Modernità e filosofia neoclassica in Italo Mancini

In this essay, I deal with the interpretation of modern philosophy that emerges from the thought of the Italian philosopher Italo Mancini (1925-1993). To do this, I divide his thought into three phases. In the first, I show how the project of a neoclassical philosophy, developed by Gustavo Bontadini, and characterized by the attempt to preserve and at the same time overcome the demands of modern philosophy, is taken up by Mancini above all in the field of rational theology. In the second phase, I show how this attempt connotes Mancini’s philosophy of religion, characterized by an unresolved tension between hermeneutics and metaphysics. This tension eventually leads to a revival of Kantian thinking, which differs from Bontadini’s neoclassical philosophy. Finally, in the third phase, I take into consideration the so-called “logic of double thoughts”, repeatedly proposed by Mancini in his last writings, as a demonstration of the unresolved and ambiguous character of his view of philosophical modernity.