The subject's primacy in politics.: presentation of Human virtues political virtues, ed. by G. Cotta, Milan-Udine, Mimesis, 2020, 273 pp.

Abstract

The book that I present in this article stems from the intention of its authors to tackle the problem of the subject starting from that of virtues, in view of a possible rethinking of subjectivity centered on a relational dimension in which it still makes sense to talk about identity and human nature. “Without a subjective and relational dimension”, Botturi observes, “the experience of the good would remain limited to an objective correspondence of certain realities to certain needs – as happens in animal life – and would not be inscribed on the path of identification and realization of the subject as such. Any good supplied or obtained outside this horizon would even become bad. And it is the reason why on a social level a well-being enjoyed outside a horizon of hospitality and reciprocity, devoid of appropriate human measure, inevitably leads to obtundation and degradation”.