This article discusses women's positions in higher education in Europe and compares these with a case study analysis of senior women at one `new' UK university. The study comprises interview data from 22 senior women in both academic schools and departments and in functional departments. The main findings include substantial differences between younger and older women in their career progression. While for both groups having children was a major in uence, the older women, especially the academics, had to weave their (...) career developments around those of their husbands and caring for their children. Nevertheless, they displayed strong entrepreneurial tendencies, becoming highly skilled at spotting and seizing opportunities. The younger women were more selfconfident in a `postfeminist' period where young women often assume equality has been achieved and material support systems such as childcare is well established. In contrast with the older women, they fitted their family lives around their careers. Balancing their gender had become central to both their private and their work lives. The older women were sensitive to the subtle homosocial culture, attitudes and norms in the university, while the younger women relied more on a meritocratic approach to their careers, and were seemingly less aware of the institutional gendered power relations. Neither group showed signs of collective working or networking in the interests of themselves or women generally in the university. These characteristics imply that while the proportion of senior women may continue to increase, the strongly gendered culture is less likely to be challenged. (shrink)

Benjamin does not see or does not want to see the new “aura” that makes the art of cinema “art” which stays as the central feature of the totally renewed statute of artistic activity in the age of mechanical reproduction. In his essay of 1936, Benjamin acquires the arguments of all those authors who, between the first and second decades of the Twentieth century, had described this art and his new aura: Paul Valéry, George Duhamel, Léon Pierre-Quint, Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt (...) Brecht, Rudolph Arnheim. It is an art for the mass that has a positive but also negative side in individual perception. Benjamin considers the new man – be it mass-man (the audience) or man-tool – recruitable for a coming revolution, but at the end of the essay he raises a question concerning the whole of contemporary art from the Dada movement to the present time: how could this completely renovated art possibly escape exploitation by those who produce it and drive it since then? (shrink)

Benjamin does not see or does not want to see the new “aura” that makes the art of cinema “art” which stays as the central feature of the totally renewed statute of artistic activity in the age of mechanical reproduction. In his essay of 1936, Benjamin acquires the arguments of all those authors who, between the first and second decades of the Twentieth century, had described this art and his new aura: Paul Valéry, George Duhamel, Léon Pierre-Quint, Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt (...) Brecht, Rudolph Arnheim. It is an art for the mass that has a positive but also negative side in individual perception. Benjamin considers the new man – be it mass-man (the audience) or man-tool – recruitable for a coming revolution, but at the end of the essay he raises a question concerning the whole of contemporary art from the Dada movement to the present time: how could this completely renovated art possibly escape exploitation by those who produce it and drive it since then? (shrink)

Psychology doesn’t seem to be really interested in the theme of gift; in the last decades it focus on the central role of recognition in the psyche building up. The authors underline Chiara Lubich’s original intuition linking profoundly the them of gift and recognition.

The genealogy of the Postumii Albini from the second half of the second century bce onwards is uncertain and debated. This article attempts a new discussion of the evidence. Its main contention is that A. Postumius Albinus, cos. 99, should be distinguished from the homonymous legate, brother of Sp. Postumius Albinus, cos. 110; that the two moneyers A. Postumii Albini were, in all likelihood, not directly related to each other and were probably sons of the last two consuls of the (...) family; and, as a consequence, that at least two lines of descent between the second and the first century bce can be discerned. On the basis of these results, a new stemma of the ancient patrician family of the Albini is put forward. (shrink)

This paper reconsiders the political facets and purposes of Caracalla's imitatio Alexandri and esteem for Sulla. Both emulations represented the result of a well-pondered political way of thinking and acting. On the one hand, Caracalla reclaimed the exemplum Sullanum displayed by his father, and sought to lead fruitfully the edgy relationships with the Roman political class also through the political role-model embodied by Sulla; on the other hand, by activating the cultural and historical heritage of Alexander in the hellenophone and (...) Near Eastern provinces, the Emperor aimed to interact effectively with the local communities, elites, and populations. (shrink)

La presse italienne a suivi de très près l'agonie et la mort du pape Jean-Paul II. Il s'agit certainement de l'événement le plus médiatisé depuis les attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001. Les quatre titres italiens, malgré leur positionnement politique différent, analysent l'événement avec le même degré de dramatisation et d'intensité. Ils proposent un récit fortement sentimental à travers le recours à un langage émotionnel, à des images touchantes ou, encore, à une mise en page spécifique. Les thèmes qui reviennent (...) le plus souvent font appel au caractère et au charisme de Jean-Paul II, à son recours aux médias dans le but de véhiculer le message chrétien. Son rapport avec les jeunes est également un des sujets privilégiés par la presse italienne, pour cela son Pontificat est qualifié de révolutionnaire. Si les quatre quotidiens italiens étudiés proposent une analyse similaire, à travers leur récit d'un « événement d'émotion planétaire », des différences persistent. S'adressant à un public spécifique, chaque titre emploie son propre langage, il renvoie à des références précises et touche des sensibilités diverses. Malgré une uniformisation substantielle, le clivage droite-gauche semble persister.The Italian press has closely followed the agony and death of Pope John Paul II. It is certainly the most publicized event since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The four Italian titles, despite their different political positions, analyze the event with the same degree of intensity and drama. They offer a highly sentimental story through the use of emotional language, images or touching, even to a specific layout. The themes that recur most often involve the character and charisma of John Paul II, in his use of the media in order to convey the Christian message. His relationship with young people is also one of the subjects favored by the Italian press for his pontificate that is called revolutionary. If the four studied Italian newspapers offer a similar analysis, through their narrative of a "global event emotion", differences persist. Addressing a specific audience, each title uses its own language, it refers to specific references and touches different sensibilities. Despite a substantial uniformity, the left-right divide seems to persist. (shrink)

