Marcello Pera

Senatore 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 (age 69) Lucca, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Forza Italia
Profession	Philosopher Politician

Marcello Pera (Italian pronunciation: [marˈtʃɛlːo 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]

Dialog with Pope Benedict XVI

An atheist^[4], Pera co-authored a book with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), titled "Senza radici" ("Without Roots"), and is the author of the foreword of the book by the Pope Benedict, titled The Europe of Benedict.

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

Publications

• Induzione e metodo scientifico, Pera M., Editrice Tecnico Scientifica, Pisa, 1978
• Popper e la scienza su palafitte, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1981
• Hume, Kant e l'induzione, Pera M., Il Mulino, Bologna, 1982
• Apologia del Metodo, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1982
• La Rana ambigua. La controversia sull'eletricità tra Galvana e Volta, Pera M., Einaudi, Torino, 1986; English translation The Ambiguous Frog: The Galvani-Volta Controversy on Animal Electricity, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1991
• Scienza e retorica, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1992; translated into English and revised as The Discourses of Science, (Chicago University Press, Chicago 1994
• Senza radici/Without Roots, Pera M., Ratzinger J., Mondadori, Milano 2004, Basic Books, New York 2006; German edition: Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg 2005; Spanish edition: Peninsula, Barcelona 2006
• Perche' dobbiamo dirci cristiani ("Why We Must Call Ourselves Christians"), Mondadori, Milano 2008; with a letter-preface by Pope Benedict XVI

References

External links

• Marcello Pera's official site (in Italian and English)