Reconstructing the Concept with Aldo Capitini Submitted by Roberto
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NONVIOLENCE AS IMPURE PRAXIS – Reconstructing the Concept with Aldo Capitini Submitted by Roberto Baldoli, to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics, September 2015. This Thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgment. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature 1 | P a g e ABSTRACT: This thesis aims to ‘reconstruct’ the concept of nonviolence, offering a new unifying and pluralistic definition, which rejects recent worrying uses of the term, and is able to deal with the crisis of democracy and the construction of a post-secular society. Currently nonviolence is split in two between principled and pragmatic nonviolence. This division has been successful, but it is now a problem: it divides means and ends, politics and morality, religion and politics. In order to find a way out we will turn to the Italian philosopher Aldo Capitini. He interpreted nonviolence as a tension, a praxis of liberation from the chains of reality and openness to the existent. This approach includes a pragmatic dimension, which is a logic reinterpreting current practices and inventing new ones to build up via facti a new society (omnicracy); and a principled dimension, which is a craft of integrating reality with values, reaching its peak in the connection with everybody in an action of value (compresence). This approach offers actions of protest-to- project to overcome the division between means and ends; a political approach between ‘realism and serenity’ to overcome the division between politics and morality; an open religion which can work at the centre of society and politics. Finally, we will extend Capitini’s reflection claiming that nonviolence as praxis is a non-systematic revolutionary approach aiming at freedom and plurality. We will add that this praxis is impure, because made of less than perfect actions performed in a very imperfect environment by imperfect human beings. Reconceiving nonviolence as impure praxis will allow us to reunite principled and pragmatic nonviolence, reinterpreting the former as actualisation of a public principle and the latter as a phronesis. This interpretation will offer an interesting form of transformative realism, which enriches via facti any democratic order with life, and show the way to overcome the secular divisions towards a post-secular society centred on the Assisi presumption. 2 | P a g e Declaration I, Roberto Baldoli, hereby declare that this PhD thesis titled: “Nonviolence as Impure Praxis - Reconstructing the Concept with Aldo Capitini” is written by me and that all material in this thesis which is not my own has been identified and properly cited. Student’s name: Roberto Baldoli Signature: Date: 1st September 2015 3 | P a g e Table of Contents Preface…………………………………………………………………………………6 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………8 1. The Success of a Division: Nonviolence as Principled and Pragmatic..39 1.1. Nonviolence: Between Anti-terrorism and Religious Preaching………..….40 1.2. The Distinction between Principles and Methods of Action……………..….47 1.3. Nonviolence is Two: Pragmatic and Principled……………………………...60 2. The Cost of the Division…………………………………………..……………71 2.1. Nonviolence as Action: More than Behaviour, Less than an Ideal………..73 2.2. Reconciling Politics and Morality: Sharing Construction with Everybody…80 2.3. Bringing Religion Back In……………….…………………..………………….85 3. Aldo Capitini’s Concept of Nonviolence………………………..…….……..91 3.1. Nonviolence as Praxis of Liberation and Openness…………………...……92 3.2. Beyond Pragmatic Nonviolence: a Different Method for the Power of All……………………………………………………………………………………..104 3.3. Beyond Principled Nonviolence: the Great Refusal and the Craft of Shaping Reality………………………………………………………………………………..108 4. The ‘Reality of All’: Protests-to-Project, Transformative Realism, and Open Religion………………………………………………...……………………118 4 | P a g e 4.1. Keeping Together Obstruction and Construction: Action as Protest-to- Project………………………………………………………………………………..119 4.2. Nonviolence between Realism and Serenity towards Omnicracy…..……135 4.3. Religion and Nonviolence……………………………………..……………..146 5. Reconstructing nonviolence…………..……………….…………………….156 5.1. Nonviolence as Impure Praxis……………..….……………………………..158 5.2. Transformative Realism for Order with Life……………………..………….180 5.3. Religion and Nonviolence: towards the Assisi Presumption………..…….192 Conclusion………………………...