This volume is a new edition by F. Verde of P.C.’s Principii della filosofia greca (first published in 1993), prefaced by an extensive introduction. For reasons that will become apparent, I consider Verde’s project highly commendable. In Principii della filosofia greca P.C. offers a nuanced account of the origins of Greek philosophy, presenting it as the product of historical, political and cultural conditions rather than natural essence or environmental determinism. In the opening chapter, ‘Dal mythos al logos’, he rejects both the ancient notion that the Greeks were inherently different from ‘barbarians’ and modern explanations that attribute Greek originality to geography, commerce or political fragmentation. For P.C. the true innovation of Greek civilisation lies in the polis, a civic structure that, unlike centralised Near Eastern monarchies, fostered conditions for intellectual freedom. What may appear as the weakness of small, often rival communities instead created fertile ground for rational inquiry and enduring models of political liberty. Religion, while transformed, remained integral: civic cults entered into a dialectical relationship with philosophical speculation, producing a climate in which myth could be examined rationally without being entirely discarded. The Ionian poleis exemplify this process, as thinkers such as Thales reinterpreted myth in terms of universal principles, blending religious sensibilities with emerging rational frameworks. The transition from mythos to logos thus represents a gradual reconfiguration of civic, political and religious life rather than a rupture.
The second chapter, ‘Intelletto e vita morale’, shifts attention to the ethical dimension of Greek philosophy, highlighting the intimate link between intellect (nous) and moral life. P.C. stresses that this connection predates Plato and Aristotle, appearing already in Presocratic thought and historiography. Pythagoras conceived moral discipline and intellectual harmony as inseparable: the pursuit of cosmic order mirrored the need for self-mastery and purification of the soul. Parmenides endowed this vision with metaphysical depth, presenting truth as the result of rigorous intellectual effort that simultaneously shapes conduct. Empedocles combined natural philosophy with religious injunctions, linking cosmic insight to ethical imperatives. This fusion of intellectual clarity and moral seriousness extends to Thucydides, whose commitment to accuracy and disciplined judgement is both methodological and ethical, cultivating civic responsibility alongside historical knowledge. Socrates and Plato further frame philosophy as education of the soul through dialectical engagement, arguing that moral error stems from ignorance rather than deliberate choice. Aristotle develops this perspective via phronēsis, practical wisdom that integrates rational discernment with life’s complexities. Greek ethics thus emerges not as abstract prescription but as a praxis of self-fashioning grounded in intellectual cultivation, a legacy that informs later humanist traditions.
The final chapter, ‘Itinerarii della mente’, portrays philosophy as a series of intellectual journeys rather than a linear progression of doctrines. Tracing Pythagorean, Eleatic, Platonic and Aristotelian trajectories, P.C. emphasises the aspiration to unify modes of thought with modes of life. Philosophy appears as an existential path, demanding coherence between thinking and living. Concern for individual integrity manifests in disciplined self-examination, reconciling finite and infinite, mortal and immortal. This rigour underpins ethical reflection and stable political institutions, establishing philosophy as lived practice rather than abstract speculation. In this view the Greek legacy remains relevant far beyond its historical context: by harmonising reason and existence Greek philosophy provides a model repeatedly inspiring Western and, at points of contact, Eastern intellectual traditions. These ‘itineraries of the mind’ are foundational guides, sustaining humanity’s quest for order, meaning and moral coherence.
The volume is carefully edited and enriched with valuable indexes, compiled by S. Mecci. Verde strikes a judicious balance between fidelity to the original edition and the necessary correction of minor errors. Particularly commendable is the scrupulous introduction. In these pages Verde offers an extensive intellectual biography of P.C., enabling readers to trace the life and work of a figure central to the Italian intellectual landscape and thereby situating the text within its proper cultural and historical context. This is followed by a learned discussion of the major theses contained in the three chapters, a survey that successfully captures the core of P.C.’s positions in terms of content, context and method. Verde’s analysis highlights both the author’s key arguments and the cultural framework in which they are embedded. For example, the introduction demonstrates the cultural richness of mid-twentieth-century Italian debates on the origins of philosophy – albeit somewhat old-fashioned – by comparing P.C.’s positions with those of Giorgio Colli. This discussion also engages with broader scholarship, including the views of M.L. West, particularly concerning the relationship between Greek and Eastern thought. Finally, Verde rightly emphasises that the distinctive methodological feature of P.C.’s volume is its historical approach, which remains a central strength of the work.
Judgement on the contents of P.C.’s text may understandably vary. Many of its positions today appear problematic – his readings of the Presocratics, and especially the Pythagoreans, are hardly tenable nowadays – while others risk sounding self-evident or even superficial, such as the transversal application of concepts like nous across different thinkers. Yet this must be contextualised: the book was conceived as a partly popularising enterprise, the opening volume of the Encyclopedia Multimediale series (Le radici del pensiero filosofico). Moreover, it reflects the perspective of a scholar born in 1911, writing before three decades of methodological renewal and hyper-specialised research reshaped the field. The project is, however, of considerable cultural significance. As Verde forcefully states in the preface, ‘Al di là del pur doveroso omaggio, però, una delle principali ragioni che mi hanno spinto a ideare questa ripubblicazione è la profonda convinzione che, se non si rimettono in circolazione i grandi autori della nostra tradizione, le loro opere, anche perché scritte nella nostra lingua, sono destinate a cadere nell’oblio e a essere definitivamente dimenticate’ (p. ix). The operation is all the more important in that it does not simply reissue a well-known classic, that is recognised to have had a huge impact on scholarship worldwide – such as Guido Calogero’s Storia della logica antica, vol. 1, republished in 2012 by B. Centrone –, but instead revives a minor text that, for various reasons, has attracted far less attention. And it deserves to be rediscovered, if not for its content, then as a cultural testimony of the style and methods characteristic of Italian scholarship in the second half of the twentieth century, with all its merits and its limits.
And here is the crux of the matter. If I were teaching ancient philosophy in an anglophone context today, I would not ask my students to learn Italian just to read P.C.’s volume. Yet, for example, if one of my students were writing on the Timaeus, I would certainly direct them to P. Donini’s 1988 paper, ‘Il Timeo. Unità del dialogo, verosimiglianza del discorso’ (Elenchos 9). Reading that, the student would realise that, with few exceptions, this paper is largely overlooked in contemporary non-Italian scholarship, even though it either anticipates arguments later presented as novel or raises points that still merit serious attention. Whether or not Verde’s project supports broader claims about the value of multilingualism in our disciplines, and regardless of the significance of defending ‘our tradition’ in the field, or of how this defence relates to the training of new generations of Italian scholars in the international scene, the project unquestionably represents a timely and important contribution.
