Immanuel Kant's transcendental philosophy. In this book, Maurizio Ferraris offers a number of important criticisms of Kant in a book of two parts, written 21 years apart. The first part of the book, 'Observation', originally published in 2001, lays the foundations of Ferraris' New Realism, foreshadowing the realist turn that has become characteristic of 21st century philosophy. The second part, 'Speculation', written in 2021, outlines a complete metaphysical theory of realism. What ties both parts of the book together is the the notion of hysteresis, the ability of effects to survive even when their causes have ceased to exist.

However you view the present time, it is a new century, a new world, and also a new humanity - in fact, humanity is not something that was ever defined once and for all, but remains an open project. For several decades we have been witnessing a revolution. However, unlike the political and ideological revolutions that took place around the First World War, this is a technological and much more radical one that does not depend on people's beliefs, but rather on the tireless labour of machines. The rise of automation has brought about a revelation of something that had hitherto remained hidden in the workshops of homo faber . That is, there are very few functions, apart from consumption, where a machine cannot replace a human being, be these material or spiritual - machines need energy, but they can also do without it, whereas humans die if deprived of it, or one can imagine a machine producing symphonies, but not enjoying them. So while human beings are still needed, their roles and scopes have to be reconsidered. Workers may be superfluous, but humans are still needed, including those who until recently only recognised themselves as producers. The exclusion of workers from production does not discount humans being able to produce value in the form of consumption. Recognising this will enable us to conceive the "Webfare" - a new digital system that will teach us to find new names and new forms, more tolerance and room for traditional human needs. Above all, it will teach us how to transform the time given to us by automation into an opportunity for progress.

This book sheds light on the most philosophically interesting of contemporary objects: the cell phone. "Where are you?"-a question asked over cell phones myriad times each day-is arguably the most philosophical question of our age, given the transformation of presence the cell phone has wrought in contemporary social life and public space. Throughout all public spaces, cell phones are now a ubiquitous prosthesis of what Descartes and Hegel once considered the absolute tool: the hand. Their power comes in part from their ability to move about with us-they are like a computer, but we can carry them with us at all times-in part from what they attach to us (and how), as all that computational and connective power becomes both handy and hand-sized. Quite surprisingly, despite their name, one might argue, as Ferraris does, that cell phones are not really all that good for sound and speaking. Instead, the main philosophical point of this book is that mobile phones have come into their own as writing machines-they function best for text messages, e-mail, and archives of all kinds. Their philosophical urgency lies in the manner in which they carry us from the effects of voice over into reliance upon the written traces that are, Ferraris argues, the basic stuff of human culture. Ontology is the study of what there is, and what there is in our age is a huge network of documents, papers, and texts of all kinds. Social reality is not constructed by collective intentionality; rather, it is made up of inscribed acts. As Derrida already prophesized, our world revolves around writing. Cell phones have attached writing to our fingers and dragged it into public spaces in a new way. This is why, with their power to obliterate or morph presence and replace voice with writing, the cell phone is such a philosophically interesting object.

In recent years, the word 'virus' has lost its biological perimeter of reference to acquire a much broader - could say 'paradigmatic' - meaning. The term 'virus' can be seen as a key word or an explanatory model also for processes that go beyond the infectious sphere. Every event appears to have a viral character: from the way information is transmitted to the processes of cultural globalization, from the impact of human beings on the planet to the subversion of ecosystems, from pandemic risks to the demographic increase on the planet. This seems to be indeed the Age of the Virus. Its model can be applied to most of the phenomena that characterize the twenty-first. Its profile - its looming and invisible nature, its ability to use other people's resources to spread and to transform into a dangerous doppelganger - is perfect to represent the fears of the contemporary age.