Bulletin de Philosophie Médiévale, Volume 62, Issue, Page 213-250, January 2020.

The article focuses on Matěj of Knín, a member of the circle of the Bohemian followers of John Wyclif. It proposes a reconstruction of Matěj’s academic career and sheds light on the role he played...

The article focuses on Matěj of Knín, a member of the circle of the Bohemian followers of John Wyclif. It proposes a reconstruction of Matěj’s academic career and sheds light on the role he played in the late 14th and early 15th century in the reception and development of Wyclif’s metaphysical views in Prague. In particular, Matěj’s views on creatural perfection are taken into account, as they are presented in a quaestio ascribed to Matěj by a marginal note in the (...) only extant manuscript copy, and edited in the appendix. (shrink)

This article takes issue with the most authoritative argument for the commonplace that John Wyclif was an extreme determinist: he denied distinctions between divine ideas and God’s metaphysical constituents and between ideas as principle of divine cognition of creatures and as models for their production ad extra ; since as a constituent of God’s essence every divine idea is absolutely necessary, and every idea is unfailingly a pattern for creation, therefore God cannot but create anything He can think of. This (...) paper argues against the premise that Wyclif never distinguished rationes and exemplaria by examining significant excerpts from Wyclif’s edited and unedited academic writings in which the distinction is assumed or discussed. Wyclif maintains that there are more ideas in God than created essences ad extra, and that God’s absolute power covers more than His ordained power does. To stress that not every divine idea is automatically a model for creation, Wyclif sometimes includes in his standard taxonomy of being a hitherto unnoticed level, the esse intentionale, which is eternal and ad intra, like the esse intelligibile, but contingent, the kind of being in which something participates as the result of God’s free choice to bring it into existence ad extra at the due time. (shrink)

This paper deals with three references found in John Wyclif’s unpublished De scientia Dei to a certain Tractatus 13, whose title relates to the position it holds in the first book of Wyclif’s Summa de ente. They are puzzling references, since the first book of the Summa is made up barely of seven tracts. In this paper I argue that the three references are actually linking devices to the final section of the De ente praedicamentali. Moreover, I maintain that, at (...) the time of the compilation of his De scientia Dei, Wyclif conceived the first book of his Summa as containing thirteen tracts, the last seven of which later collected under a single item. This allows for a broader and more consistent account of the order and dating of the De scientia Dei and other Wyclif’s writings. (shrink)

La riflessione del maestro inglese può senz’altro essere considerata per molti versi forte: basti pensare alla piena fiducia riposta nella convergenza di ragione e fede e nella sinergia di metafisica realista e logica della scrittura. Tuttavia, non mancano tracce di debolezza: il discorso teologico del primo Wyclif non solo è più complesso e articolato di quanto non si sia soliti pensare, ma oltretutto sembra condurre a conclusioni ben lontane dall’affermazione estrema e urtante di un unico partito possibile per Dio e (...) per l’uomo. Quanto alle formulazioni più mature, oltre alla possibilità di rintracciare indizi di debolezza nello spirito delle tesi giovanili, sembra anche attestabile la presenza di tracce di indebolimento: questo è il bilancio da trarre circa gli interventi correttivi cui Wyclif sottopose le proprie dottrine teologiche, private con il procedere degli anni del sostegno garantito dai ben congegnati argomenti filosofici.La stessa ricezione del suo pensiero da parte della tradizione può dirsi debole, viziata da fraintendimenti e da letture unilaterali, nonché spesso priva del conforto di riscontri testuali.Il ritratto ben noto del riformatore inglese – alla luce di quanto detto sin qui – reclama forse un ricorso più convinto al chiaro-scuro. Basti pensare al dubbio circa l’efficacia del tentativo proposto proprio nel giovanile De universalibus, così come nel De dominio divino, di una conciliazione tra la necessità degli eventi futuri quoad prescienciam Dei e la libertà umana di determinare le proprie azioni, che pure sembrerebbe suffragata da molte evidenze testuali.Un modo, questo, per dire che la ballata leggendaria di un Wyclif determinista continuerà ancora a essere cantata. (shrink)

