Nuccio Ordine to talk on the "usefulness of useless knowledge" at the UAB

Nuccio Ordine
The need for humanistic disciplines is at times questioned from the specific and presumably pragmatic viewpoint of science and the university. Nuccio Ordine, author of the book L'utilità dell'inutile. Manifest, will be talking on the subject on 14 April at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts.

09/04/2015

On 14 April at 11:30 am, writer and philosopher Nuccio Ordine will give a conference entitled "L'utilità dei saperi inutili" at the auditorium of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts. Ordine teaches literature at the Università di Calabria and is author of the book L'utilità dell'inutile. Manifest, where he defends the need for humanistic disciplines in the development of society.

The event is organised by the teaching and coordination committee of the bachelor's degree in Humanities. The conference will be offered in Spanish and presented by the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts Joan Carbonell.

According to Ordine, "in the next few years we will need to fight to save not only science, school and university from this utilitarian drift, but also all that which we call culture" because, he continues "to sabotage culture and education is to sabotage the future of humanity".

A Renaissance Expert

Ordine is one of the leading experts in the Renaissance Era and the philosophy of Giordano Bruno. He has coordinated the editions of the works of this Italian philosopher and also of several series from the Italian publishing houses Liguori, Nino Aragno and Bompiani, as well as three collections of classical authors at Les Belles Lettres Publishing House.

He has been invited as a visiting professor to several European and American university and is fellow of the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He is honorary member of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was appointed commander of the Ordine al Merito della Republica Italiana, as well as Knight of the French Legion of Honour and Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes académiques. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate Laurea Honoris Causa by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and has received many prizes for his literary works.