PROGRAMME >> EVENT #22  

saturday aug. 30.time 21.00.piazza Matteotti - 3,00
Edoardo Boncinelli - In the depths of conscience

listen to the audio file

No phenomenon is more interesting and mysterious than conscience. Strange is the story of this concept. In the past we believed we were conscious, at least potentially, of everything happening in our brain. Therefore, consciousness got mixed up with mind, psyche and soul. Then, suddenly, it was discovered that not all the psychic phenomena were conscious; it was the dawning of the Age of Unconscious, the adjective turned into a noun which recurs very often in our conversation, much like a deus ex machina. Nowadays it is pointless to study the unconscious, since almost everything is Unconscious within us, but the real task is understanding what conscience is, first by defining it and then by trying to outline its main features.

Edoardo Boncinelli
trained as a physicist and head of prestigious research institutes, he is committed to studying and teaching genetics and molecular biology. He contributes to Corriere della Sera. His writings include: Le forme della vita (Einaudi, 2000); Io sono, tu sei (Mondadori, 2002); Prima lezione di biologia (Laterza, 2007); Come nascono le idee (i Libri del Festival della Mente, Laterza, 2008); I nostri geni (Einaudi, 2008); L’etica della vita (Rizzoli, 2008); Perché non possiamo non dirci darwinisti (Rizzoli, 2009); Lo scimmione intelligente (con G. Giorello, Rizzoli, 2009); Mi ritorno in mente. Il corpo, le emozioni, la coscienza (Longanesi, 2010); Lettera a un bambino che vivrà 100 anni (Rizzoli, September 2010).