In one of his philosophical moments, Woody Allen is supposed to have once asked: Do we really know what we think we know, and if so, how do we know?
At least 100,000 Italians are expected to ponder this and related questions at the weekend as they converge on the northern cities of Modena, Carpi and Sassuoli for the new edition of Italy's Philosophy Festival.
The annual festival, which started seven years ago and has steadily gathered fans, is a three-day bonanza of lectures, workshops, exhibitions, food and gimmicks all related to philosophy.
After tackling questions such as Meaning, Beauty and God in the past, the theme this year is Knowledge.
In case anyone dares to suggest that the event is just a chance for celebrity thinkers to pontificate at length and for 'ordinary' people to feel intelligent, organisers have an answer this year.
Back in August, the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture announced it would be officially sponsoring the festival for the first time.
"It constitutes a precious contribution to the promotion of philosophical thought and dialogue between people and cultures," UNESCO said.
In fact, as organisers point out, there will be a long list of foreign thinkers arriving at the festival to give lectures in piazzas, courtyards, churches and even on trains.
Alongside the Italian philosophers in town for the three days, there will be America's James Hillman, Ghana's Anthony Appiah, the Pole Zygmunt Bauman, Spain's Fernando Savater, France's Marc Augé and Francois Jullien and the Czech Ivan Chvatik.
A key event in the celebrations will be a mock trial of French intellectual Michel Foucault, seen as one of the 20th century's most original thinkers on the relationship between knowledge and power.
In the meantime, festival organisers have circulated a list of famous quotes on knowledge for participants to consider as they converge on the three towns.
They include the following:
- "All men by nature desire to know (Aristotle).
- "We are logical beings and therefore unjust" (Nietsche).
- "Man wants to be happy and sure of some truth. But he cannot know anything, nor can he do without the desire to know (Pascale).