Nel dibattito teorico, la metafora della mappa è stata spesso usata per esplorare il ruolo della nozione di verità nel rapporto tra linguaggio, rappresentazioni, realtà. Le mappe sono sempre prospettiche, legate a interessi (cognitivi e non cognitivi) di chi le elabora; come ha osservato Michael Lynch, "il mondo non si mappa da sé". Per quanto diverse esse siano, assumiamo in genere che le pratiche descrittive possano aspirare a qualche forma di verità e corrispondere al modo in cui le cose stanno. (...) Non è facile spiegare in che cosa consista questa "corrispondenza", anche perché è controversa la possibilità di distinguere quanto, nelle rappresentazioni linguistiche, dipende dal mondo e quanto dai nostri schemi concettuali. Il ruolo del concetto di verità diventa sempre più complesso, se si prendono sul serio le differenze nei modi di accedervi e nei campi oggettivi di riferimento; ciò dà spazio ad uno spettro molto ampio di posizioni filosofiche, fra loro contrastanti, che rimescolano le carte delle tradizionali controversie tra realisti, antirealisti, relativisti. I saggi compresi in questo volume costituiscono un momento di incontro volto ad afferrare e discutere la fisionomia di queste controversie. (shrink)

The theme of conspiracies plays a key role in Machiavelli's writings, in which can be found considerations and analyses on the use of conspiracy as an instrument of conquest of power, and as a technique for political fighting. This volume denies an interpretation in which Machiavelli limited himself to warning against conspiracies, judging them as a dangerous and useless tool. In reality, he elaborated a real phenomenology or anatomy of the conspiracy. His thoughts on this theme represent a practical manual (...) for the "coup d'état" and the violent seizure of power. But as always, they also contain brilliant intuitions on political psychology, the sociology of power, and social anthropology. (shrink)

This book focuses on analyzing data on current initiatives and best practices in citizen engagement and education programs across various disciplines by highlighting emergent research and application techniques within citizen science initiatives.

This article discusses the logic of the Epimenides Paradox using a graphical representation of the logical operators involved. The graphical representation of the Logical Operators is the one used in digital electronics. This method of investigation is very effective in revealing the hidden error in the reasoning that leads to the contradiction. The article explains the vicious circle that the mind goes through when trying to analyze the Paradox. Finally, the article proposes a solution of the Paradox with final conclusions (...) that are not paradoxical but simply counterintuitive. The endless deduction is generated by subsequent evaluations that take place on different levels. In its evaluation the Mind alternates a level of logical evaluation with a level of semantic evaluation. (shrink)

"Results presented in two international seminars held in Palermo and Milan in 2012"--Page 1.

The present book is a collection of 9 essays, focusing on the ethical, religious, and political aspects of Wittgenstein's thought, illustrated and investigated with reference to their complex interaction with Wittgenstein's philosophical method and with his conception of language and human agency.

The article deals with some implications of radical uncertainty for participatory democracy, and more precisely for Participatory Technology Assessment. Two main forms of PTA are discussed. One is aimed at involving lay citizens and highlighting public opinion. The other is addressed to stakeholder groups and organisations, not only in terms of interest mediation but also of inclusion of their insight into a problem. Radical uncertainty makes 'intractable' many environmental and technological issues and brings into question traditional and new approaches to (...) policymaking. Its consequences are explored from the viewpoint of new science, deliberative democracy, and network governance. Radical uncertainty calls for a rethinking of the aims of public deliberation, and a reinterpretation of the divide between opinion- and position-oriented PTA. To look for a public opinion, understood as a shared principled view, can prove misleading, as can thinking of stakeholder participatory arrangements in the usual way. When facts and values overlap, and are deeply controversial, the only opportunity for mutual understanding may be to look for practical, 'local' answers, based on different positional insights. Moreover, radical uncertainty also affects interest determination and pursuit, and may enhance the opportunity of joint, inclusive, non-strategic issue definition and solution-devising. This vision of public deliberation is consistent with the idea of network governance. However, fragmentation can affect the effectiveness and legitimacy of participatory policies. Trying to handle fragmentation from the top, as many suggest, is unlikely to be successful. A more promising endeavour is to foster deliberative settings which, although positioned at the level of 'local' and often contingent networks and commonalities, are open to include 'Otherness' – other contexts, other problem definitions, other concerns. (shrink)