Special Collections
Emilia Giancotti
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Library
Biblioteca Umanistica, Università degli Studi di Urbino
1.2 Name of the collection
Emilia Giancotti
1.3 Biographical notes
Emilia Giancotti (Reggio Calabria 1930-Roma 1992). Although her parents were not intellectuals, they cared very much about their children’s education. Thanks to this, in 1948, Emilia completed her classical high school education. She moved to Rome to enroll at Università di Roma La Sapienza, where she attended philosophy courses and became a student of Professor Ugo Spirito, graduating with him in 1952. She continued her academic career as a teaching assistant to Professor Spirito (in theoretical philosophy), and she also started to collaborate with the critical journal “Filosofia Italiana” and to work as an editor at Sansoni.
She established with Professor Spirito a relationship of mutual respect. However, Giancotti gradually distanced herself from him in terms of research: when she adhered to Marxism they reached their maximum divergence. She developed the concept of philosophy as “a perspective of liberation”, where theory is closely intertwined with the practice of being a philosopher, with political action and commitment to the community.
In 1965, she obtained the possibility of teaching History of Modern Philosophy at the University Urbino, where she became a full professor in 1975. She was also appointed director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University for two terms. As the director she organized important events: in 1982, the first conference in Italy dedicated to Spinoza for the 350th anniversary of his birth; in 1988, the international conference “Hobbes e Spinoza. Scienza e politica”.
During these years, Emilia Giancotti's research activity flourished. The “Lexicon Spinozian” (L’Aia, 1970), a meticulous index of the philosopher’s works, gave her international fame. She then translated the “Trattato teologico-politico”, published by Einaudi in 1972, and in 1988, she published a new translation with notes of the “Etica”. Beside the research projects, Giancotti spent her energies for a dissemination activity: she edited the volume “Che cosa ha veramente detto Spinoza” for the series “Che cosa hanno veramente detto i filosofi” by Ubaldini, and in 1988, she released “Baruch Spinoza” for the series “I libri di base” by Editori Riuniti, called “Spinozino” by her students.
In 1987, she founded together with Paolo Cristofolini and Filippo Mignini the Associazione italiana Amici di Spinoza. She was its first president and worked hard to give space and voice to the research of younger scholars. In her teaching practice, Emilia Giancotti always emphasized the importance of respecting philosophical texts and adhering to the specific language of the discipline. She placed the autonomy of research of the students at the center of her teaching.
1.4 Date and methods of acquisition
The collection was donated by her son Federico Boscherini to the University.
1.5 Collection history
Initially Daniela Bostrenghi, Laura Piccioni, and Cristina Santinelli took care of the collection. For several years, thanks to a contribution from the University, the collection was expand it to fill gaps and to continue existing series.
1.6 Collection increase
No further material is expected to be added to the collection.
1.7 Collection indexing
Around 1995, a catalogue was prepared by some students of the course in Conservazione dei beni culturali, coordinated by professors Anna Maria della Fornace and Marco Ferri, the Cataloguing Office and Dr. Goffredo Marangoni.
1.8 Collection accessibility
The collection, catalogued and made available to the public, can be accessed at the following address: Access the catalogue
2. DESCRIPTION
2.1 Extent
The original collection held 1470 documents, distributed in sections F.EG-01 and F.EG-02. In F.EGM, there are comes mainly from journals and/or photocopied handouts. The F.EG-A location comprehends the new acquisitions that have been added over the years; as of December 2022, there were 804 documents.
2.2 Scope and content
Philosophy and classic texts of critical literature, mostly on modern philosophy, with a significant predominance of works by and about Spinoza and Hobbes.
2.3 Description identifier, organization, and placement
The collection is located in Biblioteca Umanistica, in the F.GIANCOTTI section. The locations F.EG-01, F.EG-02, and F.EGM (from -01 to -09) refer to the original material. In F.EG-A the new acquisitions bought to enriched the collection over time have been placed.
2.3 State of conservation
Well preserved.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DOCUMENTATION
3.1 Bibliografia e documentazione
Day of studies for the thirtieth anniversary of her passing.
Alphabetical catalogue, edited by D. Bostrenghi and C. Santinelli.
PERMALINK TO THE CATALOGUE
COMPLIERS' NAMES
Giuseppina Barzotti e Giulia Maponi