Ricerc@Sapienza

This essay centres on the relation between philosophy and the polis, which
seems to be withering away. In this sense, “political vocation” gestures towards the
movement of philosophy as it is called upon to enter the polis. Following in Socrates’
footsteps, it should never forget it is out of place and out of time. Based on this,
the word “atopia” is carefully examined. It is a decisive word in the Platonic lexicon,
to the extent that it defines the role itself of the philosopher, that is, the citizen
who lives with the others and yet does not live like the others by dint of her being
constitutively alien. But “political vocation” also indicates the need for philosophy,
whose alertness and vigilance makes a community possible. While it is still tied to
state boundaries, philosophy today fails to see beyond and to open up new horizons.