……………………………………………….198 5 | P a g e Preface This dissertation started by chance, but it revealed to be the necessary end of a coherent journey started in Milan some years ago. The choice to work on nonviolence, and in particular on Aldo Capitini, came from the precious encounter with Claudio Radaelli. He introduced me to the world of nonviolence, and he provided me with trust, guidance, understanding, encouragement and friendship. Without him, this work would not have been possible. Before focusing on nonviolence, my interests revolved around concepts such as peace and just war. These are very well-established topics. Instead, since I started to work on nonviolence, I had to deal with a completely different situation. Nonviolence is a recent and quite mistreated concept, which achieved already a lot in practical terms, but still suffers a chronic lack of theoretical analyses (and debates). Besides, I found that the literature on nonviolence was almost completely ignored by mainstream political theory. This was definitely the sign that a much more comprehensive work was needed. In this journey, I found in Aldo Capitini the perfect guide and help. His formation, influence and style are at the same time very Italian and very international. He represents an interesting mix of various Italian schools of thought, from the Actualism of Gentile, to existentialism of Baglietto, to the school of Milan of Martinetti, Preti and Dal Pra. At the same time, these very deep roots do not limit his thought. Capitini is part of an international dialogue on how to work for a better and more pacific world. At the centre of this international drive, we find the concept of nonviolence, which he marvellously described as something neither only for saints, nor for cowards. This was the best starting point for a student who received his training in philosophy in Milan, with a strong phenomenological blueprint, but found himself in a political science department of the UK, with different concerns and sensibilities. The result is in my view a very interdisciplinary work, which tries to speak to everybody without closing down into one tradition. This interdisciplinary work is also a mix of help from very different scholars coming from very diverse backgrounds, who I want to thank. I would like to thank 6 | P a g e dr. Andrew Shaap for his precious help. He showed me what is expected from a political theorist through the many suggestions and criticisms to the (many) versions of this work. I would also like to thank prof. Mario López Martínez for the many discussions we had while I was Visiting Researcher at the University of Granada, and prof. Antonino Drago of the University of Pisa for the email exchange we had, in which he offered important suggestions on early drafts of the thesis. At the same time, I would like to thank prof. Massimo Parodi of the University of Milan. This dissertation is inevitably the result of the many discussions I had with him during my years in Milan. All this work, training and network would have been impossible without the help of my family. No word of this dissertation would have been written without Alessandro, Rosanna and Giampietro, who I should thank for their endless faith in me and providing all the help and support I needed to realise my ambitions. Also, I thank Tania Risoleo for all the care, encouragement, patience and love. They represent the bedrock upon which all my life and work are built. The result of this journey lies in the following pages, which I hope will represent the basis for future research and work. The usual disclaimer applies. 7 | P a g e INTRODUCTION The opposite of foot is what? A mountain top’s one answer, but If you are thinking of a bed, The opposite of foot is head. To ancient generals, of course, The opposite of foot is horse. Richard Wilbur, Opposites The poems of Wilbur are perhaps the best way to describe the varying connotations that can be derived from the meaning of a simple term. His poems on the opposites are meant to be for children, but they reveal an important lesson for everybody. Each word he uses, even the most common and apparently unambiguous term, like ‘foot’, finds itself always in use, in new and unexpected plays with other words. And in the play of life, words arise, change in meaning, and play with different opposites, are frequently used, or die. This word interplay underlies a war, a real struggle for the term’s existence. This struggle leads us back to the words of Heraclitus. With the famous sentence, “we must know that war [polemos] is common to all and strife is justice, and that all things come into being through strife necessarily,” the Greek philosopher reminds us of the worldly features in which this struggle takes place. This world is far from immutable and stable; it is a flux, in a cosmos interpreted as fire, as energy in endless transformation. The harmony of the world does not lie in the conciliation of opposites, which would lead to dead quiet, but in a continuous struggle between them. The being is the result of this struggle, in perfect adherence to the logos, the universal law that governs our existence. In this play, or struggle, it happens that the many different circumstances of everyday life constantly create and destroy words and meanings.