He Italian philosopher and professor Nuccio Ordinerecognized as one of the greatest experts on the Renaissance and the work of the astronomer, theologian and thinker Giordano Bruno, has been distinguished this Thursday with the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2023.
He jury of the Princess of Asturias Awards has praised the figure of Ordine “for his defense of the humanities and his commitment to education and the values rooted in the most universal European thought”, while he has praised his efforts to “transmit, especially to the youngest, that the importance of knowledge is found in the learning process itself”. Ordine is recognized as a strong advocate of a education far from the tendency to pragmatism that advocates instilling in students the pleasure of knowledge and the curiosity for knowledge. Thus, according to her vision, a broad base of general knowledge It will be the best tool for young people to successfully face the variables of the labor market in the future.
Ordine, who was born on July 18, 1958 in Diamante (Italy)a small town where there was no school and was taught by a teacher at home, is a professor of Italian Literature at the University of Calabria, and has also taught classes as a visiting professor in other prestigious university centers such as Yale (United States), the Sorbonne (Paris), the CESR of Tours (France), the IEA of Paris, the Warburg Institute (England) and the Max Planck Society of Berlin. In addition, he is a member of the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he was an honorary member of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a knight of the French Legion of Honor in 2002.
Doctor honoris causa by the Comillas Pontifical University, has published numerous books as the shadow threshold (2006), The utility of the useless (2013) and Classics for life. A perfect little library (2017). In this last book he vindicated classics such as Cervantes, Shakespeare and Plato to understand current issues, from the inequality of women to the independence movement. “I would recommend Puigdemont and Rajoy to read Montesquieu,” said the author in 2017 in an interview with EFE.
reflections
Ordine has reflected on the rise of nationalist and far-right partiesstressing that they only seek “Take advantage of the indignation and suffering of the wealthy classes to foment the war of some poor people, those who have paid for the crisis, against other poor people, the migrants”.
Throughout his career, Ordine has also criticized the social degradation of the figure of teachers and low funding in education, when “Only good teachers are capable of changing the lives of students”. “Now good schools are measured by the number of computers and digital resources they have, but no money is spent on training good teachers,” the award-winner has assured on occasion.
The thinker has also reflected on the “mistreatment” that philosophy it suffers in the classroom and even the debate about whether it is a subject that, like ancient languages, is useful or not.
Ordine’s candidacy, third Italian recognized with this award After the philosopher and writer Umberto Eco in 2000 and the journalist Indro Montanelli (together with Julián Marías Aguilera) in 1996, it was proposed by the director of Acantilado Editorial, Sandra Ollo Razquín.
