The Magnitude of 'Walking in the Truth' (3 Jn 1) (PDF) 2012
Governance
Most important awards, prizes and academies
Academic appointments: Lecturer in the History of Philosophy (1976-82) and Full Professor (1982-98), Pontifical Lateran University; Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Pontifical Lateran University (1987-96); Professor of the History of Philosophy, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta (1998-2015); Ordained Bishop by His Holiness John Paul II on 19 March 2001. Awards: Cavaliere di Gran Croce, Italy (1999); Officier de la Légion d'honneur, France (2000); Grão Mestre da Ordem de Rio Branco, Brazil (2004); Official of the Republic of Austria (2004); Knight of the Republic of Chile (2006); Francesco Vito Award, Univ. Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan (2001); Neruda Prize, Chile (2004); "Bernardo O'Higgins" Grand Officer, Chile (2005); Award of the International Association of Catholic Doctors (2010). Academies: Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas (1989) and Secretary Prelate (1999-); Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1998-); Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (1998-); Member of the Accademia dei Georgofili (2008); Member of the Accademia Italiana del Vino (2010); Corresponding Member of the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba (2011).
Summary of scientific research
My early work centred around an innovative examination of the primary function of the idea of participation in the core theological approach of St. Thomas Aquinas, especially with regard to the crucial point of the question of the "participation (of man) in the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:4). The main and new conclusion was that man, because he is free, i.e. causa sui, is his own cause in the order of the re-creation not only of his own growth but also of the communication (κοινωνια) of divine grace to another human being, to a "you" who freely wants that grace. As a subsequent follower of the contemporary philosophical current which seeks the "rehabilitation" of Aristotle, I emphasized that the "Stagirite" was the first to expound a positive notion of spiritual reality beginning with the human experience of superior activities such as feeling, thinking, wanting and enjoying. Aristotle did this through his meta-categories of power (δυναμις) and energy (ενεργεια) which, although they serve initially to explain movement, subsequently allow a metaphysical explanation of the living human subject, of the suffering and acting "self" - a question discussed in detail by modern philosophy. Drawing upon the most recent developments in critical research into the structure of the thought of Aristotle (N. Hartman, P. Ricoeur and my teacher C. Fabro), I examined the different interpretations of this philosopher, especially those propounded during the medieval period by Thomas Aquinas and during the modern era by Hegel. In his Encyclopaedia (482) Hegel rightly observes that no concept has been more subject to misunderstanding than that of freedom, which expresses the essence of the spirit. This was the new anthropological idea that the classical world, including Aristotle, was light years away from. For this reason, I have recently argued, "realised freedom" or freedom achieved by the truth (John Paul II) became the new criterion for the hermeneutics of history, culture and religions. I also proposed that realised freedom, as a real quality of the human being and not mere potentiality, should be the criterion to be employed in the analysis of Christian history.
