Responsabilità e creatività. Alla ricerca di un uomo nuovo(secoli XI-XIII. Atti del Convegno Internazionale,Brescia 12-14 settembre 2013

The new cycle of La Mendola-conferences suggests that we fi rst look\r\nat ethics. While dealing with ethics at a more philosophical level or from\r\nthe vantage point of the history of philosophy, the papers are mostly\r\nconcerned with ethical contexts – environments, that is, in which ethics\r\nwas implemented, represented and, judging from most papers’ conclusions,\r\ndefi ned: the monasteries and the schools, as one may expect, but\r\nalso the cities, the courts and even the countryside. Both this diversity\r\nand this creativity refl ect the dynamism of European societies between\r\nthe 11th and 13th centuries. Yet they may also make ethics more practical\r\nthan even the classical distinction between theoretical and practical\r\nwisdom – to which ethics belonged– suggests. Far from endorsing Aristotle’s social conservatism,\r\nthe papers point to a shift from an aristocratic and monastic environment\r\nto a more diverse and dynamic society and culture in which\r\nschools and universities, the communes, secular courts and independent\r\nartists occupy the central ground.