Philosophy at the Service of Democracy

Ever since Socrates, philosophy and politics have been in close communication, and often in harsh conflict, with each other. Today, by contrast, communication and cross-fertilization between philosophy and politics are made difficult if not impossible by science, that has become the privileged, jealous partner of politics. In that regard, there is no need to recall the paramount role played these days by economics, computer science, operational research, medicine, and biology. What is more, present-day science also claims the right to investigate and solve several problems traditionally discussed by philosophy: What is the nature of the cosmos? Where do human beings come from? What is language? What is the mind? What is society? And what keeps it together? As a result of this overall change of perspective, philosophy is being increasingly marginalized in both the academia and public debates.