Marcello Pera

{{Short description|Italian philosopher and politician (born 1943)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| image = Marcello_Pera_datisenato_2022.jpg

| name = Marcello Pera

| order = President of the Senate of the Republic

| term_start = 30 May 2001

| term_end = 27 April 2006

| predecessor = Nicola Mancino

| successor = Franco Marini

| order2 = Member of the Senate of the Republic

| term_start2 = 13 October 2022

| term_end2 =

| constituency2 = Sassari

| term_start3 = 9 May 1996

| term_end3 = 14 March 2013

| constituency3 = Lucca (1996–2006)
Emilia-Romagna (2006–2008)
Lazio (2008–2013)

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|1|28|df=y}}

| birth_place = Lucca, Kingdom of Italy

| nationality = Italian

| alma_mater = University of Pisa

| profession = Philosopher
Politician

| children =

| spouse =

| residence =

| party = FdI (since 2022)

| otherparty = PSI (until 1994)
FI (1994–2009)
PdL (2009–2013)

| caption = Marcello Pera in 2022

}}

Marcello Pera ({{IPA|it|marˈtʃɛllo ˈpɛːra, -e-}};{{cite web|url=http://www.dipionline.it/dizionario/ricerca?lemma=pera|title=pera|website=Dipionline.it}} born 28 January 1943) is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was the president of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006.[http://www.senato.it/leg/16/BGT/Schede/Attsen/00003900.htm Page at Senate website] {{in lang|it}}.

Career

Pera was born in Lucca,⁣ and graduated in accounting. He worked for the Banca Toscana and for the Camera di Commercio in Lucca. He went on to study philosophy at the University of Pisa, concentrating on the works of Karl Popper and his open society theory, and advocating these principles during the difficult 1970s, the anni di piombo.

His academic career began in 1976 at the University of Pisa. He then went on to pursue research activities internationally: Fulbright scholar, University of Pittsburgh, 1984; Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990; visiting fellow, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural Sciences, London School of Economics, 1995–96. He taught theoretical philosophy from 1989 to 1992 at the University of Catania. In 1992, he became a full professor of philosophy at the University of Pisa.

Pera has written for the newspapers Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, and La Stampa, as well as for the news magazines L'Espresso and Panorama. Pera has become a leading opponent of post-modernism and cultural relativism and on this subject, he resonates with religious thinkers. Opposing cultural relativism, he declared, "There are good reasons for deeming that some institutions are better than others. And I deny that such a judgment must necessarily lead to a clash."{{cite web|url=http://www.senato.it/presidente14leg/21572/21575/28223/42108/composizioneattopresidente.htm |title=Senato.it - Il Presidente - Relativism, Christianity and the West |access-date=2014-02-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412232424/http://www.senato.it/presidente14leg/21572/21575/28223/42108/composizioneattopresidente.htm |archive-date=2008-04-12 }}

Opposing the postmodern denial of the possibility of ascertaining objective facts, he says, "Against deconstructionism, I do not deny that facts do not exist without interpretation. I refute Nietzsche's thesis that "there are no facts, only interpretations" (F. Nietzsche, Afterthoughts); or Derrida's "there is nothing beyond the text" (J. Derrida, Of Grammatology)."

=In the Senate=

He was elected as a Senator for Forza Italia in 1996 and 2001. During the XIV Legislature, he was President of the Senate from May 30 to April 27, 2006.[http://www.senato.it/leg/14/BGT/Schede/Attsen/00003900.htm Senate page for Pera as a member of the XIV Legislature] {{in lang|fr}}. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2006 and 2008.

=Dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI=

An atheist,Curzio Maltese, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1nijasSAUy0C Come ti sei ridotto: modesta proposta di sopravvivenza al declino di una nazione], Feltrinelli, 2006, p. 57. {{ISBN|978-88-07-84068-5}} Pera co-authored a book with then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger titled Senza radici ("Without Roots") and is the author of the introduction to the book originally titled L'Europa di Benedetto nella crisi delle culture, or in short, The Europe of Benedict, written by Ratzinger shortly before he became the pope. It has been reprinted as Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures.Joseph Ratzinger, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-PNmRWB4QwC Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures] (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), copyright page, table of contents. {{ISBN|978-1-58617-142-1}}

Pera's 2008 book Perché dobbiamo dirci cristiani ("Why We Must Call Ourselves Christians") has a letter-preface by Pope Benedict XVI. Pera is a critic of the policies of Pope Francis and what he perceive as the Pope's attempts to influence Italian politics, in particular his response to the European migrant crisis; he accused the Pope of demanding that European states "commit suicide".{{cite news| url = http://formiche.net/blog/2017/07/10/il-vangelo-non-centra-il-papa-fa-politica-parola-di-marcello-pera/ |access-date = 6 July 2017 | date = 5 July 2017 | title = Il Papa, la Chiesa e i migranti. Parla Marcello Pera| work = Formiche }}{{cite news| url = http://www.ilsussidiario.net/News/Cronaca/2017/7/10/Marcello-Pera-vs-Papa-Francesco-Bergoglio-fa-politica-e-in-atto-uno-scisma-nella-Chiesa-/773071/ |access-date = 6 July 2017 | date = 5 July 2017 | title = Marcello Pera vs Papa Francesco/ "Bergoglio fa politica, è in atto uno scisma nella Chiesa" | work = Il Sussi Diario}}

Honour

=Foreign honour=

{{flagu|Malaysia}} : Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (2003){{cite web

|url=http://www.istiadat.gov.my/index.php/component/semakanlantikanskp/|title=Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat Persekutuan.}}

{{Flag2|Uruguay}} : Grand Cordon of the Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (2003){{Cite web|title=Resolución N° 1438/003|url=https://www.impo.com.uy/bases/resoluciones/1438-2003|access-date=2020-11-30|website=www.impo.com.uy}}

Publications

Induzione e metodo scientifico, Pera M., Editrice Tecnico Scientifica, Pisa, 1978
Popper e la scienza su palafitte, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1981
Hume, Kant e l'induzione, Pera M., Il Mulino, Bologna, 1982
Apologia del Metodo, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1982
La Rana ambigua. La controversia sull'eletricità tra Galvana e Volta, Pera M., Einaudi, Torino, 1986; English translation The Ambiguous Frog: The Galvani-Volta Controversy on Animal Electricity, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1991
Scienza e retorica, Pera M., Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1992; translated into English and revised as The Discourses of Science, (Chicago University Press, Chicago 1994
Senza radici/Without Roots, Pera M., Ratzinger J., Mondadori, Milano 2004, Basic Books, New York 2006; German edition: Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg 2005; Spanish edition: Peninsula, Barcelona 2006
{{Cite book|last1=Ratzinger|first1=Joseph|author-link1=Joseph Ratzinger|last2=Pera|first2=Marcello|author-link2=Marcello Pera|title=Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam|year=2006|location=New York|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0465006342|url=https://archive.org/details/withoutrootswest00bene|url-access=registration}}
Perché dobbiamo dirci cristiani ("Why We Must Call Ourselves Christians"), Mondadori, Milano 2008; with a letter-preface by Pope Benedict XVI