The purpose of the present work, Anthology of the Works of Ugo Spirito, is to expand on the translation of Ugo Spirito’s Memorie di un incosciente (1977a) (Memoirs of the Twentieth Century, 2000a), the only book of the philosopher that can be read in English. Memorie di un incosciente is both a chronicle of Spirito’s relationship with major Italian political and philosophical figures of the past century (Benito Mussolini, Giovanni Gentile, Benedetto Croce, etc.) and a summary of his philosophical activity as related in the initial two chapters (“Witnessing a Century” and “The State of Unawareness”). In them, readers discover how Spirito’s faith in philosophy as the cognitive path to follow in order to reach truth and the absolute evolves into a negation of the philosophical activity itself: ‘self-awareness’ becomes ‘unawareness.’ To help them expand their knowledge of Spirito, I compiled an anthology of selected chapters and excerpts taken from his most important works with the intention of reconstructing the various phases of his life-long philosophical and intellectual activity.
Presenting an anthology of selected material means that other material, which might be considered equally, or even more important than that selected for the anthology, is not included. This process implicitly reflects the interpretation of the editor. While I am fully cognizant of the limits associated with the anthological format, I hope that this modest work will contribute to the dissemination of Spirito’s ideas in the English-speaking world.
To help readers follow the atypical, if not tortuous development of Spirito’s thought, I have provided an introduction of general information at the beginning of each chapter and before several of the translated pieces with the purpose of shedding some light on Spirito’s philosophical and cultural convictions at a specific moment of his intellectual activity. Therefore, these informative notes are in no way exhaustive. On the contrary, in their briefness, they show their limits.
In Spirito’s works, the intellectual interest of the philosopher is never separated from his own human experience. Two of his books, in fact, have autobiographical titles: Memorie di un incosciente and Storia della mia ricerca (1971a) while Dall’attualismo al problematicismo (1976a) is a reconstruction of the evolution of his philosophy presenting a strong autobiographical tone. Consequently, Spirito’s quest for truth and the absolute is at the same time the history of a personal self-discovery that evolves for almost sixty years. There is always the sense of emotional participation by the philosopher in the rendering of his ideas. The result is prose that is never dry or impersonal; on
In my attempt to render in English Spirito’s unique style, I tried to remain faithful to other aspects that are an essential part of it, such as the use of the following adjectives ‘positivistic,’ ‘idealistic,’ ‘intellectualistic,’ etc., with which Spirito captured the philosophical nuances within each of these major schools of thought as well as the adoption of the upper case for Nation and State when the original text demands it. As in Memoirs of the Twentieth Century, I also kept the non-hyphenated form in most of the words beginning with ‘anti’ as in ‘antiscience,’ ‘antisocialist,’ ‘antifascist,’ ‘anticommunist,’ ‘antibourgeois,’ etc. However, in few others, such as in ‘anti-positivist,’ ‘anti-capitalism’ and ‘anti-proletariat,’ I opted for today more accepted hyphenated form.
Spirito’s books were written before the appearance of the movement in scholarly English to replace male-gendered words with gender-neutral language. In preparing this anthology, I tried whenever possible to strike a balance between the respect for today’s standards and the rendering of the character of Spirito’s language.
Compared to Memoirs, this anthology contains a more detailed presentation of Spirito’s relevance in the Italian and European philosophical world, incorporating in the process the opinions of various scholars, as well as an updated list of Spirito’s publications and of publications of others on his many books. Lastly, some introductory notes reflect closely concepts expressed in the presentation of Memoirs. However, appropriate modifications were made when required.
The preparation of this anthology took some time, and its format has undergone several modifications. From an initial project limited to Spirito’s early philosophical activity, this work has expanded to include the many stages of the evolution of the philosopher’s thought. It has been a work in progress that allowed me to benefit from the feedback on the translation that came from family members, friends, and colleagues who became interested in discovering Spirito’s philosophy. Besides my two nieces, Diana Salerno and Annalisa Salerno, who have been voices of encouragement throughout, I am particularly grateful to Alicia Moran, the person with whom I shared the initial thought of putting together this anthology. Special consideration goes to Prof. Karen J. Abramowitz, whose passion for Italian culture motivated her to explore Spirito’s philosophy and whose suggestions were incorporated in the anthology. I also take pleasure in mentioning my friend, Ellen E. Lockwood,
At this point, I would like to acknowledge the role played by the Ugo Spirito e Renzo De Felice Fondazione located in Rome in the realization of this work. As in the case of the translation into English of Memorie di un incosciente, this institution, in the person of its director, Dr. Giuseppe Parlato, not only has granted me the permission to translate any selection of books and articles by me chosen but has also assisted me in consulting original copies of magazines where some of the pieces translated were published. Within this context of Italian relations, I would like to express my gratitude to both Dr. Daniel Gallagher and Dr. Gianni Dessὶ. The former wrote the “Editorial Foreword” while living in Rome and the latter the “Guest Foreword” as faculty member of the Università degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata, thus enriching the anthology with broader cultural references.
Anthony G. Costantini