The present paper sets out to counter the claim put forward by British philosopher of mind, Robert Kirk, according to which Sartre's notion of consciousness as for-itself, while offering some valuable insights regarding human existence, nonetheless fails to engage with the problem of how to establish the existence of such conscious beings on philosophical grounds. To the extent that it succeeds in meeting the challenge raised by Kirk's comment, the reading of Being and Nothingness offered here could be considered as (...) fulfilling a twofold aim. Firstly, it offers an answer to the problem of other minds which is construed on the basis of Sartre's ontological work, thus contributing to a still open debate in the scholarly literature devoted to Sartre's thought. Secondly, it illustrates one way in which a specific problem which is amply discussed among contemporary philosophers of mind could be tackled from within a conceptual framework rooted in the continental tradition of philosophy. (shrink)

Spectroscopy is a scientific topic at the interface between Chemistry and Physics, which is taught at high school level in relation with its fundamental applications in Analytical Chemistry. In the first part of the paper, the topic of spectroscopy is analyzed having in mind the well-known Johnstone’s triangle of chemistry education, putting in evidence the way spectroscopy is usually taught at the three levels of chemical knowledge: macroscopic/phenomenological, sub-microscopic/molecular and symbolic ones. Among these three levels, following Johnstone’s recommendations the macroscopic (...) one is the most useful for high school students who learn spectroscopy for the first time. Starting from these premises, in the second part of the paper, we propose a didactic sequence which is inspired by the historical evolution of spectroscopic instruments from the first spectroscopes invented by Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen in 1860 to the UV–vis spectrophotometers which became common since the 1960s. The idea behind our research is to analyze the conceptual advancements through the history of spectroscopy and to identify the key episodes/experiments and spectroscopic instruments. For each of them, a didactic activity, typically an experiment, is then proposed underlining the relevant aspects from the chemistry education point of view. The present paper is the occasion to reflect on the potentialities of an historical approach combined with a laboratorial one, and to discuss the role of historical instruments and related technological improvements to teach spectroscopy. (shrink)

The image of wine has a “spiritual sense”, which helps the faithful to understand the principles of their belief. Its mystery is connected with the theme of “sober inebriation”, developed by Philo of Alexandria and Origen, and culminating in Ambrose. The good wines that the bride enjoys before the groom’s arrival are a symbol of the good doctrines of the OT, whose teachings are however inferior to the revelation of the incarnate Christ. Good, sweet wine, meanwhile, refers to the doctrines (...) of the NT interpreted spiritually, the logos that helps us begin to know Christ, to bind ourselves to him in ecclesial unity and to love our neighbour. It also leads us to the “winepress”, i.e. renouncing superfluous land, becoming “full of must” and inebriated, so that we can dedicate ourselves to contemplation. The vine has a Christological value and catechetical function, dating back to John 15.1, which is often quoted with Saint Paul. The place where the vine is born and develops is the soul; the Logos supports its flowering in those who, by their free will, choose to flourish. The cluster of grapes refers to Christ, or to the victory of the righteous; the many grapes that he contains are believers. The vineyard is a symbol of the church formed by the pagans, of the commandments of God, or of the good things that God gave to man, who did not preserve them, having been stripped of them by the devil. The guardians of the vineyard are angels or priests. (shrink)

Gregory of Nyssa’s bearing in Qohelet 3:5b to wealth, rather than to the matrimonial “embrace”, is unusual by comparison withother ancient exegeses; it seems to be motivated not only by the acoluthia which characterizes his spiritual interpretation of the passage Qo. 3:2-8, but also by the crucial importance he gives to catharsis, as one the qualities he considered necessary for the exegete.

In 1930, in Anfänge der bürgerlichen Geschichtsphilosophie, Horkheimer analyzes utopia in bourgeois philosophy of history and identifies two aspects: the criticism of what is, and the representation of what should be. Utopia therefore plays a revolutionary role in history. In 1937, in Traditionelle und kritische Theorie, Horkheimer changes opinion. Utopia is criticized as misleading, acquiescent to reality. In later writings, in a pessimistic view, the Director of the Frankfurt School describes contemporary society as a dystopia.

Through the analysis of Mariano Campo’s published works and thanks to further insights offered by some unpublished manuscripts, the profile of a philosopher is outlined, whose main interest, throughout his academic and research activity, has been aesthetics. More specifically, Campo has focused on the centrality of feelings to human aesthetic experience: it is through feeling that we experience a transfiguration of reality, which happens paradigmatically when, in front of an artwork, we appreciate it as an integral whole, a totality.

