My students of the some twenty-five years in which I gave an introductory course at the University of Florence and, later, at the international Ph.D. School, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, along with the followers – primarily from India and Pakistan – of my MOOC since 2013, deserve my gratitude for the many questions raised and remarks made, from which I was able to learn a lot.
A number of colleagues and friends were so kind as to read one or more of the chapters: Stefano Burzo, Ian Carter, Dimitri D’Andrea, Anna Loretoni, Sonia Lucarelli, Rodolfo Ragionieri, Bernardino Regazzoni, Enno Rudolph, Vivien Schmidt, Mario Telò. Their criticism and their suggestions have been invaluable and have greatly improved the text. Any mistakes or omissions remain my own.
I also remain grateful to Kirstin Howgate, then at Ashgate, my original publisher before the merger with Routledge, for accepting to publish this book.
Aura Frangioni, the last student who graduated at Florence under my guidance before my retirement, has been my research assistant in the preparation of this volume. I also owe her some philosophical remark on the text. My English has been edited by Molly A. (Flynn) Tanş, a Ph.D. student at Trinity College, Dublin. I am very grateful to both ladies not only for the work they have done, but also for the kindness and friendship with which it was done.
It was a joy to write this book under the loving watch of my wife Renata Carloni, who also gave me some helpful pieces of advice. The book is dedicated to her.