Riassunto: Al centro di questo articolo è l’analisi dei fondamenti neurocognitivi dei deficit macrolinguistici, discorsivo-narrativi nello specifico, osservabili nei pazienti affetti da schizofrenia. Tale analisi è condotta in riferimento alle ricerche svolte negli ultimi decenni nell’ambito della psicolinguistica e delle neuroscienze. I risultati di queste ricerche hanno mostrato che alcuni aspetti dei disturbi macroelaborativi che caratterizzano il profilo linguistico dei pazienti schizofrenici possono essere spiegati chiamando in causa i deficit di tre sistemi cognitivi: teoria della mente, funzioni esecutive, memoria semantica. (...) In questo articolo si sostiene che un tale quadro esplicativo vada integrato attraverso il riferimento a un ulteriore processo cognitivo cruciale per l’elaborazione macrolinguistica: la costruzione di scenari. Tale processo è fondamentale per la comprensione e produzione discorsiva in quanto responsabile della costruzione della rappresentazione globale degli eventi del discorso narrativo. Alla luce di queste considerazioni, in questo lavoro si propone che un ruolo cruciale nella spiegazione di alcuni aspetti dei disturbi macrolinguistici nella schizofrenia sia svolto da una compromissione nel processo di costruzione di scenari mentali e si avanza l’ipotesi che tale compromissione sia determinata, a sua volta, da problematiche che agiscono sul piano del funzionamento delle aree cerebrali preposte alla percezione e all’assemblaggio multimodale delle rappresentazioni sensomotorie. Parole chiave: Abilità macrolinguistiche; Costruzione di scenari; Elaborazione discorsiva: Embodied Cognition; Narrazione; Schizofrenia; Percezione; Modelli mentali The role scenario building in the explanation of macrolinguistic disorders in schizophrenia: This article analyzes the neurocognitive foundations of macrolinguistic deficits, specifically narrative, observable in patients with schizophrenia. This analysis is conducted with reference to the investigations carried out in recent decades in the field of psycholinguistics and neuroscience. The results of these investigations showed that some aspects of macrolinguistic deficits of schizophrenics can be explained in terms of impairments of three cognitive systems: theory of mind, executive functions, and semantic memory. In this article, it is suggested that this explanatory framework has to be integrated with the reference to a further cognitive process: scenarios construction. Such process turns out to be critical for discourse comprehension and production as it is responsible for the building of the global representation of events of a narrative. In the light of these considerations, it is claimed that a crucial role in the explanation of some aspects of macrolinguistic disorders in schizophrenia is played by an impairment in the process of constructing mental scenarios. The hypothesis is that this impairment is, in turn, determined by problems affecting the brain areas responsible for the perception and multimodal assembly of sensorimotor representations. Keywords: Discourse Processing; Embodied Cognition; Macrolinguistic Skills; Scenario Building; Narrative; Schizophrenia; Perception; Mental Models. (shrink)

A comparative study of Charles S. Peirce’s and Ernst Cassirer’s triadic phenomenological theories of categories. Both Peirce and Cassirer developed, in a mature stage of their philosophical reflection, phenomenological theories on three fundamental categories: Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness are the names of Peirce’s categories,while Cassirer’s ‚basis phenomena‘ are denominated with the personal pronouns Ich, Du and Es. Prompted by John Michael Krois’s suggestion of an indirect similarity between the two phenomenological theories of categories, this essay aims to find a possible (...) justification for this convergence, thereby reconstructing its metaphysical and epistemological grounding. The study is divided into four sections. In the first part, Peirce’s and Cassirer’s theories of knowledge are compared as expressions of a similar symbolic conception of thought. Secondly, I offer a parallel account of the reasons which led the two philosophers toward a more metaphysical grounding of their symbolic theories, focusing in particular on the relevance of the problem of life in both views. In the third section, I concentrate on the content of the two phenomenological theories and argue that they both represent an attempt to conciliate the tension between the transcendental premises of their symbolic theories of knowledge and the living character of experience. Finally, the reflections of Goethe and Schiller are presented as a possible source of Peirce’s and Cassirer’s triadic phenomenological theories. (shrink)

