This article concerns the theoretical debate on some important politicaland questions in our Western societies. The theme is coexistence with the other, also caused by the massive migration in recent years. The relationship with each other has been developed in the Western tradition in a peculiar way over the centuries. It is essential in the liberal conceptionof de mocracy, starting from a deeply individualistic idea of tolerance andthe theory of h uman rights. This conception is seen with suspicion in many extra-western countries. However, today, even in "our" societies, the presence of communities of immigrants who are not educated in the culture of individualism is creating integration problems and even regressive pressures in the indigenous population.
The author claims: 1) in Spinoza a classical idea of toleration, if traceable, has a marginal role: no logic of concession, the one that (in Thomas' conception) allows the prince to resign to the different cults just like one may resign to the human vices and sins; and no toleration as an intermediate claim, in view of a fuller acknowledgement of the individual rights (Locke, Voltaire); 2) in Spinoza there is a clear idea of an underlying "patience", which lays under political power; a kind of "continuous low", with variations that become decisive within the raising of the «imperium»: a most peculiar and original thesis that originates from the core of Spinoza's political thought, and that reverses the traditional roles of "tolerant" and "tolerated", of one and many, of governor and multitudo.
A reflection on A. M. Ramsey's Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion (1748-49) discussing liberty as free will, & liberty & self-determination belonging to the rational subject. Ramsey argues that liberty is the eternal, immutable, & universal law in the world, which applies equally to loving God for oneself, & loving all other creatures in proportion to their resemblance to God. Tolerance & political liberty are justified by virtue of universal salvation & freedom, & the universality of grace & the free cooperation of intelligent creatures. While Ramsey's politics aligned with exiled Jacobites, he was also guided by providentialism in protecting the integrity of divine & human freedom, & in choosing a conciliatory, but skeptical, approach to English rule. His classic defense of Freemasonry drew on his position in the organization in France in the 1730s. J. Sadler
From the very first pages of the Theological-political Treatise, Spinoza deals with the issue of prophecy with a clear purpose, that is to expunge any possible relation between prophetical language and godly transcendence, in order to prevent that prophecy could become an instrument of domination in the hands of the theocratic power. Anyway, Spinoza also maintains that the prophetic message played a relevant ethical and political role among the ancient people, especially among the Hebrews, since it contributed to create a social bond, based upon the passions and the imaginations of the community. Such an ambivalent peculiarity of prophecy seems to have disappeared in Spinoza's times, insofar as «we have no prophets in our day» (TTP, chapter 1), but only preachers who make use of popular superstition to strengthen their authority. Actually, we can explain differently this TTP's statement, by considering a possible influence of the Collegiant movement in Spinoza's thought, and therefore maintaining that the free prophetic discussion represents the genesis of any process aimed both to liberate individuals from superstition and to resist to non-democratic rules.
The paper begins displaying the main stages of the historical process that has led to the definitive distinction between religious authority and civil authority in Europe. After identifying the foundation of politics in the freedom of the Church; and the foundation of the State in religious freedom; the Author comes to two conclusions: the first is that Christianity played a key role in the birth and development of secularization. The second, which in his opinion deserves to be clarified and put to the test of the times, consists in the claim of relegating State and politics in the narrow limits of worldliness. The claim of excluding that State and politics have spiritual implications. He therefore intends to test the idea that the liberal state of law could resist, at the expense of the many lacerations that fragment its social body, without the help of principles and values which it could not justify. Considering the problem under this particular perspective, it is clear that two concepts that characterize the European tradition, such as the principle of tolerance and an "healthy secularism", could represent the keystone that allows us to overcome the implicit contradictions and the unresolved tensions which still cross our post-modern and secular society.
The book illustrates, between past and present, the impact of hate speech on actions, investigating, more precisely, the different languages that have conveyed, witnessed or sanctioned forms of hate. The book offers a multi-disciplinary perspective, including essays of historical, social, linguistic, literary and juridical-social nature in order to identify the forms of hate speech.
Scopo del saggio è descrivere come trattatisti storici e politici italiani del Cinquecento hanno valutato la struttura politica dell'impero ottomano. In quanto Stato non cristiano, la Turchia poteva essere vista come una perfetta realizzazione delle idee di Machiavelli concernenti la logica interna dell'assolutismo, compresa la manipolazione pragmatica delle credenze religiose. Traiano Boccalini usa il modello politico ottomano per criticare l'apologia della tolleranza religiosa di Jean Bodin. Gli scrittori occidentali sono particolarmente interessati all'organizzazione dell'esercito turco, che sembra offrire un esempio vivente dell'applicabilità dei punti di vista machiavelliani. ; The aim of the essay is to describe how Italian historians and political analysts of the sixteenth century appreased the political structure of the Osman empire. As a no Christian State, Turkey could be viewed as the perfect realization of Machiavellian ideas about the inner logic of absolutism, including pragmatic manipulation of religious beliefs. Traiano Boccalini employs the Osman political pattern in order to criticize Jean Bodin's apology of religious tolerance. Western writers are especially interested on the organization of Turkish army, which seems to offer a lively example of the practical viability of Machiavellian points of view.
