Nel 1516 Leone X sfuggì di misura a un’incursione di pirati musulmani mentre cacciava sul litorale romano.1 Presumibilmente gli incursori non si accorsero di quanto preziosa fosse la preda che avevano mancato. E noi non riusciamo neppure a immaginare le conseguenze di una simile cattura: ci vorrebbe un intero libro di storia controfattuale. Il rischio inaudito corso dal papa confermava la vulnerabilità dell’Europa cristiana, e addirittura del suo centro, Roma, che la frattura religiosa del Mediterraneo aveva trasformato in un avamposto (...) proteso verso gli infedeli. Il tema era presente nella mente di Leone X almeno da quando Paolo Giustiniani e Pietro Quirini gli avevano dato risalto nel 1513. Delle sei parti in cui .. (shrink)

L’ipotesi da cui muove la scelta di temi ed autori di questo percorso è quella di aprire esplorazioni ed incursioni nelle pieghe della cultura umana per cogliere le frizioni e le smagliature tra etica e politica in vista della possibilità, data o negata, di riconfigurare sé stessi e la cultura di cui ogni uomo è forza viva, mutante e trasfigurante. Un viaggio tra luoghi e stanze parallele, che a volte si svelano comunicanti, altre volte solo tracce di afone esistenze. Indagine (...) della storia e tentativo di una ermeneutica politica non riduttivistica, che intercetti intimamente la concezione e la struttura antropologica a fondamento di una società e di una sua organizzazione politica. La sfida di fondo di questo lavoro è quella di ripensare il posto dell’uomo nell’ordine dei significati del corpo, e ricondurre la corporeità nell’ordine dei significati di una antropologia politica. Da questa ipotesi, viene proposto un itinerario che intercetta alcuni dualismi e fratture come nuclei di criticità da cui muovere e infiltrarsi nelle intersezioni simboliche tra piano etico e piano politico dell’esistenza. (shrink)

L’alternative « soins ordinaires », « soins extraordinaires » en fin de vie nous place au cœur d’un débat très actuel de pratique et d’éthique médicales. L’article examine les difficultés de la médecine de fin de vie et met en évidence certaines insuffisances des analysesmises en œuvre pour prendre les décisions appropriées. La lecture des textes magistériels sur ces questions amènent pareillement à se demander si la science bioéthique n’est pas dans une impasse.

