Abstract

The paper puts forward a reconstruction and an interpretation of a challenging essay by Carlo Augusto Viano of 1979, “La ragione, l’abbondanza e la credenzaµ (“Reason, Abundance and Beliefµ). In the first part, it focuses on the nature of the underlying cultural context and carefully analyses each step in Viano’s complex arguments. The second part is dedicated to an interpretation of Viano’s main thesis, and provides four possible alternative versions of the elements that lie at its base about the relationship between science and philosophy.