English summary: The conference papers collected in this volume focus on Platonism in the Byzantine Middle Ages and Italian Renaissance. Authors considered are Maximos and Psellos, as well as Nicolas Cusanus, the Florentine Platonics of the 15th century, up to Pico della Mirandola. German description: Zu den charakteristischen Aspekten der italienischen Renaissance gehort ein esoterisch gepragter Platonismus, der wesentlich auf Vorlaufern im byzantinischen Mittelalter beruht. Von besonderer Bedeutung sind dabei die Chaldaeischen Orakel und der Hermetismus; weiterhin treten neben die Hinwendung (...) zur Weisheit des alten Agypten vielfaltige Varianten des Interesses an Platonismus und Esoterik. Diese Themen, dazu Phanomene der spateren Rezeptionsgeschichte bis in die Zeit der Aufklarung, waren Gegenstand einer Tagung, die vom 19. bis 23. Juli 2010 in Frankfurt am Main stattfand. Die im vorliegenden Sammelband enthaltenen Beitrage gehen auf diese Veranstaltung zuruck. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei aus byzantinischer Zeit Schriften des Maximos und des Psellos, aus der Renaissance Texte von Nikolaus von Kues und den Florentiner Platonikern des fruhen 15. Jahrhunderts bis zu Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Weitere Beitrage gelten Malerei (Benozzo Gozzoli), Architektur (Leon Battista Alberti, Filarete) und dem Interesse an magischen Gemmen. Auf die spatere Rezeptionsgeschichte zielen Artikel zu Jean Le Clerc und den Freimaurern bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. (shrink)

Research in the field of management has increasingly focused on strategies and tools related to corporate sustainability. Of the tools examined, codes of ethics have been found to play a primary role. Many studies have investigated the content of such codes, as well as their capacity to condition the behaviour of people within organizations. However, few studies have considered the intrinsic quality of codes of ethics. This study aims to investigate the impact that specific factors—firm size, degree of internationalization and (...) industry effect—can have on the quality of codes of ethics. Based on a sample of 248 listed Italian companies, the results of the empirical analysis show that the quality standard is particularly high in larger companies and in those firms operating in industries in which relationships established with critical stakeholders—and disclosure to those stakeholders—play a crucial role. These results have interesting implications for both researchers and practitioners. (shrink)

The paper reconstructs the concept of culture that emerges from Heinrich Rickert?s neo-Kantianism, uncovering its major historical-problematic, methodological, and philosophical implications. The central theme of the first section is the idea that modern culture is uniquely characterized by?fragmentation?. It also unpacks the programme of Rickert?s philosophy of culture, which pursues the task of reconstructing the lost unity of culture. The second section explains the methodological implications of the problematic relationship between value and reality established in cultural goods and evaluations. Finally, (...) the third section reconstructs the Rickertian system of values, with its peculiar effort to reconcile historicity and value absoluteness. The last part develops a critical discussion of the Rickertian project. (shrink)

Euler developed a program which aimed to transform analysis into an autonomous discipline and reorganize the whole of mathematics around it. The implementation of this program presented many difficulties, and the result was not entirely satisfactory. Many of these difficulties concerned the integral calculus. In this paper, we deal with some topics relevant to understand Euler’s conception of analysis and how he developed and implemented his program. In particular, we examine Euler’s contribution to the construction of differential equations and his (...) notion of indefinite integrals and general integrals. We also deal with two remarkable difficulties of Euler’s program. The first concerns singular integrals, which were considered as paradoxical by Euler since they seemed to violate the generality of certain results. The second regards the explicitly use of the geometric representation and meaning of definite integrals, which was gone against his program. We clarify the nature of these difficulties and show that Euler never thought that they undermined his conception of mathematics and that a different foundation was necessary for analysis. (shrink)

Theoria, Volume 88, Issue 4, Page 733-742, August 2022.

In this paper, I will defend a communitarian perspective on the so-called “hinge propositions” (hinges, for short). Accordingly, I will argue that hinges play a normative role, in the sense that, among other things, they govern the mechanisms of social inclusion/exclusion. In particular, I will examine the so-called “religious hinges”; and I will argue that such hinges, being the product of mere indoctrination, are particularly effective in shaping boundaries among communities. Finally, with the help of Peter Munz's theory of altruism, (...) I will attempt to explain why religious hinges play the role they do. (shrink)

