Marcello Pera
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Senatore Marcello Pera |
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| In office May 30, 2001 – April 27, 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Nicola Mancino |
| Succeeded by | Franco Marini |
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| Born | January 23, 1943 Lucca, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Forza Italia |
| Profession | Philosopher Politician |
Marcello Pera (born in Lucca on January 28, 1943) is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was elected Senator for Forza Italia in the general elections of 1994. Re-elected in the 1996 and 2001, he was President of the Italian Senate in the XIV Legislature.
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[edit] Career
Pera graduated in accounting, and worked for the Banca Toscana and for the Camera di Commercio in Lucca. He went on to study philosophy at the University of Pisa, concentrating on the works of Karl Popper and his open society theory, and advocating these principles during the difficult 1970s, the anni di piombo.
His academic career began 1976 at the University of Pisa. He then went on to pursue research activities internationally: Visiting Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, 1984; Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1990; Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural Sciences, London School of Economics, 1995-96. He taught Theoretical Philosophy from 1989 to 1992 at the University of Catania. In 1992 he became full professor of Philosophy at the University of Pisa.
Marcello Pera has written for the newspapers Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, and La Stampa, and to the news magazines L'Espresso and Panorama.
Pera has become a leading opponent of post-modernism and cultural relativism and on this subject he resonates with religious thinkers, despite being an atheist himself.
Opposing cultural relativism he has decleared, "There are... good reasons for deeming that some institutions are better than others. And I deny that such a judgment must necessarily lead to a clash." [1]
Opposing the -post modern denial of the possibility of ascertaining objective facts, he says, "Against deconstructivism I do not deny that facts do not exist without interpretation. I refute Nietzsche's thesis that "there are no facts, only interpretations" (F. Nietzsche, Afterthoughts); or Derrida's "there is nothing beyond the text" (J. Derrida, Of Grammatology)." [2]
[edit] Publications
- Induzione e metodo scientifico, Pera M., Editrice Tecnico Scientifica, Pisa, 1978
- Popper e la scienza su palafitte, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1981
- Hume, Kant e l'induzione, Pera M., Il Mulino, Bologna, 1982
- Apologia del Metodo, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1982
- La Rana ambigua. La controversia sull'eletricità tra Galvana e Volta, Pera M., Einaudi, Torino, 1986; Princeton University Press, Princeton 1991
- Scienza e retorica, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1992; Chicago University Press, Chicago 1994
- Senza radici/Without Roots, Pera M., Ratzinger J., Mondadori, Milano 2004, Basic Books, New York 2006; German edition: Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg 2005; Spanish edition: Peninsula, Barcelona 2006
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Site (in Italian and English)
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Nicola Mancino |
President of the Italian Senate 2001 - 2006 |
Succeeded by Franco Marini |
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