Le thème de la « relation personnelle à Dieu » peut à la fois être approché comme un lieu théologique parmi d’autres et comme une condition de l’exercice théologique en tant que tel. Cet article propose d’explorer au niveau doctrinal la relation entre ces deux aspects de la « relation personnelle à Dieu ». Il effectue d’abord un rappel des conditions contemporaines du travail de la théologie systématique comme herméneutique du discours religieux. Dans un second temps, il situe la place (...) de la « relation personnelle à Dieu » dans la dogmatique. Finalement, il présente le statut et la place de la « relation personnelle à Dieu » pour l’exercice contemporain de la théologie à partir de trois figures théologiques – la prière, l’amour et le témoignage – sans nier la brisure qui traverse l’existence humaine. (shrink)

While common sense and rationality often have been viewed as two distinct features in a unitifed cognitive map, this this volume offers novel, even paradoxical views of the relationship. Touching on various disciplines, it considers what constitutes human rationality, behavior, and intelligence.

La inteligencia artificial y la robótica son dos realidades que han venido para quedarse y cuya implicación en nuestra sociedad afecta a distintos ámbitos. El hecho de que nos encontremos ante una tecnología capaz de emular actitudes humanas como son el aprendizaje o la adaptación, convierten a la IA, y en concreto a los robots dotados de la misma, en máquinas imprevisibles. Asimismo, nos encontramos con la agravante de la posible interacción entre máquinas y sujetos de carácter vulnerable como son (...) los consumidores o los pacientes, lo que entraña un riesgo aún mayor. Precisamente por ello es necesario un análisis desde el punto de vista jurídico, así como también ético, de las consecuencias del manejo de los robots inteligentes en nuestra sociedad. (shrink)

Edmund Husserl and Ernst Cassirer rank among the most important philosophers of the 20th century. Despite the differences between their philosophical outlooks, their investigations show a common enduring interest in the exploration of human culture. This volume provides the first extensive analysis of Husserl’s and Cassirer’s approaches to the philosophy of culture, assembling contributions by leading international scholars and young researchers. The chapters offer insights into issues such as the various modalities of sense-giving in culture, the relationship between perception and (...) meaning, the place of science in culture, the dismissal of scientism, and the possibility of humanism. (shrink)

Mimmo Paladino’s artistic research is characterized by an interest in the language and the relationship between “individual” and “community”. The idea of “individual” Paladino focuses in his work on is placed in the Mediterranean culture, and carries with itself the request of social emancipation — that can be ascribable to some Marxist topics — and the faith in the magical power. Along this route Paladino meets Ernesto De Martino’s South and Magic, Marcel Mauss and Claude Lévi-Strauss’s works. With the same (...) naturalness he makes coincide his sign with those of Matisse and Beuys, overlaps conceptually Spinoza to Jarry, Giordano Bruno to Beuys by getting the common trait in the transgressive dimension. It would be misleading trying to get a unitary route at all costs because only in the idea of the “encounter” apparently causal, that recalls the impracticable and audacious routes of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, we can get the meaning of the Paladino’s contaminations with philosophy. (shrink)

This document describes the technique and technology currently used to apply cryosurgery, a technic based on low temperatures for medical purposes that allows the controlled destruction of pathological cells and tissues. Cryosurgery is an effective and innocuous process that is painless, safe and economical, applied to multiple specialities in which it provides alternatives to its traditional methods. A search was carried out for articles and bibliographic reviews referring to Cryosurgery and from whose information this technical note was obtained. Research on (...) the application of Cryosurgery presents solid evidence of its benefits. Therefore, it has been used in several countries and health campaigns, showing excellent results, so it is advisable to implement it in health systems. (shrink)

The article compares Fritz Kaufmann and Ernst Cassirer’s conceptions of aesthetics, focusing in particular on their characterisation of the experience of apprehension of art objects. Firstly, analysing Kaufmann’s early investigation of the experience of the reception of art images and Cassirer’s observations on art as a symbolic form, it argues that the two philosophers conceptualise the reception of art objects in a similar way, as an experience structured across different layers of meaning constitution that are based on specific functions of (...) consciousness. While these similarities seem to suggest a convergence between Kaufmann’s early phenomenological reflections and Cassirer’s revised Marburg Neo-Kantianism, an account of Kaufmann’s direct confrontation with Cassirer shows that there remain profound differences regarding their final understanding of the aims of their philosophical inquiries as well as of the epistemological premises of their approaches. These differences become clearer in Kaufmann’s later reflections where he articulates the implications of his interpretation of transcendental phenomenology, stressing in particular the role of eidetic reduction. (shrink)

