This thesis is an examination and reconstruction of morality. It divides into three parts. Part one argues that morality is best considered as the tradition of ethical thinking that begins with the Stoics, develops in Christian thought and reaches its apotheosis in Kant. This tradition structures ethical thinking around three basic concepts: cosmopolitanism, or universal applicability to human beings as such, the dignity of human beings and reciprocity. It is this tradition of morality that Nietzsche sets out to destroy. Part one criticises pre-Nietzschean theories of morality, such as Kant’s, that take universal and exceptionless rules to form the core of morality. It critiques both the possibility of putting forward an adequate set of such rules and the proposed relationship between morality and human life that is implicit in these theories. Part two begins with Nietzsche’s challenge: that morality is a system of values rooted in nihilistic resentment at the vitality of other, stronger modes of living. It argues that this challenge must be taken seriously, and that the best way to do this is to make it clear that morality has as its fundamental basis a responsiveness to the value of human life; hence it is Nietzsche’s ethics that should be called nihilistic. The rest of part two examines the possibility of answering Nietzsche’s challenge by demonstrating a necessary connection between human selfhood and the acknowledgement of the dignity of human beings. Here I criticise Christine Korsgaard’s arguments and consider Charles Taylor’s more promising approach to the self. Part three turns towards pragmatism, and in so doing gives up on the attempt to show that morality is somehow necessary for all human beings. Nietzsche’s challenge is answered more subtly: an empirically backed theory of human selfhood explains the point of morality in terms of our basic need for recognition. I complete the reconstruction of morality by reinterpreting the dignity of human beings in a naturalistic way and adopting a conception of moral rules that is informed by Jürgen Habermas’ discourse ethics.

Lo studio ricostruisce le fasi dell’attività missionaria di padre Alfonso Vagnone in Cina, che si svolse tra il 1605 e il 1640. Il lavoro è organizzato in tre parti, suddivise in cinque capitoli: 1. Formazione giovanile di Vagnone e successiva attività di insegnamento presso il Collegio Braidense di Milano. In seguito, il gesuita ottenne il permesso di recarsi in missione in Cina e giunse a Nanchino nel 1605, dove, dopo aver imparato con impegno e dedizione la lingua cinese, incominciò con successo la sua opera di evangelizzazione. Nel 1616 egli subì una dura persecuzione e fu espulso da Nanchino. Dopo cinque anni di insegnamento della filosofia e teologia nel Collegio S. Paolo a Macao, nel 1624 rientrò nella Cina continentale, riprendendo la sua attività di evangelizzazione a Jiangzhou. Morì il aprile 1640. 2. Attività missionaria di padre Vagnone a Jiangzhou. Con l’aiuto di Tommaso Han Lin e Pietro Duan Gun, egli fu il promotore della diffusione del cristianesimo nello Shanxi (tanto da essere considerato l’apostolo dell’evangelizzazione di questa provincia). 3. Studio delle opere del gesuita e, in particolare, del pensiero pedagogico ed etico espresso in un suo testo intitolato Educazione della Gioventù. Il lavoro ha dunque cercato di mettere in luce gli aspetti più significativi della personalità scientifica, teologica, retorica, etica e missionaria di padre Alfonso Vagnone. / The study reconstructs the stages of the Chinese missionary activity of Father Alfonso Vagnone, which took place between 1605 and 1640. The paper is organized into three parts, divided into five chapters: 1. Training of young Vagnone and subsequent teaching at the Braidense College of Milan. Later, the Jesuit was allowed to go on a mission in China and came to Nanjing in 1605, where, after learning the Chinese language with commitment and dedication, successfully began its work of evangelization. In 1616 he suffered a severe persecution and was expelled from Nanjing. After five years of teaching philosophy and theology at the College of St. Paul in Macao, he returned in mainland China in 1624, resuming his work of evangelization in Jiangzhou. He died on April 9, 1640. 2. Vagnone missionary activity in Jiangzhou. With the help of Thomas Han Duan Lin and Peter Gun, he was the promoter of the spread of Christianity in Shanxi (he is considered the apostle of the evangelization of this province). 3. Study of the works of the Jesuit and, in particular, the pedagogical and ethical thinking expressed in his text Education of Youth. Therefore, the work highlights the most significant aspects of Father Alfonso Vagnone scientific, theological, rhetoric, ethics, and missionary personality.

The research is exploring the liminal space of aporía within the experience of film. How can film be a poetic experience and inviting philosophical thinking? Motivated by the works of filmmaker Chantal Akerman, I have come to investigate the gap within the filmic narrative of character creation. With the obligation to create an ethical relationship to my audience, I take a closer look into the aesthetics of mimesis in storytelling. Proposing that there is a shared created gap of nothingness, which works as a portal of reflection between audience and art where the aporía take place, I am influenced by the philosopher Merleau-Ponty´s phenomenological image of the chiasm. The research is accordingly discussing the actor as the embodied surface of this interplace. The liminal space is the journey of the pre-reflective mind working with the unknowable. My thesis tries to show how the image of the thinking actor can hold a space for one shared experience. Departing from a background of actor and writer, the use of writing art throughout the research is a description of different ways of expressing my artistic language; as in writing, filming, directing or acting. The research is situated within the artistic research and the material of focus is art film, ethical philosphical thinking and my own practice with an essay film of 12 minutes, [Her]barium. The locus of the discussion is my own embodied conciousness, as a spectator and in the position of filmmaker.