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Giovanni Reale | |
|---|---|
.png) Giovanni Reale in 2013 | |
| Born | (1931-04-15)April 15, 1931 |
| Died | October 15, 2014(2014-10-15) (aged 83) |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore |
| Philosophical work | |
| Main interests | |
Giovanni Reale (15 April 1931 – 15 October 2014) was anItalian historian of philosophy.
Reale was born inCandia Lomellina,Pavia. He attended the Gymnasium and theLiceo classico ofCasale Monferrato, and was then educated at theUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore ofMilan, where he graduated. He later continued his studies inMarburg an der Lahn andMunich.
After a period of teaching in high schools, he won a professorship at theUniversity of Parma, where he taught courses inmoral philosophy and thehistory of philosophy. He then returned to the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, where he was professor of the history ofancient philosophy for many years, and where he also founded the Centro di Ricerche di Metafisica. In 2005 he moved to teach at the new faculty of philosophy atVita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan.
He died on 15 October 2014 in his home inLuino.[1]
His main argument is that categories ofGreek philosophy and its particular way of thinking led to the birth and development of the science and technology in theWest.
His research interests range throughout the ancientpagan andChristian thought, and his most significant contributions have touched graduallyAristotle,Plato,Plotinus,Socrates andAugustine of Hippo. He studied each of these authors from anagainst-the-grain perspective, inaugurating, in the opinion ofCornelia de Vogel, a new reading of these authors.[2]
Reale's reinterpretation of Aristotle disputes thepositivist-influenced interpretation ofWerner Jaeger, according to which the writings of Aristotle are informed by a progression of dominant beliefs: at first,theology, where debate is in reference toGod; then metaphysics, where the universal rights of man are the focus; and finally arriving at the viewpoint ofscience. Reale argued instead the fundamental unity of the metaphysical thought of Aristotle.
Reale was one of the main proponents of the existence of Plato's unwritten doctrines or theory of the principles, a metaphysical theory ascribed to Plato by Aristotle and other ancient philosophers, but not clearly formulated in his writings. According to Reale, the best and most important part of Plato's philosophy was precisely the one orally expounded to the students in the Academy.
Reale's main writings are:
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Italian Republic – «Initiative of thePresident of Italy», 3 June 2011[3]