La sociologie classique a utilisé la notion d’ambivalence sociale pour désigner la combinaison, nécessaire, mais chargée de conflit, entre l’obéissance aux normes et la volonté d’affirmer sa liberté. Il faut distinguer cette notion de celle d’ambivalence culturelle, qui désigne la nécessité de suivre à la fois des exigences culturelles opposées, en particulier dans un rapport majorité/minorité. La figure de l’étranger dessinée par Georg Simmel est l’exemple type de cette ambivalence, source de frustrations, mais qui néanmoins représente la moins mauvaise solution (...) possible. Après des siècles de raisonnements fondés sur la notion « ou... ou », nous ressentons la nécessité de nous placer en situation d’ambivalence.The notion of sociological ambivalence has been widely used to refer to the conflict-permeated combination of compliance with norms and search for individual autonomy. We must draw a distinction between this kind of ambivalence and a cultural ambivalence relating to the coexistence of two cultures to be inevitably found in a majority/minority relationship. The figure of the stranger designed by Georg Simmel is a classical example of this ambivalence, which induces frustrations, but represents the most acceptable solution possible. After centuries of dialectical thinking of the « either-or » type, we feel the urge to put ourselves in a situation of ambivalence. (shrink)

The present work aims to underline the role played by cultural variables on the development of social processes, both at micro and macro-social level. Specifically, I want to focus on the role played by the philosophical current of Confucianism in the process of medernization of Japan, which shows how the cultural aspects, both in terms of intenalized values, both in the form of cultural norms and models approved by the group have influence on the development of social processes. Japanese society (...) has succeeded in renconciling the fundamental elements of the confucian tradition with the modernization, elements that represent a variable that has turned out to be of significant importance in the process of development of Japan. (shrink)

Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children’s recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children’s exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (N = 38) and Brazil (N = 41). Brazil represented longer mask exposure due to a stricter mandate during COVID-19. Children had to choose a face displaying (...) a specific emotion (happy, angry, or sad) when the face wore either no cover, a facial mask, or sunglasses. The longer hours of mask exposure were associated with better emotion recognition. Controlling for the hours of exposure, children were less likely to recognise emotions in partially hideen faces. Moreover, Brazilian children were more accurate in recognising happy faces than Swiss children. Overall, facial masks may negatively impact children’s emotion recognition. However, prolonged exposure appears to buffer the lack of facial cues from the nose and mouth. In conclusion, restricting facial cues due to masks may impair kindergarten children’s emotion recognition in the short run. However, it may facilitate their broader reading of facial emotional cues in the long run. (shrink)

An Ax-Kochen-Ershov principle for intermediate structures between valued groups and valued fields. We will consider structures that we call valued B-groups and which are of the form $\langle G, B, *, v\rangle$ where - G is an abelian group, - B is an ordered group, - v is a valuation defined on G taking its values in B, - * is an action of B on G satisfying: ∀ x ∈ G ∀ b ∈ B v(x * b) = v(x) (...) · b. The analysis of Kaplanski for valued fields can be adapted to our context and allows us to formulate an Ax-Kochen-Ershov principle for valued B-groups: we axiomatise those which are in some sense existentially closed and also obtain many of their model-theoretical properties. Let us mention some applications: 1. Assume that v(x) = v(nx) for every integer n ≠ 0 and x ∈ G, B is solvable and acts on G in such a way that, for the induced action, $\mathbb{Z}[B] \setminus \{0\}$ embeds in the automorphism group of G. Then $\langle G, B, *, v\rangle$ is decidable if and only if B is decidable as an ordered group. 2. Given a field k and an ordered group B, we consider the generalised power series field k((B)) endowed with its canonical valuation. We consider also the following structure: $\mathbf{M} = \langle k((B))_+, S, v, \times \upharpoonright_{k((B))\times S}\rangle,$ where k((B)) + is the additive group of k((B)), S is a unary predicate interpreting ${T^b| b \in B}$ , and $\times \upharpoonright_{k((B))\times S}$ is the multiplication restricted to k((B))× S, structure which is a reduct of the valued field k((B)) with its canonical cross section. Then our result implies that if B is solvable and decidable as an ordered group, then M is decidable. 3. A valued B-group has a residual group and our Ax-Kochen-Ershov principle remains valid in the context of expansions of residual group and value group. In particular, by adding a residual order we obtain new examples of solvable ordered groups having a decidable theory. (shrink)

1. Filosofia in età antica -- 2. Filosofia in età medievale e rinascimentale -- 3. Filosofia in età moderna -- 4. Filosofia in età contemporanea.