The object of this paper is to demonstrate the philological relation between justice, law and equality in ancient Greek or, that is the same, the philosophical relation between ethics, politics and economics. Actually it is interesting to examine the etymology of the word dikē which derives from the Sanskrit diś-(dik) and it refers more than to the generic idea of the «straight line» to the specific and astronomical concept of the «horizon (or skyline)», the apparent line that separates the cosmos (...) into two equal parts, the earth from the sky, meaning the same idea of equality which should be a rule of just law and ethical perfection. Moreover, according to my hypothesis Plato may have used the analogy of the horizon to explain his cosmological Doctrine of Ideas. (shrink)

In this case report, we studied Theory of Mind and figurative language comprehension in a 7.2-year-old child, conventionally named RJ, with isolated and complete agenesis of the corpus callosum, a rare malformation due to the absence of the corpus callosum, the major tract connecting the two brain hemispheres. To study ToM, which is the capability to infer the other’s mental states, we used the classical false belief tasks, and to study figurative language, i.e., those linguistic usages involving non-literal meanings, we (...) used tasks assessing metaphor and idiom comprehension. RJ’s intellectual level and his phonological, lexical, and grammatical abilities were all adequate. In both the ToM false belief tasks and novel sensory metaphor comprehension, RJ showed a delay of 3 years and a significant gap compared to a typically developing control group, while in idioms, his performance was at the border of average. These outcomes suggest that RJ has a specific pragmatic difficulty in all tasks where he must interpret the other’s communicative intention, as in ToM tasks and novel sensory metaphor comprehension. The outcomes also open up interesting insights into the relationships between ToM and figurative language in children with isolated and complete ACC. (shrink)

BackgroundCollecting post-mortem brain tissue is essential, especially from healthy “control” individuals, to advance knowledge on increasingly common neurological and mental disorders. Yet, healthy individuals, on which this study is focused, are still understudied. The aim of the study was to explore, among healthy potential brain donors and/or donors’ relatives, attitude, concerns and opinion about post-mortem brain donation (PMBD).MethodsA convenience sampling of the general population (twins and their non-twin contacts) was adopted. From June 2018 to February 2019, 12 focus groups were (...) conducted in four Italian cities: Milan, Turin, Rome and Naples, stratified according to twin and non-twin status. A qualitative content analysis was performed with both deductive and inductive approaches. Emotional interactions analysis corroborated results.ResultsOne hundred and three individuals (49–91 yrs of age) participated. Female were 60%. Participants had scarse knowledge regarding PMBD. Factors affecting attitude towards donation were: concerns, emotions, and misconceptions about donation and research. Religion, spirituality and secular attitude were implied, as well as trust towards research and medical institutions and a high degree of uncertainty about brain death ascertainment. Family had a very multifaceted central role in decision making. A previous experience with neurodegenerative diseases seems among factors able to favour brain donation.ConclusionsThe study sheds light on healthy individuals’ attitudes about PMBD. Brain had a special significance for participants, and the ascertainment of brain death was a source of debate and doubt. Our findings emphasise the importance of targeted communication and thorough information to promote this kind of donation, within an ethical framework of conduct. Trust in research and health professionals emerged as an essential factor for a collaborative attitude towards donation and informed decision making in PMBD. (shrink)