The altarpiece by the Florentine Jacopo Coppi kept at the church of San Salvatore in Bologna represents the Miracle of the Crucifix of Beirut, a rare iconography that the Florentine painter inserts in a complicated architectura picta. This studio reconsiders the iconographic and stylistic aspects through the data of the most updated artistic literature pieces in order to read them in a new and different historiographic perspective, which also shows an unexpected policy of tolerance towards Jews in the Palaeottian context. ; La pala di Jacopo Coppi, conservata presso la chiesa di San Salvatore a Bologna, rappresenta il Miracolo del Crocifisso di Beirut (1579), una rara iconografia che il pittore fiorentino inserisce all'interno di una complessa architettura picta. Lo studio ne riconsidera gli aspetti iconografici e stilistici attraverso i dati della più aggiornata letteratura artistica per leggerli in una nuova e diversa prospettiva che testimonia, inoltre, un'inaspettata politica di tolleranza verso gli ebrei in ambito paleottiano.
Résumé: A travers une lecture suivie et l'analyse de quelques pamphlets militants écrits par Loys Le Roy pendant les guerres de religion, cette étude essaie de reconstruire la vision de cet humaniste qui se dégage de sa réflexion portant à la fois sur la religion et la politique, afin d'en souligner le caractère composite, l'allure oscillatoire et le voisinage d'idées, parfois en accord, parfois apparemment distantes ou antithétiques, qui s'emboîtent, s'infléchissent, cohabitent. Cette réflexion touche en effet à des sujets composites tels l'apologie étatique, la volonté d'une réforme de l'église, la concorde religieuse, l'affirmation d'un principe de paix – en tant que fondement de l'organisation politique – qui ne refuse pas pour autant le recours aux conflits, ou encore l'idée de progrès de l'humanité ou de libre arbitre et le rôle reconnu à l'esprit de l'univers (Providence, Fortune, Nature), voire à Dieu, moteur premier, bref à une série de sujets qui se saisissent les uns des autres et entrent, au fur et à mesure de l'argumentation, dans des rapports changeants d'accord ou d'antithèse. Abstract: By analyzing some politically committed pamphlets written by Loys Le Roy during the wars of religion (1562-1598), the aim of this article is to reconstruct the points of view of this humanist which emerge from his reflection on both religion and politics, in order to emphasize his composite ideas and his oscillatory way of thinking whereby ideas fit, inflect, coexist. Le Roy's pamphlets discuss crucial issues such as state apology, the wish to reform the church, the defence of monarchy, religious concord, the defence of peace (even if Le Roy does not object to the use of violence), free will and the unquestionable power of God. In Le Roy's writings, these issues inform each other appearing at times coherent and other times in contradiction with each other.
Although it is well known that Italy is characterized by a rather high level of inequality in income distribution, as testified by many empirical studies using objective data, there is a lack of studies about subjective aspects of inequalities, i.e. how people perceive and judge them. This article investigates Italian workers' attitudes to income inequalities using recent data from a nationally representative sample (N = 2.500). I report findings about three kinds of attitudes – perceived actual inequalities, legitimate inequalities, and tolerance of inequalities – measured by respondents' estimation of income ratios between high and low status occupations (like in past ISSP surveys). At the aggregate level, the main result is that high income inequalities, even though generally underestimated by interviewees, are quite uniformly considered unjust at the level where respondents actually perceive them. At the micro level, as suggested by sociological and economic theories, this analysis investigated the role of self-interest and political orientation as drivers of attitudes towards inequalities and the system generating them. Regression results show that both class and income, as indicators of self-interest, matter for the level of legitimate («just») inequalities. As expected, people in the service class and more affluent individuals accept wider income ratios between occupations than working class people and less affluent individuals. However income, unlike class, influences the perception of the actual level of inequalities. Thus class, rather than income, turns to be associated with tolerance of inequalities. Quite unexpectedly, political orientation, as measured by self-placement along the left-right axis, is not correlated with legitimate inequalities. All the apparent association between political orientation and (in-)tolerance of inequalities is almost entirely due to the heightened awareness of actual income inequalities displayed by left-wing people, not by their opinion about just income ratios. Variations of these relationships at sub-national level were also found and reported.
This study, which analyzes the 'zero tolerance' immigration policy of Donald Trump's Administration on the Mexican border, focuses on the practice of the separation of families and the detention of children in often inhuman conditions. Through an analysis of the criminalisation of asylum seekers without due process, it highlights the probable violations of American laws and Constitutional amendments, as well as international human rights conventions, not to mention the lasting psychological trauma for both parents and children.
