Philosophy, Biography,
Family History

PHILOSOPHY: First and Last Questions

Socrates said "I don't know", and that's what philosophy is. (Socratic ignorance.) Nonetheless, "wisdom is the only good, ignorance the only evil" both in philosophy and in "no small matter, but how to live" (Plato). Philosophy is about reasons and understanding.

In the early years I wrote about Wittgenstein's logic of language (logic-philosophy) only, but now in later years about the historical Socrates (and Xenophon) as well as Plato and Immanuel Kant. Fifty years later I would say this, that you must first use Wittgenstein as an antidote to philosophy and then philosophy as an antidote to Wittgenstein. Because, if despite the many instances of conceptual confusion (mystification by language) in philosophy, there is nevertheless a metaphysical use of language, then Wittgenstein's project to silence metaphysics is unjustified, and, far more importantly, "the riddle" (TLP 6.5) does, after all, exist.

Wittgenstein contributed to philosophy only a "logic of language". And as decisive as that is in philosophy, the distinction between meaning and nonsense is logic only; it does not rise to the level of philosophy: "to solve the riddle of the world and the meaning of human existence" (F. Copleston).

Logic of Language

Philosophy is discourse of reason. "If a man knows anything, he can explain what he knows to others" was Socrates' method for distinguishing what you know from what you only think you know (but don't).

Note: in my jargon, 'logic of language' means a way to distinguish language with meaning from language without meaning. There are three discussions:

• The elements of Wittgenstein's later logic of language: a description of the definitions, metaphors and methods Wittgenstein used to make the distinction between sense and nonsense objective (verifiable) by selecting a rule-defined meaning of 'meaning', revising the concept 'grammar' to include rules of sense and nonsense and identifying logic with those rules rather than with syntax, using the standard of what is in plain sight (in contrast to what it seems is not).

The context described in the Introduction is necessary for understanding what Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was about in philosophy.

• The logic of language of the historical Socrates. "The meaning of a word is the thing the word stands for. Induction is used to find the defining common qualities of ethical words such as 'piety' and 'justice'. Those qualities define the thing the word names." General definitions of 'piety' and justice' are "piety is right conduct towards God" and "justice is right conduct towards men", although those definitions are too general to serve as guides to how to live.

• About Ockham's nominalist logic of language, which has much in common with Wittgenstein's, as has Ockham's ethics.

Historical Aside: Wittgenstein at Cassino

• Wittgenstein at Cassino, my interlinear translation of selections from Franz Parak's Wittgenstein prigioniero a Cassino: the Austrian philosopher was held at the prisoner of war camp at the base of the monastery at Monte Cassino from November 1918 to August 1919. When Wittgenstein was taken prisoner he had in his knapsack the manuscript of his "Logical-philosophical Treatise", which was later published as the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

VALENTE and DiRENZO FAMILY HISTORY

Documents for the Family History of Giovanni VALENTE (1887-1969) and Nunziata DiRENZO (1897-1983), spouses of Gambatesa, Molise, Italy, and Camden, New Jersey, USA, and their Ancestors back to 1690.

Village History Background - Gambatesa

Gambatesa is a village in central southern Italy, beyond the Apennines from Naples and Rome.

• Gambatesa: Fragments of History and of Art by Salvatore Abiuso, with the collaboration of Palmiro Di Maria, my English language translation with photographs and maps. Gambatesa is a comune ("village and its agricultural territory"), a paese ("native land") in the Province of Campobasso, Region of Molise, Italy.

• Special pages from Our Correspondent in Geneva (Angelo Abiuso):

• don Giacomo Venditti (1914-1968), Gambatesa's parish priest about whom many stories are told. The opponent of superstition in religion, in the village of the old days.
• The origins of the village of Gambatesa by Monsignor Donato Venditti of Gambatesa.
• Everyday life in central southern Italy as it was in the not-so-distant past, as well as Gambatesa's traditions and special days.
• Angelo Abiuso's grandfather Francesco Valente and Francesco's father Luca. Luca was Giovanni Valente's first cousin. Francesco, who was an air force mechanic during the Second World War, told Angelo about Italy's North African campaign.
• Gambatesa's Daily Bread, from the bakery, made with durum semolina. And the taralli of Gambatesa, the only pastry of the poor.

Holy days: The Christmas Zampognaro, the bagpipe player who visited the village each year. And Easter in Gambatesa.

Family Names, Map, and Glossary

• The Family Names from Gambatesa found on this site, with surnames originally from a few other villages as well, alphabetically listed, and linked to records from the Italian Civil Register.

Note: only names that belong to the family histories of this Web site are listed on the page above. There are many other surnames from Gambatesa; many of them appear in the Family Registrations of Mons. Donato Venditti, 1688-1880.

• Map of central southern Italy showing the places named in the Italian family histories of this site, with traveler's companions.

• Italian to English Vocabulary, a glossary to help with the reading family history documents.

• Short Postscript to this Family History: Descriptions of what the lives of our ancestors in southern Italy were like, in the words of various writers.

My Paternal Ancestors

ANGELILLO (ANGELO) FAMILY HISTORY

Documents for the Family History of Raffaele ANGELILLO, later Ralph ANGELO, (1888-1965) of Sant'Angelo d'Alife (CE), Italy; and Bristol Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and Maple Shade, Camden County, New Jersey; and his Ancestors back to the 1700s.

Village History - Sant'Angelo d'Alife

The village of Sant'Angelo d'Alife is thirty-five miles north of Naples.

• The Origins of Sant'Angelo d'Alife, a comune ("village and its agricultural lands") in the Province of Caserta, Region of Campania, Italy. There are also photographs of Sant'Angelo and the Castle of Rupecanina, and a brief traveler's catalog and several maps.

Sant'Angelo is the borough where my own birth and that of my Angelillo ancestors is recorded. My father's grandfather Nicola (1853-1920) was the first of our family to come to America and it was Nicola who (informally) gave us our family name "Angelo". Nicola worked for the railroad in Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania, where in the end he was a gate tender.

We are in origin southern Italians. Our history is not one of art and high culture (except for the city of Naples and the birth of classical music), but of poverty. What the south of Italy does have, that the rest of Italy does not have, is our ancient Greek heritage.

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