Il y a, tout au long du chemin de pensée de Heidegger, une référence à l’idée d’« habiter » (wohnen). La pensée qu’il en propose est d’une telle exigence qu’elle mérite la plus grande attention. Cette pensée s’enquiert du mode le plus propre sur lequel l’homme peut exister. Cet enjeu apparaît au cours de l’investigation phénoménologique par laquelle Heidegger cherche à mettre au jour le sens de “être” qui sous-tend la philosophie comme métaphysique, à savoir : l’“être” comme présence constante. (...) Or cette signification temporelle de “être” conduit Heidegger à un questionnement portant sur le temps comme sens de “être” (où le terme “sens” signifie ce par quoi l’être de ce qui est s’ouvre et devient compréhensible pour nous) et, ensuite, à un questionnement incessant portant sur les phénomènes dans lesquels peut consister ce sens, soit l’ouverture de l’être lui-même. -/- Notre propos est de montrer que l’ouverture de l’être implique la prise en charge de cette ouverture par l’homme, soit précisément son habiter dans celle-ci. L’ouverture de l’être implique en effet l’ouverture de l’homme à l’égard de cet être, c.-à-d. son entente (toujours affectivement disposée) de l’être de ce qui est en son ensemble, soit aussi bien de l’être de l’étant qu’il est lui-même, que de l’être de l’étant qu’il n’est pas lui-même. Or, cette ouverture ententive (et affective) à l’être, est ce qui vaut à l’homme d’être nommé Da-sein (l’étant qui est – transitivement et “activement” – le « là » (Da), c.-à-d. l’espace ouvert pour l’être). Cette ouverture n’est pas un simple état acquis une fois pour toutes. Elle n’a lieu que dans la mesure où l’homme, se laissant requérir par l’ouverture de l’être lui-même, la tient ek-statiquement ouverte. Le mode d’être du Da-sein, que Heidegger appelle son ek-sistence, réside en cette tenue ek-statique du Da-sein dans l’ouverture de l’être de ce qui est en son ensemble. Or s’il est vrai que l’homme est redevable, quant à son ouverture propre, à l’ouverture de l’être lui-même, la réciproque est vraie aussi : c’est en vertu de l’ouverture ek-statique de l’homme en tant que Da-sein à l’égard de l’être, que cet être se maintient et demeure en son ouverture, voire vient à trouver une demeure pour celle-ci. L’habiter est donc doublement transitif : il est, à la fois, l’habiter ek-statique (transitif et actif) de l’homme en tant que Da-sein dans l’ouverture de l’être, et l’habiter (lui aussi transitif) de l’être lui-même, c.-à-d. la venue (requérante) de l’être à sa demeure dans notre habiter en son espace ouvert. Cette double transitivité est l’enjeu de la pensée que Heidegger consacre à l’habiter de l’homme. Dans Être et Temps, Heidegger aborde cette double transitivité à partir de l’ek-sistence de l’homme en tant que Da-sein. Dès les Apports à la philosophie, il l’aborde à partir de l’être lui-même en quête de sa demeure, qui réside dans l’habiter de l’homme. Notons que l’homme, dans la mesure où, en tant que Da-sein, il habite – le tenant par là ouvert – l’espace ouvert de l’être, en vient à être proprement libre : il a alors en effet son séjour « dans le libre » (im Freien), c.-à-d. dans l’espace libre de l’être – comme l’indique le mot wohnen, qui en son sens originel (*wunjan apparenté à Wonne), signifie “demeurer libre et sauf”. (shrink)

What have been the geographical consequences of the restrictive policies due to the Covid-19 pandemic? Has there been a transformation of ordinary spaces into spaces of exception, by virtue of a sanitary emergency and the policies adopted to contrast it? These topics have been only partially debated: the object of analysis that this article intends to focus on is precisely the link that seems to connect the emergency condition deriving from the Covid-19 pandemic and the creation of spaces of emergency (...) or exception deriving from “social distancing” policies, from generalized closures, from restrictive policies, from State control that has poured into a control of everyday places and a redefinition of individual and collective borders and geographies. Starting from the philosophical-political reflections proposed by Carl Schmitt, Clinton L. Rossiter and Giorgio Agamben about the “state of exception” – which according to some authors would define the current reality, while according to others it would not coincide with what has been experi-enced in recent years –, in this contribution a consequentiality between the politi-cal and geographical plan is proposed, trying to catch a glimpse the signs of the Italian political reality in the pandemic period in the light of the theories on the state of exception and the related geographical consequences, linking the theo-retical and practical dimensions, experienced and perceived. (shrink)

The new edition of this manual brings together a decade's teaching in bioethics. It confronts new questions and monitors the latest far reaching experiments, whose results and publications need to be properly understood.

"_On Friendship_, with its total of one hundred sayings, is the perfect gift for friends."—Feng Yingjing, renowned scholar and civic official, 1601 Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) is best known as the Italian Jesuit missionary who brought Christianity to China. He also published a landmark text on friendship—the first book to be written in Chinese by a European—that instantly became a late Ming best seller. _On Friendship_ distilled the best ideas on friendship from Renaissance Latin texts into one hundred pure and (...) provocative Chinese maxims. Written in a masterful classical style, Ricci's sayings established his reputation as a great sage and the sentiments still ring true. Available for the first time in English, _On Friendship_ matches a carefully edited Chinese text with a facing-page English translation and includes notes on sources and biographical, historical, and cultural information. Still admired in China for its sophistication and inspirational wisdom, _On Friendship_ is a delightful cross-cultural work by a crucial and fascinating historical figure. It is also an excellent tool for learning Chinese, pairing a superb model of the classical language with an accessible and accurate translation. (shrink)

Treatise on political power, statecraft, and the qualities of the ideal ruler.

