Description
“Birth” could be the main concept of a philosophy of commencement: indeed, it is not only a biological event or an effective metaphor for new beginning, but also the sign that being, knowledge and action, born themselves, have the power to give birth to something. Birth is essentially that which has neither memory nor appropriation of itself: it is a destiny and a choice that confirms the features of necessity and freedom bound in every coming into the world. Thoughts about birth can be found, for example, in Arendt’s, Nietzsche’s and Vico’s works, as well as in the ancient and modern age, wherever the burden of the change has been felt. The concept of birth passes through contemporary philosophy which seeks to rebuild the historical framework of critical reflection.
Biographical notes
Renata Viti Cavaliere teaches philosophy at the University of Naples Federico II. She studied philosophy of the twentieth century in Heidegger, Benedetto Croce, Hannah Arendt. She has published important theoretical writings such as Filosofia del gioco (1983), Giudizio (2009), Saggi sul futuro. La storia come possibilità (2015), in a line of research that ultimately leads to name “birth” the real being of Western tradition.