Riassunto: Questo lavoro sviluppa due elementi, apparentemente lontani, ma per alcuni aspetti non secondari, convergenti. Per un verso l’attenzione è rivolta all’origine delle regole che disciplinano il comportamento sociale umano, oltrepassando le regole di matrice istituzionale e convenzionale, che sono spesso considerate le più nobili e le più umane, nel tentativo di far affiorare le regole più remote del nostro agire, legate al patrimonio genetico degli individui della nostra specie, al parlamento dei nostri istinti, sviluppatisi durante l’evoluzione filogenetica. Lungo questo (...) primo tratto del percorso l’articolo fa riferimento in particolare al pensiero di Konrad Lorenz e della sua scuola. Per altro verso, si seguono le tracce del pensiero etico di Lévinas, soffermandosi su alcuni punti fondamentali: il volto dell’altro, la passività, la responsabilità, al fine di porre in evidenza come tra il filosofo e l’etologo, pur nelle evidenti differenze di linguaggio, di approccio e di orizzonti, siano ravvisabili tratti e conclusioni comuni. Parole chiave: Alterità; Relazione; Istinto; Etica; Responsabilità Autrui: Ethics and anthropology in Lévinas: This paper moves along two seemingly distant paths, that turn out to converge in some significant ways. The first path leads us to the origin of what are often considered the most noble and essentially human principles that regulate our social behaviour, going beyond institutional and conventional norms. This allows us to highlight the deepest and most evolutionarily remote rules of human behaviour, related to our genetic code and instincts, which developed over phylogenetic evolution. As we move along this first path, we pay special attention to the work of Konrad Lorenz and his school. The second path follows the traces of Lévinas’ ethical thought, dwelling on some fundamental issues: the face of the other, passivity, and responsibility, and helps us shed light on some ideas and conclusions that are common to the philosopher and the ethologist, despite their clear differences in language, approach, and horizons. We hope this will show how the insights of each can be used to support of the theories of the other. Keywords: Otherness: relationship; Instinct; Ethics; Responsibility. (shrink)

In this article, we shall study the mechanism of the Shroud body image formation with the help of both natural sciences and religion. The various possibilities can be divided into three groups of hypothesis: the first one is that of the fake, the second is the miracle and the third one of the natural event. The first hypothesis is discarded by the interdisciplinary work of the STURP team. Their results do not support the hypothesis that the blood stains and the (...) body image are due to a forger. In our opinion, even if the Miracle by God is possible, the proposed hypotheses of the supernatural event are theologically unacceptable. So, the natural one remains well supported by the “Ockham’s razor”. Obviously, this last model must be verified by experimental evidence. However, this result is not contrary to the hypothesis that the body image is the one of the Nazarene. (shrink)

As Professor of Theoretical Medicine for Surgeons at Padua University between 1824 and 1849, Giacomini achieved a position of great academic professionalism and prestige, not only in Padua, but throughout Italy and Europe. His fundamental medical thesis became part of the established field of medical practise that existed into the first decades of the 19th century. This thesis, derived directly from a vitalistic concept of biological phenomena, was based on the existence of a 'life force' that is distinct from the (...) forces of physical-chemistry, having its own specific laws, contrary to those of physical-chemistry. Using this concept Giacomini was able to distinguish two causes of death: mechanical illness and dynamic illness. The nosographic and therapeutic beliefs of Giacomini were based on his distinction between the 'mechanical' or 'dynamic' effects of drugs. Giacomini's medical philosophy is the result of an interweaving of scientific theories and metaphysical ideas. The merits and limits of this philosophy must be analysed in the light of modern epistemology to explain why Giacomini was unable to develop fully clinical anatomy. (shrink)

Exploration into the concept, origins and meaning of place, taking Delphi, Rome and Jerusalem as principle examples.

Cross-temporal grounding is a type of grounding whereby present facts about the past (for example that Caesar was alive) are explained in terms of past facts (for example that Caesar is alive) rather than in terms of other present facts. This paper lays the foundations for a theory of cross-temporal grounding. After introducing the general idea of a type of grounding connecting facts to past facts, we offer two arguments that past-directed facts require cross-temporal grounds—the ‘argument from intimacy’ and the (...) ‘argument from past explanation’. We then go on to show that cross-temporal grounding statements can be understood as instances of a type of explanation which is perfectly legitimate and intelligible, even if somewhat unusual. Finally, we explain how the logic of grounding can be extended to accommodate cross-temporal grounding statements. (shrink)

The theologians of the late German Enlightenment saw in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason a new rational defence of their Christian faith. In fact, Kant's critical theory of meaning and moral law totally subverted the spirit of that faith. This challenging new study examines the contribution made by the Critique of Pure Reason to this change of meaning. George di Giovanni stresses the revolutionary character of Kant's critical thought but also reveals how this thought was being held hostage to (...) unwarranted metaphysical assumptions that caused much confusion and rendered the First Critique vulnerable to being reabsorbed into modes of thought typical of Enlightenment popular philosophy. Amongst the striking features of this book are nuanced interpretations of Jacobi and Reinhold, a lucid exposition of Fichte's early thought, and a rare, detailed account of Enlightenment popular philosophy. (shrink)