As the eleventh volume in the New Directions in Cognitive Science series (formerly the Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science series), this work promises superb scholarship and interdisciplinary appeal. It addresses three areas of current and varied interest: common sense, reasoning, and rationality. While common sense and rationality often have been viewed as two distinct features in a unified cognitive map, this volume offers novel, even paradoxical, views of the relationship. Comprised of outstanding essays from distinguished philosophers, it considers what constitutes (...) human rationality, behavior, and intelligence covering diverse areas of philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and computer science. Indeed, it is at the forefront of cognitive research and promises to be of unprecedented influence across numerous disciplines. (shrink)

L'idea che la natura venga sistematicamente violata dal progresso e che la sua distruzione metta a repentaglio la sopravvivenza stessa dell'umanità costituisce uno degli assunti base del movimento ecologista radicale. Si tratta di un'idea che recupera una visione mitica ed erronea della storia: prima dell'età moderna l'uomo avrebbe vissuto in armonia con la natura e oggi saremmo chiamati a ricostruire questo equilibrio attraverso politiche capaci di mettere un limite allo sviluppo economico. Tali posizioni non hanno però alcun fondamento nella cultura (...) scientifica attuale, in cui si fa strada la crescente consapevolezza che la natura è data da sistemi aperti, non-lineari, difficilmente spiegabili senza fare ricorso a una nuova teoria della complessità. 13 scienziati, ognuno secondo un punto di vista personale e della propria disciplina, riflettono sul concetto di "natura" partendo dalla scienza per ridefinirlo e gettare le basi di una nuova ecologia. (shrink)

Substructural approaches to paradoxes have attracted much attention from the philosophical community in the last decade. In this paper we focus on two substructural logics, named ST and TS, along with two structural cousins, LP and K3. It is well known that LP and K3 are duals in the sense that an inference is valid in one logic just in case the contrapositive is valid in the other logic. As a consequence of this duality, theories based on either logic are (...) tightly connected since many of the arguments for and objections against one theory reappear in the other theory in dual form. The target of the paper is making explicit in exactly what way, if any, ST and TS are dual to one another. The connection will allow us to gain a more fine-grained understanding of these logics and of the theories based on them. In particular, we will obtain new insights on two questions concerning ST which are being intensively discussed in the current literature: whether ST preserves classical logic and whether it is LP in sheep’s clothing. Explaining in what way ST and TS are duals requires comparing these logics at a metainferential level. We provide to this end a uniform proof theory to decide on valid metainferences for each of the four logics. This proof procedure allows us to show in a very simple way how different properties of inferences (unsatisfiability, supersatisfiability and antivalidity) that behave in very different ways for each logic can be captured in terms of the validity of a metainference. (shrink)

Research and clinical trial development for rare diseases pose unique bioethical challenges. Much of the literature on rare diseases focuses on patient advocacy and drug development to manage or cu...

This paper extends earlier work by its authors on formal aspects of the processes of contracting a theory to eliminate a proposition and revising a theory to introduce a proposition. In the course of the earlier work, Gardenfors developed general postulates of a more or less equational nature for such processes, whilst Alchourron and Makinson studied the particular case of contraction functions that are maximal, in the sense of yielding a maximal subset of the theory (or alternatively, of one of (...) its axiomatic bases), that fails to imply the proposition being eliminated. In the present paper, the authors study a broader class, including contraction functions that may be less than maximal. Specifically, they investigate "partial meet contraction functions", which are defined to yield the intersection of some nonempty family of maximal subsets of the theory that fail to imply the proposition being eliminated. Basic properties of these functions are established: it is shown in particular that they satisfy the Gardenfors postulates, and moreover that they are sufficiently general to provide a representation theorem for those postulates. Some special classes of partial meet contraction functions, notably those that are "relational" and "transitively relational", are studied in detail, and their connections with certain "supplementary postulates" of Gardenfors investigated, with a further representation theorem established. (shrink)

One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, Rovelli examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving. Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the 21-year-old Werner Heisenberg first developed quantum theory, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be (...) magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious. As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercly debate the theory's meaning, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships, not substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for understanding the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness. Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better understand our place in it. (shrink)