BackgroundThe measures taken to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, such as the lockdown in Italy, do impact psychological health; yet, less is known about their effect on cognitive functioning. The transactional theory of stress predicts reciprocal influences between perceived stress and cognitive performance. However, the effects of a period of stress due to social isolation on spatial cognition and exploration have been little examined. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible effects and impact of the (...) COVID-19 pandemic on spatial cognition tasks, particularly those concerning spatial exploration, and the physiological leftward bias known as pseudoneglect. A right-hemisphere asymmetry for spatial attention processes crucially contributes to pseudoneglect. Other evidence indicates a predominantly right-hemisphere activity in stressful situations. We also analyzed the effects of lockdown on coping strategies, which typically show an opposite pattern of hemispheric asymmetry, favoring the left hemisphere. If so, then pseudoneglect should increase during the lockdown and be negatively correlated with the efficacy of coping strategies.MethodsOne week before the start of the lockdown due to COVID-19 in Italy, we had collected data from a battery of behavioral tests including tasks of peri-personal spatial cognition. During the quarantine period, from late April to early May 2020, we repeated the testing sessions with a subgroup of the same participants. At both testing sessions, participants performed digitized neuropsychological tests, including a Cancellation task, Radial Arm Maze task, and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices. Participants also completed a newly developed COVID-19 Student Stress Scale, based on transactional models of stress, and the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced—New Italian Version to assess coping orientation.ResultsThe tendency to start cancelation from a left-sided item, to explore first a left-sided arm of the maze, and to choose erroneous response items on the left side of the page on Raven’s matrices increased from T1 to T2. The degree of pseudoneglect increment positively correlated with perceived stress and negatively correlated with Positive Attitude and Problem-Solving COPE-NIV subscales.ConclusionLockdown-related stress may have contributed to increase leftward bias during quarantine through a greater activation of the right hemisphere. On the other hand, pseudoneglect was decreased for better coping participants, perhaps as a consequence of a more balanced hemispheric activity in these individuals. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event entailing long-term consequences on population health and welfare. Those who contracted the coronavirus may have suffered from both physical and mental health issues that unfold the need for tailored intervention strategies. Hence, our study aims to investigate the psychological and social consequences of COVID-19 on a sample of 86 participants, encompassing 43 patients recruited from Bari University Hospital, 19 of whom were hospitalized due to the disease. The remaining 43 were individuals not fallen (...) ill with COVID-19 to date. The investigation yielded significant gender differences in post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, and representation of interpersonal distance, evaluated through the IES-R, the BDI-II, and the IVAS task, respectively. This pattern of results was not replicated in the control group. In general, participants who reported having experienced the most intense post-traumatic symptoms also presented a greater mood deflection and, more specifically, within the clinical group women obtained the highest scores on both scales. Women reported higher IES-R and BDI-II scores compared to men, that could indicate that women who have contracted COVID-19 are more exposed to post-traumatic and depressive symptoms. Our results also showed a significant effect of COVID-19 on IPD with a tendency of disease-experienced individuals to increase their preferred IPD from adults, children, and elderly people. Regarding gender differences in mood and proxemic behavior, a correlation between depressive symptoms and probable PTSD and a further correlation between probable PTSD and greater IPD were found in women from both clinical and control group. Overall, these findings might contribute to a better understanding of gender-based implications of the current pandemic on mental health, also leading to the development of integrated yet personalized intervention strategies. (shrink)

Anders als die griechische und die römische Kunst hat die frühchristliche nur wenige Gesamtdarstellungen erhalten. Im deutschsprachigen Bereich ist hier die bereits 1958 erschienene „Frühchristliche Kunst“ von W.F. Volbach zu nennen oder den von B. Brenk herausgegebenen Band „Spätantike und frühes Christentum“, der 1977 veröffentlicht wurde und auch mehr als zwanzig Jahre nach seinem Erscheinen seinen Wert als Nachschlagewerk und einführende Literatur behalten hat. Von den Einführungen in die christliche Archäologie ist die Arbeit von P. Testini, Archeologia cristiana, 1980 in (...) zweiter Auflage erschienen und mit nur kleinen Abbildungen ausgestattet worden; das Werk von F.W. Deichmann, Archeologia cristiana, wurde erst in seiner italienischen Übersetzung, die 1993 in Rom publiziert wurde, mit Fotos und Plänen versehen. Der zu besprechende Band von Maria Antonietta Crippa und Mahmoud Zibawi ist in seiner Zielsetzung eher mit dem von Volbach zu vergleichen, der auf Anmerkungen verzichtet und mit großformatigen Fotos brilliert. Er richtet sich somit eher an ein breiteres, kulturell interessiertes und vorgebildetes Publikum, dem diese faszinierende Epoche in ihrer Breite und dem Glanz ihrer Denkmäler nahegebracht wird. Die Beschränkung auf wenige Anmerkungen ist bei dem Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung legitim, denn der Fachkollege kann einschlägige und neuere Literatur leicht selbst auffinden. Eine Bibliographie findet sich auf den S. 481–486, wobei deutschsprachige Literatur eher schwach vertreten ist – ein Umstand, den man nicht den beiden Autoren anlasten wird, sondern der eine allgemein verbreitete Erscheinung ist und Stoff zum Nachdenken geben sollte. (shrink)

L'auteure, italienne antifasciste dès l'adolescence, ne cache pas, dans son introduction, qu'elle écrit ce livre « comme un récit à deux miroirs ». Intriguée dans son enfance par le personnage de la « savante et poétesse...martyre de la liberté » dont une plaque conserve, à Rome, le souvenir, elle s'identifie largement, devenue adulte, à celle qui dirige et rédige à Naples, sous la Révolution, il Monitore napoletano. Peu connue en France, l'héroïne de la révolution napolitaine, marquis..

L'auteure, italienne antifasciste dès l'adolescence, ne cache pas, dans son introduction, qu'elle écrit ce livre « comme un récit à deux miroirs ». Intriguée dans son enfance par le personnage de la « savante et poétesse...martyre de la liberté » dont une plaque conserve, à Rome, le souvenir, elle s'identifie largement, devenue adulte, à celle qui dirige et rédige à Naples, sous la Révolution, il Monitore napoletano. Peu connue en France, l'héroïne de la révolution napolitaine, marquis...