"The Quattrocento Dialogue" discussed by David Marsh was produced by Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, Lorenzo Valla, Leon Battista Alberti, and Giovanni Pontano. Their dialogues "examine philosophical questions in a contemporary setting," and since that setting is one of emerging modernity, the development of the genre of dialogue "illustrates the development of emerging modern thought". Marsh’s book is a mixture of intellectual and literary history, unburdened or unenlivened with fashionable theorizing, and directed more toward establishing the existence of a (...) genre of Quattrocento dialogue than toward defining modernity. (shrink)

Ce texte est le chapitre II de l'ouvrage de G. Gasparini, Tempi e ritmi nella società del Duemila, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2009. Nous remercions Giovanni Gasparini et les éditions FrancoAngeli de nous avoir autorisé à le reproduire ici. La cultura temporale La velocità è uno dei tratti-chiave e degli aspetti più caratteristici e pervasivi delle società industrializzate. In qualunque modo si vogliano definire tali società, la velocità di svolgimento raggiunta nelle operazioni, negli spostamenti e (...) - Sociologie – Nouvel article.

Ce texte est issu d'un atelier transdisciplinaire tenu à l'Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Dipartimento di Sociologia – Gruppo Interstizi & Intersezioni – Milano – 22/04/2010. Il a déjà paru dans NewsMAGAZINE, n° 18, estate 2010. On en trouvera également une version un peu différente dans le fichier ci-joint. Nous remercions Giovanni Gasparini de nous avoir autorisé à le reproduire ici. Quella valanga d'avvenimenti simultanei che chiamiamo l'universo non travolge il fortunato che sa (...) - Sociologie – Nouvel (...) article. (shrink)

In his writings about hypergeometric functions Gauss succeeded in moving beyond the restricted domain of eighteenth-century functions by changing several basic notions of analysis. He rejected formal methodology and the traditional notions of functions, complex numbers, infinite numbers, integration, and the sum of a series. Indeed, he thought that analysis derived from a few, intuitively given notions by means of other well-defined concepts which were reducible to intuitive ones. Gauss considered functions to be relations between continuous variable quantities while he (...) regarded integration and summation as appropriate operations with limits. He also regarded infinite and infinitesimal numbers as a façon de parler and used inequalities in order to prove the existence of certain limits. He took complex numbers to have the same legitimacy as real quantities. However, Gauss’s continuum was linked to a revised form of the eighteenth-century notion of continuous quantity: it was not reducible to a set of numbers but was immediately given. (shrink)

This paper deals with two important English scientists of the first half of the twentieth century: Edward Arthur Milne and James Hopwood Jeans. It examines the philosophical reasons that, in 1932, induced Milne to devote himself to the newborn modern cosmology. Among those reasons, it is argued that the most important ones were some of Jeans’ philosophical statements regarding the new relativistic view of the expanding universe. In particular, Milne reacted to some confusing idealist opinions expressed by Jeans in the (...) London newspaper The Times, in May 1932, in a debate on the expansion of the universe. Actually, as it will be shown, Jeans received many criticisms about the philosophical reasonings present in all of his popularizing works. (shrink)

The paper explores Kant’s attitude toward existence in the Critique of Pure Reason. It has two main goals: first, it argues that Kant’s criticisms of the ontological argument might be vitiated by an ambivalence toward existence, and then it attempts to provide a solution to the ambivalence in question. Finally, since my reading of Kant assumes that for him, existence is governed by the rule of existential generalization, I also prove the following biconditional: existence is not a real predicate i (...) existential generalization is valid. (shrink)

This article offers a reconstruction of Derrida’s critique of Leibniz. It suggests that in attempting to fit Leibniz into his conception of the history of metaphysics and the all-embracing notion of logocentrism that underwrites it, Derrida presupposes two regimes of logocentrism: one subjective, the other theological. Subsumed into this second mode, Derrida casts Leibniz as a progenitor of structuralism and the new sciences and technologies of information in order to expose their logocentric foundations. However, in doing so, he ends up (...) sidelining the aspect of Leibniz’s ideas that anticipates the specificity of the new epoch of writing he claims to historicise. The article goes on to argue that to grasp this specificity one must look beyond the “expressivist” schema of exterior representation, which Derrida draws from Husserl’s theory of meaning, and instead look to Leibniz’s own formal-combinatorial concept of expression, which exceeds Derrida’s critical framework. (shrink)