Medical discoveries have led to an unprecedented level of competence in the field, but it is as if the patient is finding it increasingly difficult to get the right holistic care. Medicine must be put on a path towards being humanised.

Ninety-one right brain-damaged patients with left neglect and 43 right brain-damaged patients without neglect were asked to extend horizontal segments, either left- or rightward, starting from their right or left endpoints, respectively. Earlier experiments based on similar tasks had shown, in left neglect patients, a tendency to overextend segments toward the left side. This seemingly paradoxical phenomenon was held to undermine current explanations of unilateral neglect. The results of the present extensive research demonstrate that contralesional overextension is also evident in (...) most right brain-damaged patients without contralesional neglect. Furthermore, they show that in a minority of left neglect patients, the opposite behavior, i.e., right overextension can be found. The paper also reports the results of correlational analyses comprising the parameters of line-extension, line-bisection, and cancellation tasks, as well as the parameters relative to the Milner Landmark Task, by which a distinction is drawn between perceptual and response biases in unilateral neglect. A working hypothesis is then advanced about the brain dysfunction underlying neglect and an attempt is made at finding an explanation of neglect and the links between the mechanisms of space representation and consciousness through the study of the changes induced by unilateral brain lesions in the characteristics of space-coding neurons. Abbreviations: C, control group;GN+91,full group of neglect patients;GN+27,group of neglect patients with relative left overextension;GN+14,group of neglect patients with relative right overextension;GN-43,full group of non-neglect patients;GN-9,group of non-neglect patients with relative left overextension; H canc, H cancellation task; LE, left extension; LE/RE, ratio of left-right extension; N+, neglect patients; N-, non-neglect patients; PB Land-M, perceptual bias on Landmark motor task; PB Land-V, perceptual bias on Landmark verbal task; RB Land-M, response bias on Landmark motor task; RB Land-V, response bias on Landmark verbal task; RE, right extension. (shrink)

This article, originally a preface to the French edition of Carl Schmitt’s book The Leviathan in the State theory of Thomas Hobbes, displays a critical analysis that not only puts the above work in context, but also raises a question about Schmitt’s appropriation of Hobbes, an author who was considered a beacon of light by the former during his whole lifetime. Thus, the article undertakes a reconstitution of Schmitt´s relevance for Political Theory and Philosophy in recent years, and then develops (...) the way Hobbes was analysed in Schmitt´s essay. The interpretation of the Jurist is not innocent at all, and the propinquity to the English author in some issues could have allowed the former to reinforce his own arguments by using the latter as a mere strategic tool. The key question the article tries to elucidate is whether this re-appropriation was successful or not. (shrink)

The hypothesis that this paper seeks to propose is that, despite all the difficulties for its conceptualization, Bataille postulates that the community is, after all, possible. To do this, we will seek to study the place of the community in Bataille's thought, a place that is not precisely identifiable at all, but rather is scattered throughout his work at different points. Thus, we will try, in the first instance, to analyze how a lost community appears in the French philosopher, in (...) order to, in a second place, investigate what was the - misguided - fascist response to that fact, and, finally, outline how it could erect a proactive model of community according to Bataille. (shrink)

Character education is an increasingly discussed topic drawing upon virtue ethics as a moral theory. Scholars have predominantly understood educating character as a process that entails the formation of certain distinct character traits or functions through practice and habituation. However, these approaches present some problems. This paper explores the educational implications of various accounts focusing on the relationship between phronesis and other virtues. In particular, our focus will be on those that Miller (2023) has classified as Standard Model and Eliminativist (...) Model of practical wisdom. Starting from these accounts, we will outline three specific problems that the latter models appear to generate at a theoretical level in character education. Finally, we will address the task of demonstrating why the monist account of moral virtue recently proposed by the Aretai group—which conceives being virtuous in possessing phronesis understood as ethical expertise—might offer a refined response to these challenges. In addition, we will illustrate three educational pathways that can emerge from the same model. (shrink)

De Bie et al. argued that the decision “to transfer the fetus to AWT falls under maternal autonomy” while “once the fetonate is being supported by AWT, decision making would become a shared parenta...