Abstract

Unlike his frequently provocative review essays for Interpretation, Nino Langiulli's study of the Italian philosopher and historian of philosophy Nicola Abbagnano is more celebratory than critical. Abbagnano, who taught at the University of Turin from 1936 until 1973 and who influenced the novelist and semioticist Umberto Eco, acquired international esteem almost entirely for his work as an encyclopedist. Langiulli, who was his student in the early sixties, does not disparage Abbagnano's Dizionario della Filosofia, which he helped to translate. Rather he tries to show that Abbagnano did productive work as a formal philosopher, particularly on modalities, which has still not received suitable recognition outside of Italy.