|
|
|
|
Celebrazione del 50° della FASS The closing
festivities of the year of celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of
Social Sciences (FASS) at the Angelicum took place on Saturday 10th May 2003,
Feast of St Antoninus of Florence, with the participation of fr Gustavo
Gutierrez OP. A big crowd came, and the atmosphere was really festive. The day
opened with a short welcoming address from the Rector of the Angelicum,
Francesco Compagnoni OP, who pointed out some of the highs and lows of the 50
years of existence of the FASS, and in particular mentioned some of the key
figures who had contributed to its development. There followed a wonderfully
rich and challenging talk by Stefano Zamagni on the possibility of recovering
the 18th century tradition of "civil economics" despite the philosophical
challenges of Hobbes and Mandeville to the principles of civil economy. This
tradition flowered in certain keys areas in the 18th century, especially in
Italy but also in Glasgow, and Adam Smith is one of its last expressions there.
It thus represents the oldest, "original" form of independent economic thought,
when the fledgeling discipline was detaching itself from that of philosophy. The
first ever chair of economics, at the University of Naples, was held at its
inception by one of the most important exponents of the civil economic tradition,
Antonio Genovesi. Subsequently, however, this tradition of thought was submerged
under Benthamite utilitarianism, and when linked to increasingly Fordist types
of technological development, economic thought shifted to regarding marginal
utility and scarcity as central concerns, and the dominant forms of economics as
we know them today were born. The main concerns of the civil economists, rather,
had been happiness, the virtues and the common good - all issues which are today
seen, even by economists, as increasingly urgent to address. Zamagni therefore
argued persuasively that the time has now come to transcend the dichotomy
between a technicist economics and abstract philosophical discussions about
happiness by rediscovering and developing the civil economic tradition of
thought. Speaking under the title "Memory and Prophecy", Gustavo Gutierrez began with a remark of Bartolomé de Las Casas, the Dominican bishop in Mexico who was among the first to defend the rights of the Indios, that the insignificant and forgotten people are those remembered especially by God. Throughout his talk, Fr Gutierrez developed the idea of memory as it is seen biblically, particularly in relation to the situation of the poor. He emphasised that the words "now" and "today" are key to understanding memory in the scriptures; when a text says "God has redeemed us today", it is not meant to be statement in a chronological sense, but rather wishes to point us to a deeper truth about God's relation to us. Another key point in his talk was that it is essential in this complex and globalised world to "take a position", and for the Christian this has to be one in favour of the poor (not because the poor are good or nice, but because it is God who makes this choice, this preference, for the poorest and most insignificant). God loves the poor in a special, preferential way; he loves us all, but has a special love for the insignificant, just as he has a special "memory" of them as Las Casas reminds us.
After a party together, complete with group photos and a toast to all those
who had made it possible for the
We hope that the talks and a summary of the afternoon discussion will be published in the October 2003 issue of the internet journal OIKONOMIA, available at the webpage www.oikonomia.it
|
|
|
These major
talks were followed by a concelebrated Mass, in which the intercessions were
made in all the languages of the students present in the FASS and at the
offertory procession the students brought up symbolic gifts, such as a globe to
represent their hopes of building more solidarity around the world with what
they will be able to do with their studies, and an empty jar representing how we
have nothing to offer God or others, and yet we give what we can. In his sermon,
the rector talked about the Dominican bishop St Antoninus and what he had done
in Florence in the early 15th century to help the poor and to develop ethical
thinking on economics.
FASS to arrive at this day 50 years on from its foundation, the group returned
to the lecture hall for a very moving discussion between Gustavo Gutierrez and
students, lecturers and friends. Despite the large number there, people spoke
from the heart as well as the mind. One student from Salerno in southern Italy
spoke of the despair of the people around him who cannot find work; another from
Palestine talked of the desperate situation of his people, while others spoke
about their spiritual poverty and the need for them to connect their life more
to their faith. The day ended with a few closing remarks by the Dean of the FASS,
Helen Alford op.