A first look into the mind behind this blog
Introduction to the blog
Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself.
I’m Davide Ciolino: a 23-year-old Italian student of philosophy and art history, and today I want to introduce you to myself and my blog, ergo the title “Praesentatio Davidis”. I have been living in the Netherlands for some years for study reasons and, for the first time, I wanted to start putting on paper some of my ideas, opinions and knowledge ( although I still have a lot to learn! ). The idea behind this blog is to finally move from an oral – almost “Socratic” – method of sharing information to a written one. Following in the footsteps of 8th century B.C.E. Greece, when the tradition passed from oral to written. Maintaining, or at least trying to maintain, the qualities of the oratory tradition: direct communication, passing through, and in my case also creating, traditions – for more information on oral and written tradition, I refer you to an excellent article ( in Italian ) -. All this, while adding the advantages of the written tradition, namely textual fidelity, and ease of transmission on, hopefully, a large scale.
Personal Introduction
Now, as for myself, I want to tell you about some of my greatest passions: Philosophy, History and Art History. My burning passion for history began at an early age, when I would get up just after dawn to watch a tv show on the USS Enterprise missions during World War II. Subsequently, my attention shifted towards ancient and medieval history, starting from the exploits of Alexander the Great, up to the 15th century C.E. . Naturally, the modern age, up to the 18th century C.E., also interests me a great deal. As for my inclination towards philosophy and art history, I can tell you that it was born thanks to an art history professor of mine, during high school. It is thanks to him that the spark towards the humanities was born in me. And for this reason I embarked on my current studies, which led me to write to you in the form of this blog.
Clarification of the purposes
In this blog, as already mentioned in the first paragraph, I will propose a great variety of topics. Comments on treatises by philosophers that came before me; personal philosophical theories and treatises; analysis of works of art, being them more or less known; commentary on current topics and much more. I want to remind you that everything that will be written on this blog is the result of my ideas, reasoning and opinions. Opinions which, of course, could deviate from those of you readers but, in the spirit of the great Piero Angela and his last press release ( in Italian ) – later quoted by his son Alberto -, my intention is not to divide, but to unite. A unity that should not take place with the obligation of conforming to my thoughts, but with a calm discussion and a reciprocal exchange of ideas. Naturally, it is far from me to believe that I can already have all-round knowledge on so many topics but, with the application of the Cartesian rational method, I believe I can offer at least one starting point to give birth to one’s own critical thought, that I also hope differs from my own, on various themes, also in you readers. In addition, I can tell you that another great example of mine is a certain so called “universal man”: Leonardo da Vinci. And, trying to follow in his footsteps, I would like to practice the many different disciplines already listed; always with great humility and rationality.
Thanks for reading and stay connected for future publications,
Yours truly, Davide
