Schopenhauer in Italian Contemporary Philosophical Debates: an Analysis of Schopenhauer’s Oriental Studies by Giovanni Gurisatti

Abstract

In this article we will present one of the numerous and diverse modern Italian philosophical studies on Schopenhauer’s philosophy — an analysis of Schopenhauer’s Oriental studies by the modern Italian philosopher Giovanni Gurisatti. To achieve this goal and for a deep understanding of the specificity of Gurizatti’s approach, we must briefly describe the history of the Italian reception of Schopenhauer’s philosophy. We will first of all pay our attention to Giacomo Leopardi, Francesco De Sanctis and Icilio Vecchiotti. The work of Schopenhauer referred to by G. Gurisatti is a set of recordings from different periods devoted to the East, collected and translated by him into Italian and published under the title “Il mio Oriente” in 2007 (Adelphi). Gurisatti develops a theoretically grounded and objective analysis of those Schopenhauer doctrines concerning the East, which have rarely been seriously accepted and studied in the history of the reception of Schopenhauer’s philosophy.