BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — In their new book, “Brooklyn Existentialism, Voices from the Stoop explaining how Philosophical Realism can Bring about the Restoration of Character, Intelligence and Taste,” two St. Francis College Professors, Arthur DiClementi (Mathematics) and Nino Langiulli (Philosophy — Retired) place the blame squarely on some of the most famous thinkers in history.
“Darwin, Freud, Marx have all had a huge impact on the way we have ordered our lives in everything from education to science to religion, law and art,” said DiClementi. “And it’s only when we apply a sharp-tongued Brooklyn perspective to their ideas that we see the folly of their ways and all the moral mischief they have caused.”
“Right now, we are being held hostage to the philosophies of Marx, Darwin and Freud that preach ideas like fate, natural selection and unconscious desires. We have all but forgotten that we control our own destinies. That freedom and reason trump some sort of pre-existing path for us,” he added. “What better way to get to the root of these problems and tackle them than with a heady dose of brash Brooklyn sensibility.”
“We see this book following in the tradition of Socrates. We’re taking knowledge back to the streets where it came from,” said Langiulli. “Brooklyn Existentialism” combats the cultural shift towards selfishness and the end of common sense and explains how to restore character, intelligence and taste.
DiClementi and Langiulli have enjoyed a 50-year friendship since DiClementi sat in Langiulli’s classroom as a student at St. Augustine High School in Brooklyn. “I actually went to St. Francis College because Nino moved there to teach philosophy,” said DiClementi. “I may be the only high school student to ever follow his teacher to college.”
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Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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