L'auteure, italienne antifasciste dès l'adolescence, ne cache pas, dans son introduction, qu'elle écrit ce livre « comme un récit à deux miroirs ». Intriguée dans son enfance par le personnage de la « savante et poétesse...martyre de la liberté » dont une plaque conserve, à Rome, le souvenir, elle s'identifie largement, devenue adulte, à celle qui dirige et rédige à Naples, sous la Révolution, il Monitore napoletano. Peu connue en France, l'héroïne de la révolution napolitaine, marquis...

The focus of the study is (§ 1) the analysis of an inscribed bronze spherule discovered in the temenos on the Piano di Imera. The document belongs to a small group of similar inscriptions, consisting of three bronze spherules inscribed with a sample formulaic structure: the divinity’s name. Firstly, the article aims at providing a new framework of interpretation for the word ἐπιλυσαμέ‹ν›ας as Eileithyia’s epithet, the Greek deity of birth to whom literary evidence attributes the power of ‘losing up’, (...) ‘freeing’. Secondly we analyze other bronze spherules from the Piano di Imera (§ 2). This method allows to examine and compare various kind of evidence in order to get a full understanding of the particular use of these little objects, i.e. their role in cleromancy rituals (§ 3). (shrink)

This article sets out to counteract HM Evans’s “fair’s fair argument” in support of abolishing veto to research participation. Evans’s argument attempts to assimilate ordinary clinical practice to clinical research. I shall refer to this attempt as “assimilation claim”. I shall attempt to show that this assimilation, as it is carried out in Evans’s argument, is misleading and, ultimately, logically undermines the conclusion. I shall then proceed to show that when the fair’s fair argument is proposed independently of the assimilation (...) claim, Evans’s conclusion is not unavoidable and possible alternatives are equally open within the terms of the argument itself. (shrink)

Providing a novel multi-disciplinary theorization of memory politics, this insightful Handbook brings varied literatures into a focused dialogue on the ways in which the past is remembered and how these influence transnational, interstate, and global politics in the present. With case studies from Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States, the Handbook focuses on the political features of historical memory in international relations. Chapters examine key concepts of memory politics, including accountability, commemoration and memorialization, the (...) Europeanization of memory, and the politics of trauma and victimhood, as well as analyzing different sites of memory, from the human body and memorial sites to media, film, and television. It also answers essential questions such as who and what determines the relevance of the past in the present; how does memory become a political question; and what are the political effects and ethical implications of its mobilization? Exploring the links between the politics of memory, international ethics, law, and diplomacy, this stimulating Handbook will be essential reading for students and scholars of politics and international relations, cultural studies, history, and transitional justice. Its discussion of notable agents and practices of memory politics will also be beneficial for practitioners working in human rights, politics, and public policy. (shrink)

In this Chapter, Maria Kronfeldner discusses whether psychological essentialism is a necessary part of dehumanization. This involves different elements of essentialism, and a narrow and a broad way of conceptualizing psychological essentialism, the first akin to natural kind thinking, the second based on entitativity. She first presents authors that have connected essentialism with dehumanization. She then introduces the error theory of psychological essentialism regarding the category of the human, and distinguishes different elements of psychological essentialism. On that basis, Kronfeldner (...) connects historical, socio-psychological, and philosophical insights in order to show that although essentialism can act as a catalyst for dehumanization, it is not necessary for it. Examples relate to dehumanization in the context of colonialism and evolutionary thinking, to the history of dehumanizing women from Aristotle to 19th-century craniology, and to contemporary self-dehumanization and ‘lesser mind’ attribution. (shrink)

Against a background of anxious evocation of Dionysiac rites, Euripides'Heraclesstages the extreme degradation of the tragic hero who, as a consequence of the hatred of a divinity, loses his heroic traits and above all his human ones in the exercise of brutal violence. By comparing Heracles in the grip of madness to a furious bull assailing its prey, the tragedian clearly shows the inexorability of the divine will and its arbitrariness, and emphasizes madness itself through images traditionally associated with the (...) bull. However, the reference to monstrosity and animals does not only involve Heracles, but also concerns the representation of Lyssa, the demon of madness sent by Hera to induce Heracles to slaughter his own family. This representation of Lyssa includes the monstrous and disturbing Gorgon and the dog, set alongside the metaphor of hunting, which in turn highlight the link between the demon and the Erinyes, those other bringers of madness. (shrink)

The Pseudo-Plutarchan De musica provides us with the oldest history of Greek lyric poetry from the pre-Homeric epic poetry to the lyric poetry of the fourth century B.C. Importantly, the work contains also an evaluation of the role of music in the process of educating and training the citizens. Ps. Plutarch considers the καλόν in the aesthetic and ethical sense, which makes it incompatible with the καινόν dictated by the new poetic and musical season.