Marcello Pera

Senator
Marcello Pera
President of the Italian Senate
In office
May 30, 2001 – April 27, 2006
Preceded by Nicola Mancino
Succeeded by Franco Marini
Personal details
Born (1943-01-23) January 23, 1943
Lucca, Italy
Nationality Italian
Political party Independent
Other political
affiliations		 Italian Socialist Party
(until 1994)
Forza Italia
(1994-2009)
The People of Freedom
(2009-2012)
Profession Philosopher
Politician

Marcello Pera (Italian pronunciation: [marˈtʃɛllo ˈpɛːra]) (born January 28, 1943[1]) is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was the President of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006.

Career

Pera, who was born in Lucca,[1] graduated in accounting, and he worked for the Banca Toscana and for the Camera di Commercio in Lucca. He went on to study philosophy at the University of Pisa, concentrating on the works of Karl Popper and his open society theory, and advocating these principles during the difficult 1970s, the anni di piombo.

His academic career began 1976 at the University of Pisa. He then went on to pursue research activities internationally: Visiting Fellow, University of Pittsburgh, 1984; Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1990; Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural Sciences, London School of Economics, 1995-96. He taught Theoretical Philosophy from 1989 to 1992 at the University of Catania. In 1992 he became full professor of Philosophy at the University of Pisa.

Marcello Pera has written for the newspapers Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, and La Stampa, and to the news magazines L'Espresso and Panorama.

Pera has become a leading opponent of post-modernism and cultural relativism and on this subject he resonates with religious thinkers.

Opposing cultural relativism he declared, "There are... good reasons for deeming that some institutions are better than others. And I deny that such a judgment must necessarily lead to a clash." [2]

Opposing the post modern denial of the possibility of ascertaining objective facts, he says, "Against deconstructivism I do not deny that facts do not exist without interpretation. I refute Nietzsche's thesis that "there are no facts, only interpretations" (F. Nietzsche, Afterthoughts); or Derrida's "there is nothing beyond the text" (J. Derrida, Of Grammatology)." [2]

In the Senate

He was elected as a Senator for Forza Italia in 1996 and 2001.[1] During the XIV Legislature, he was President of the Senate from May 30, 2001 to April 27, 2006.[3] He was re-elected to the Senate in 2006 and 2008.[1]

Dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI

An atheist,[4] Pera co-authored a book with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, titled Senza radici ("Without Roots"), and is the author of the introduction to the book originally titled L'Europa di Benedetto nella crisi delle culture, or in short, The Europe of Benedict, written by Ratzinger shortly before he became the pope. It has been reprinted as Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. [5]

Pera's 2008 book Perché dobbiamo dirci cristiani ("Why We Must Call Ourselves Christians"), has a letter-preface by Pope Benedict XVI.

Honour

Foreign honour

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Page at Senate website (Italian).
  2. 1 2 http://www.senato.it/presidente14leg/21572/21575/28223/42108/composizioneattopresidente.htm
  3. ↑ Senate page for Pera as a member of the XIV Legislature (French).
  4. ↑ Curzio Maltese, Come ti sei ridotto: modesta proposta di sopravvivenza al declino di una nazione, Feltrinelli, 2006, p. 57.
  5. ↑ Joseph Ratzinger, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), copyright page, table of contents.
  6. ↑ "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat Persekutuan.".
Political offices
Preceded by
Nicola Mancino		 President of the Italian Senate
2001 - 2006 		Succeeded by
Franco Marini
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