section_path: Culture/Philosophy
section_name: Philosophy
paragraph_text: Philosophy
  
  Italian philosophy had an influence on Western philosophy, beginning with the Greeks and Romans, and Renaissance humanism, the Age of Enlightenment, and modern philosophy. Formal philosophy was introduced to Italy by Pythagoras, founder of the Italian school of philosophy in Crotone. Italian philosophers of the Greek period include Xenophanes, Parmenides and Zeno. Roman philosophers include Cicero, Lucretius, Seneca the Younger, Plutarch, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Augustine of Hippo.
  
  Italian medieval philosophy was mainly Christian, and included theologians such as Thomas Aquinas, a classical proponent of natural theology, who reintroduced Aristotelian philosophy to Christianity. Renaissance philosophers include: Giordano Bruno, a major scientific figure of the West; Marsilio Ficino, a humanist philosopher; and Niccolò Machiavelli, a founder of modern political science. Machiavelli's most famous work is The Prince, whose contribution to political thought is the fundamental break between political idealism and realism. University cities such as Padua, Bologna, and Naples remained centres of scholarship, with philosophers such as Giambattista Vico. Cesare Beccaria was a significant Enlightenment figure and a father of classical criminal theory and penology.
  
  Italy had a renowned philosophical movement in the 1800s, with Idealism, Sensism, and Empiricism. During the late 19th and 20th centuries, there were other movements that gained popularity, such as Ontologism, anarchism, communism, socialism, futurism, fascism, and Christian democracy. Antonio Gramsci remains a relevant philosopher within communist theory, credited with creating the theory of cultural hegemony. Italian philosophers were influential in development of the non-Marxist liberal socialism philosophy. In the 1960s, left-wing activists adopted the anti-authoritarian pro-working class theories that became known as autonomism and workerism.
  
  Italian feminists include Sibilla Aleramo, Alaide Gualberta Beccari, and Anna Maria Mozzoni, and proto-feminist philosophies had previously been touched upon by Italian writers. Italian educator Maria Montessori created the philosophy of education that bears her name. Giuseppe Peano was a founder of analytic philosophy and the contemporary philosophy of mathematics. Analytic philosophers include Carlo Penco, Gloria Origgi, Pieranna Garavaso, and Luciano Floridi.