Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Breaking the Wall of Religious Diversity Through Philosophy

Amos Bertolacci

Social Sciences & Humanities

The project shows that for the first time with Avicenna different cultures (Greek, Arabic, Latin, Hebrew) and disciplines (philosophy, theology, science) interacted globally across religious diversity. Arabic manuscripts of Avicenna’s main work on metaphysics circulated from Spain until India, and its Latin translation was an asset of European thought for centuries. At a time of dogmatic and military clashes between Christianity and Islam, culture overarched any wall: a lesson still valid today.

Tags: Cultural Memory, Digitalisation, Diversity, Education, Foresight, Global Cooperation, Social Cohesion.

Amos Bertolacci

IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca

Ph.D. in Philosophy University of Florence (1998), Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Yale University (2005); Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow Thomas-Institut University of Cologne (2005-2006), “Rientro dei Cervelli” fellow (2006-2010) and associate professor of History of Medieval Philosophy (2010-2018) Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, full professor of History of Medieval Philosophy IMT School Lucca. Amos has published on the formative age of Arabic-Islamic thought (Avicenna, Averroes), with special attention to the interpretation of Greek metaphysics, and on their Latin reception.

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