Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2019, Page 444-451.

Le livre de Loredana Mancini est le deuxième volume de la collection “Antropologia del Mondo Antico. Collana del Centro di Antropologia del Mondo Antico dell’Università di Siena”, dirigée par Maurizio Bettini. L’auteur est chercheuse spécialisée en iconographie de l’art ancien et en histoire de l’archéologie, ce qui explique l’inclusion à la fin du livre d’un catalogue de 152 monuments qui offrent des images, fragmentaires ou entières, de sirènes antiques et médiévales, accompagnées ou non de...

In his book Gabriele Lolli discusses the notion of proof, which is, according to him, the most important and at the same time the least studied aspect of mathematics. According to Lolli, a theorem is a conditional sentence of the form ‘if T then A’ such that A is a logical consequence of T, where A is a sentence and T is a sentence or a conjunction or set of sentences. Verifying that A is a consequence of T generally involves (...) considering infinitely many interpretations; so it is something which is impossible to do in finite terms. Proofs may serve as ‘shortcuts’ in this respect. A proof is defined by Lolli as any finite argument certifying that A is a consequence of T. A proof is a shortcut in the sense that it spares us considering infinitely many interpretations.The reason for such a very general definition of proof is Lolli's strong belief that mathematics is not a rigid system of explicit rules, but rather a set of tools; as a consequence, there is no prescription as to what a proof should or should not be. Actually, mathematics is historically situated and not timeless, and the history of mathematics is the …. (shrink)

Seneca's 90th Epistula moralis is one of the very few Stoic accounts of the origin of political bodies. Seneca references Posidonius and probably draws on earlier Stoic material too. The review summarizes and discusses Zago's important contribution to the question of sources for this letter.

In his book Gabriele Lolli discusses the notion of proof, which is, according to him, the most important and at the same time the least studied aspect of mathematics. According to Lolli, a theorem is a conditional sentence of the form ‘if T then A’ such that A is a logical consequence of T, where A is a sentence and T is a sentence or a conjunction or set of sentences. Verifying that A is a consequence of T generally involves (...) considering infinitely many interpretations; so it is something which is impossible to do in finite terms. Proofs may serve as ‘shortcuts’ in this respect. A proof is defined by Lolli as any finite argument certifying that A is a consequence of T. A proof is a shortcut in the sense that it spares us considering infinitely many interpretations.The reason for such a very general definition of proof is Lolli's strong belief that mathematics is not a rigid system of explicit rules, but rather a set of tools; as a consequence, there is no prescription as to what a proof should or should not be. Actually, mathematics is historically situated and not timeless, and the history of mathematics is the …. (shrink)

Volume 10, Issue 3, September 2019, Page 444-451.

This review discusses Andrea Staiti’s book Etica naturalistica e fenomenologia. In this concise, excellent book, Andrea Staiti develops an original phenomenological approach to meta-ethical questions, such as whether or not there are moral facts; if so, how do they relate to natural facts; and how we gain knowledge of them. Staiti’s claim is that Husserlian phenomenology has key insights to offer to the current debate about moral facts mostly taking place in the analytic tradition. Staiti also argues that Husserlian phenomenology (...) can provide middle ground between ethical naturalism and non-naturalism, and that Husserl’s phenomenology offers a solution to G. E. Moore’s open question argument about the notion of “good.” The book presents some of Husserl’s key concept in a clear and jargon-free way, and it offers original solutions to meta-ethical problems. It has the potential for attracting attention to Husserl’s phenomenology outside the small circle of its supporters. (shrink)

Il n’est pas rare, en philosophie, de se tourner, quand besoin est, vers les traductions en italien d’ouvrages en langues étrangères qui n’ont pas encore bénéficié d’un tel effort en français. Il est plus inhabituel de le faire lorsqu’il s’agit d’un texte à l’origine en français. Michele Cammelli, qui mène ses recherches au fonds Canguilhem, nous en offre cependant l’occasion, avec une remarquable édition d’un court texte politique de Georges Canguilhem, publié de façon anonyme à Cahors en 19..

Cet ouvrage riche et complexe de Manuela Martini, nourri d'une vaste exploitation archivistique et d'une bibliographie solide, vient combler une lacune historiographique. Malgré la multiplication durant ces deux dernières décennies des études d'histoire de la famille, les recherches centrées sur les familles de l'élite bolognaise de l'ancien régime et de l'époque contemporaine restent peu nombreuses et centrées sur leurs dynamiques de classes les plus globales. L'ouvrage, qui fait part...

A recently published volume – edited by Walter Tega and Luigi Turco – celebrates the Italian historian of philosophy Antonio Santucci. One of the founders of the neoilluminismo (new-Enlightenment), Santucci blended strong civil commitment with rigorous textual analysis and contributed to the popularisation of British and American philosophy in Italy. The book describes Santucci's contribution to the historical research on empiricism and stimulates a reappraisal of the heated cultural debate which flourished in Italy after the Second World War.