Main publications
La Gracia como Participación de la Naturaleza Divina según Santo Tomás de Aquino (Buenos Aires-Letrán-Salamanca, 1979), 360 pp.; Aristotele e San Tommaso (Città Nuova, Roma, 1981), 120 pp.; Aristóteles y Hegel (Herder, Buenos Aires-Rome, 1987), 368 pp.; La Positività dello Spirito in Aristotele, Aquinas, 21, fas. 1 (Rome, 1978), pp. 126 ss.; La Querella Antropológica del Siglo XIII (Sigerio y Santo Tomás), Sapientia, 35, 137-8 (Buenos Aires, 1980), pp. 325-58; Aristóteles y Hegel (N. Hartmann), introduction, translation and notes by M.S.S., Pensamiento, 154, vol. 39 (Madrid, 1983), pp. 177-222; Partecipazione e Refusione della Grazia, Essere e Libertà (studi in onore di C. Fabro, Perugia, 1984), pp. 225-51; L'Unità dei Comandamenti, Coscienza, 1 (Rome, 1985), pp. 20 ss.; La Libertà nella Storia, Ebraismo, Ellenismo, Cristianesimo, Archivio di Filosofia, 53, 2-3 (Rome, 1985), pp. 89-124; L'Evoluzione (Entwicklung) Storica della Libertà come Stimolo per la Filosofia Cristiana, Aquinas, 30, 1 (Rome, 1988), pp. 30-60; Der Weg der Freiheit nach Hegel, Der Freiheitsgedanke in den Kulturen des Italienischen und Deutschen Sprachraumes (Akademie Deutsch-Italienischer Studien, Akten der XXI internationalen Tagung, Meran 10-15. April 1989), pp. 457-81; L'Energeia Noetica Aristotelica come Nucleo Speculativo del Geist Hegeliano, M.S.S. (ed.), L'Atto Aristotelico e le sue Ermeneutiche (Rome, 1990), pp. 179-201; L'Atto Aristotelico e le sue Ermeneutiche, Introduction and ed. by M.S.S. (Herder, Università Lateranense, Rome, 1990), pp. I-XII-388; I Valori Culturali dell'America Latina per la Nuova Evangelizzazione, Euntes Docete, 45, 2 (Rome, 1992), pp. 191-204; Francisco de Vitoria: Artefice della Nuova Coscienza sull'Uomo, Vangelo Religioni Cultura (Turin, 1993), pp. 263-77; Stato, Libertà e Verità, La Forma Morale dell'Essere (Rosminiane, Stressa, 1995), pp. 91-133; Francis of Vitoria, Hispanic Philosophy in the Age of Discovery (The Catholic University of America, Washington, 1995), pp. 250-75; La Libertà in C. Fabro, Studi Cattolici, September 1995, 415, pp. 529-33; La Vita, Introduction and ed. by M.S.S. (Mursia, Università Lateranense, Rome, 1998), pp. I-XXVIII-316; In che Cosa Credono quelli che non Credono?, Aquinas, XLI, fas. 3 (Rome, 1998), pp. 465-81; Aristotele, Lexicon, Dizionario dei Teologhi (P.M., Casale Monferrato, 1998), pp. 101-4; Znaczenie filozofii wiedzy i umiejętnośi jako filozofii człowieka, Człowiek i jego świat na przełomie XX/XXI wieku (Czestochowa, 1998), pp. 37-44, 81-9; Hegel: Life between Death and Thought, Analecta Husserliana, LIX (Kluwer, Holland, 1999), pp. 189-203; Comentario a la Enc. Fides et Ratio, Cuenta y Razón (Madrid, April 1999), pp. 7-18; Per una Istanza Metafisica Aperta alla Fede, Per una Lettura dell'Enciclica Fides et Ratio (Quaderni di L'Oss. Romano, Vatican City, 1999), pp. 158-71; Globalisation and Humanity: New Perspectives, AA.VV., A Dialogue on Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Countries (The Asia Group, Rome 2001), pp. 11-28; For a Catholic Vision of the Economy, Journal of Markets & Morality, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Michigan 2003), pp. 7-31; Il Padre e il Figlio amano se stessi e noi per lo Spirito Santo (Sth I 37 2), Doctor Communis, fasc. 2, (Vatican City 2003), pp. 41-57; The Truth Is the Goal of the Universe, E. Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture (Erice, Italy, 10-15 May 2003), pp. 191-6; Per una cultura aperta alla fede, La Chiesa a servizio dell'uomo, Giovanni Paolo II XXV anni di Pontificato (Roma 2003), pp. 144-52; Il Magistero dei Papi per la Pace e l'Accademia delle Scienze, G. Prestipino (ed.), Guerra e Pace (Napoli 2004), pp. 83-110; Science and Reality, Analecta Husserliana, LXXIX (Kluwer, Holland, 1999), pp. 821-33; The Four-Hundredth Anniversary of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, edited with an Introduction and index by M.S.S., The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Acta 17 (Vatican City 2004), pp. 170; The Governance of Globalisation, E. Malinvaud, L. Sabourin and M.S.S. (eds), (Vatican City 2004), pp. XXXV-403; Globalizar la solidaridad, Ciclo de Conferencias CEFOP, (La Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires, 2004) pp. 58; Il Magistero dei Papi per la Pace e l'Accademia delle Scienze, G. Prestipino (ed.), Guerra e Pace, (Napoli 2004), pp. 83-110; Globalisation and Solidarity, A.D. Rotfeld (ed.), New Political Act for the United Nations (Warsaw 2004), pp. 160-205; Human Security, Charity and Justice, A.D. Rotfeld (ed.), New Threats, New Responses (Towards the UN Reform), (Warsaw 2004), pp. 130-5;Globalisation, Justice and Charity, Extra Series 20 (Vatican City 2004), 20 pp.;Globalizacion y Justicia Social, Extra Series 21 (Vatican City 2004), 28 pp.; Globalizzare la giustizia, I diritti umani nel mondo globalizzato, a cura di E. Conti (Brescia 2004), pp. 61-74; The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Interdisciplinary Encyclopaedia of Religion and Science, ed. by G. Tanzella and A. Strumia, Roma 2005; Globalisation and Learning, Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 8, No. 1, Issue of April 15, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile 2005); El Padre y el Hijo se aman y nos aman por el Espíritu Santo, A. Galli, Homenaje al P. Ricardo Ferrara (Buenos Aires, 2006), pp. 80-120; The Various Transcendent Levels of the Sacred in History: The East, Natural Religion, and Revealed Religion, M.S.S. (ed.), The Sacred (The Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, Vatican City, 2006) pp. 69-81; Femminismo e filosofia contemporanea, A. Luciani (ed.), Nuovo Femminismo(Carità Politica, Roma, 2006), pp. 35-64; La educación como el arte de devenir sí mismo en un mundo globalizado, AA.VV. La educación hoy (Banco de Galicia, Buenos Aires, 2006), pp. 35-58; La Libertà della Scienza, E. Conti (ed.), Le libertà (Brescia, 2006), pp. 25-39; Globalización y justicia internacional, E.D. Bautista (ed.), Globalización y justicia internacional (Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 2006), pp. 263-91; Why the Concept of Brain Death is Valid as a Definition of Death, M.S.S. (ed.), The Signs of Death (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City, 2007), pp. xxi-xxix, 388-394; Statement on Globalization and Education, M.S.S. (ed.), Globalisation and Education (W. de Gruyter, Berlin, 2007), pp. 257-85; Philosophy, Science, Faith, M.S.S. (ed.),What is our Real Knowledge about the Human Being (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City, 2007), pp. 69-81; Introduction, M.S.S. (ed.), Stem Cells Technology and Other Innovative Therapies (The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City 2007), pp. vii-xi; Justice in Potency, M.S.S. (ed.),Charity and Justice in the Relations Among Peoples and Nations (The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Vatican City 2007), pp. 150-65; I papi e la scienza (Jaca Book, Milano 2009), vol. 1, p. I-LXXXIV-562; Grace As 'New Creation', Doctor Communis (Vatican City 2009), vol. 1-2, pp. 219-36; Qu'est-ce que la vie?, Transversalités (Institute Catholique de Paris, 2010, vol. 114, pp. 211-36; La globalización es ante todo una realidad fisicoquímica que altera el clima del planeta, in AA.VV., Pontificia Comisión para América Latina, Aparecida 2007, Luces para América Latina (Roma, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2008), vol. I, pp. 389-405; La educación para el ciudadano del mundo globalizado: el arte de devenir sí mismo, in Roberto Cortes Conde, 25 de mayo de 2010: Una Argentina posible (Biblioteca Nacional, Buenos Aires 2010), vol. 1, pp. 307-26; L'olivo e il suo frutto, L'olivo e il suo olio, Accademia dei Gergofili, Casina Pio IV, 16 dicembre 2008, vol. Quaderni 2008-V, pp. 7-14 (Firenze 2009).