I know. The subject of Leonardo da Vinci has been done to death. Nonetheless, he remains one of the most mind-bloggling individuals in world history. His body of work is incredibly absurd. I'm not so sure he's even human. Maybe aliens do exist after all...
It's no wonder Italians have an enterprising and engineering mindset.
Because Italy is more than a geographic expression..
Interesting how Antonio Gramsci, whose thought is highly educational, wanted to reform the Italians. He didn’t succeed.
ReplyDeleteAs a Marxist, he liked the ideal of the fully developed man by Marx. But while Marx’s ideal seems boring to me, Gramsci’s ideal man I find fascinating.
He conceived the idea of a New Leonardo, a Leonardo apt to modern times. Each Italian, through highly stimulating education, had to become like a modernized version of Leonardo da Vinci.
The characteristics of this new man sketched by Gramsci were a synthesis of a great American engineer, a great French politician and a great German philosopher.
Utopias, even if fascinating, are dangerous.
Ok. Nonetheless I am affectionate to this New Leonardo idea. It reminds me of my youth.
“great American engineer, a great French politician and a great German philosopher.”
ReplyDeleteDon’t forget British dry humor and culinary skills.
Cough.
Sounds like Marxist genetic manipulation to me.
I see his vision but it’s fanciful. You need, excuse the vulgarity, un-rounded and unintelligent people in society.
There was some manipulation. They believed in human engineering. Which is a dreadful thing. Gramsci was a liberal at heart, but got captured by Marxism. These ideas, in the hands of Stalin and Zdanov, have produced an aberrant world.
ReplyDeleteAnd the mother of all these horrors is again Plato’s Republic
PS
And of course these New Leonardo’s characteristics are very outdated