"The immense solitude". The modern age and the human condition
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
Taking Giacomo Leopardi’s “Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell’Asia” (1829–1830) as a starting point, Stefano Biancu shall attempt to highlight the dual significance of solitude in the modern age. On the one hand, the modern individual finds himself alone in a cosmos reduced to a mere inert res extensa: a world that is symbolically inert, devoid of its own meaning, and which therefore no longer speaks. The human condition is thus that of a subject committed in giving meaning to an existence that no longer possesses it. On the other hand, solitude is the place where that cosmos begins to speak once more: prompted by desire and culture, it regains its symbolic depth and, in turn, addresses the subject. This is a symbolic dimension that cannot be reduced to a mere relationship between a pure, incorporeal subject (res cogitans) and a pure, inert object (res extensa): a dimension which, within the context of the modern paradigm, can only be conceived as an illusion.
Stefano BIANCU | LUMSA – Roma
Cycle of Seminars: “Solitude and Communion in Religion and Ethics“
Scientific coordination: Massimo Leone, FBK-ISR
The event, organized by FBK’s Center for Religious Studies, will be held in Italian.
The event will be in-person in the FBK Aula Piccola, while seats last, and online.
Registration by May 26, 2026 at 12:00 a.m. is required so as to arrange the connection.
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Image: AdobeStock_518968971
Speakers
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Stefano Biancu - Guest SpeakerLUMSA - RomaStefano Biancu is Associate Professor of Moral Philosophy at LUMSA University in Rome and Coordinator of the Academic Board for the “Contemporary Humanism” PhD programme. He has taught Ethics at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva, and has been a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame (USA), the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile) and the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal). In 2022, he obtained the National Academic Qualification as Full Professor of Moral Philosophy and was appointed Associate of the University of Notre Dame Rome. Since 2025, he has been a Member of the Accademia Ambrosiana. He is author of articles in peer-reviewed journals, contributions to volumes and five monographs: Poetry and Things. On Leopardi (2006); The Symbol. A Challenge for Philosophy and Theology (2013); The Present. A Brief Ethics of Time (2014); The Maximum Necessary. Ethics Put to the Test of Love (2020); The Genealogy of the Human. A Philosophy of Authority (2021).
Registration
Registration to this event is mandatory.
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Organizers
The initiative was also realized thanks to the contribution of "Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali" of the Ministry of Culture.