Conclusion

Prodi and Italian thought

Amy E. Varela

pp. 123-133

in: Felice Cimatti, A biosemiotic ontology, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

In this final chapter, I will place the figure of Prodi as a natural philosopher in the wider context of Italian philosophy. Indeed, his originality and his commitment to science notwithstanding, Prodi has always been a philosopher engaged, in a more or less explicit manner, in dialogue with the Italian philosophical tradition, which in recent years has defined "Italian thought". It is impossible to understand Prodi and his timeliness unless his work is read in the context of this tradition, whose primary characteristics are, on the one hand, a radical anti-dualism and, on the other, naturalism, yet one not to be confused with bare materialism.