1 Orestano e l’anagrafe di un significato Chi si avvicina alla crescente letteratura sull’ontologia sociale provenendo da studi di filosofia del diritto ha spesso la sensazione di avere a che fare con qualcosa di familiare. Ciò dipende in parte dal fatto che la riflessione sul diritto ha da sempre una dimensione ontologica. Andando molto indietro nel tempo si trovano diverse testimonianze della consapevolezza che postulare l’esistenza di qualcosa non sia un’operazione intellettuale innocente....

In Speech Acts, John Searle argues that institutional facts presuppose, for their existence, the existence of certain institutions (understood as systems of constitutive rules). In this paper I extend Searle’s theory of institutional facts arguing that a further level is needed for the investigation of the structure of institutional reality: the level of meta-institutional concepts. The meta-institutional concepts are concepts that go beyond (Greek: metá) the institutions of which they are conditions of possibility. An example of meta-institutional concept is the (...) concept of game. In a culture which does not have the concept of game, we could move the chess-men according to the rules of chess, we could also perform a castling, but it would be impossible to play chess. (shrink)

This paper explores two different but intimately linked concepts. First, there is "reciprocal illumination," or the relation of interdependence of the object of knowledge and its subject. Second is the "irreversibility" which characterizes the process of applying constitutive rules, which causes institutional facts to become facts, and to be even stricter and more epistemologically constant than brute facts.

Come osserva Mario Ricciardi, chi si avvicina per la prima volta ai temi dell’ontologia sociale avendo compiuto studi di filosofia del diritto ha spesso un’impressione di familiarità. Tale impressione è spiegabile, senza dubbio, tenendo conto della circostanza per cui postulare l’esistenza di entità giuridiche come “la dote” o “l’eredità” non è mai un’operazione intellettualmente innocente, non significa cioè limitarsi a riconoscere realtà preesistenti, ma possiede sempre, in una certa misura...

Insulin is stored within the pancreas in an inactive Zn2+‐bound hexameric form prior to release. Similarly, clinical insulins contain Zn2+ and form multimeric complexes. Upon release from the pancreas or upon injection, insulin only becomes active once Zn2+ disengages from the complex. In plasma and other extracellular fluids, the majority of Zn2+ is bound to human serum albumin (HSA), which plays a vital role in controlling insulin pharmacodynamics by enabling removal of Zn2+. The Zn2+‐binding properties of HSA are attenuated by (...) non‐esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) also transported by HSA. Elevated NEFA concentrations are associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Here we present the hypothesis that higher NEFA levels in obese and/or diabetic individuals may contribute to insulin resistance and affect therapeutic insulin dose‐response profiles, through modulation of HSA/Zn2+ dynamics. We envisage this novel concept to have important implications for personalized treatments and management of diabetes‐related conditions in the future. (shrink)

Abstract. Con il presente contributo si propone una rilettura critica del concetto di “verità legale”, ove propugnato per estendere l’area di prensione punitiva delle false comunicazioni sociali anche ai giudizi discrezionali. Il disaccordo con l’impianto motivazionale delle Sezioni Unite – nel contesto argomentativo dei valori monetari intesi come “traduzione” di fatti obbiettivi – si radica in particolare nell’assunto del «ridotto margine di opinabilità» delle scienze contabili. L’affermazione, come si vedrà, è foriera di fraintendimenti. Si attribuisce al parametro adottato (normativo (...) prima che scientifico) proprietà che non gli appartengono, legittimandolo ad integrare il contenuto della norma penale. Il “falso per inosservanza” assume, così, i connotati di un mero strumento sanzionatorio in bianco di regole tracciate altrove, con ripercussioni tanto nella prospettiva della riserva di legge, quanto in ordine alla genericità del precetto. SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. Una distanza incolmabile tra fatto e giudizio. – 3. All’origine dei “fatti materiali”. Raffronto con la frode fiscale previgente. – 4. Raffronto con il falso societario previgente. Tra indici positivi contrastanti e ambiguità terminologiche. – 5. La materialità nella mutata economia della fattispecie. – 6. La soluzione della sentenza Giovagnoli – 7. La mutata prospettiva delle Sezioni Unite e le scienze a ridotto margine di opinabilità. – 8. Dalla realtà obiettiva all’obiettività della sua rappresentazione. – 9. I limiti dell’equiparazione fatto-giudizio. Trascurabilità del margine d’errore e mero accertamento tecnico. – 10. Il parametro della verità coerente nella sentenza Coopcostruttori. – 11. Conclusioni. (shrink)

The hypothalamus is a specialized area in the brain that integrates the control of energy homeostasis. More than 70 years ago, it was proposed that the central nervous system sensed circulating levels of metabolites such as glucose, lipids and amino acids and modified feeding according to the levels of those molecules. This led to the formulation of the Glucostatic, Lipostatic and Aminostatic Hypotheses. It has taken almost that much time to demonstrate that circulating long‐chain fatty acids act as signals of (...) nutrient surplus in the hypothalamus. Moreover, pharmacological and/or genetic inhibition of fatty acid synthase, AMP‐activated protein kinase and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 results in profound decrease in feeding and body weight in rodents. The molecular mechanism behind these actions depends on changes in the cellular pool of malonyl‐CoA and fatty acyl‐CoAs. Current evidence also suggests that this pathway may play a major role in the physiological regulation of feeding, by integrating hormonal and nutrient‐derived signals in the hypothalamus. Here, we summarize what is known about hypothalamic fatty acid metabolism and feeding control and provide future directions for research. Understanding these molecular mechanisms could provide new targets for the treatment of obesity and related disorders. BioEssays 29: 248–261, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

L’idea che vi sia una netta dicotomia tra fatti e valori è uno dei dogmi dell’empirismo. Secondo questa concezione, i giudizi fattuali, in quanto verificabili o falsificabili empiricamente, riguardano le aree di razionalità «pura» e omogenea e sono ancorati naturalisticamente al mondo. Gli enunciati di valore, invece, sarebbero da relegare nella sfera di ciò che è semplicemente «soggettivo», emotivo, irrazionale. Questo assunto, che ha dominato per molto tempo le scienze e la filosofia, è stato messo in dubbio dai pragmatisti (...) e da alcuni dei più influenti pensatori contemporanei, che, intervenendo al dibattito sull’oggettività dell’etica, hanno mostrato come la presunta eterogeneità tra giudizi descrittivi e giudizi valutativi sia ormai insostenibile. Sulla scia della prospettiva inaugurata da questi pensatori, gli autori di questo libro mostrano come la dicotomia fatto/valore abbia corrotto il nostro pensiero, impedendoci di rivolgere l’attenzione alle intersezioni, le sinergie e le relazioni che esistono tra processi cognitivi e coefficienti valutativi, tra scienza e etica. Con saggi di S. Clough, D. Copp, D. Davidson, G. Marchetti, H. Putnam, R. A. Putnam B. Stroud, K. A. Taylor, V. Walsh. (shrink)

The film is a copy of the real or a phantasmagoria of dreams? This alternative should be considered one of the genetic matrices of the language and theory of cinema. Using digital technology, the reference to the referent and the ontological nature of cinema as a trace of reality, they entirely vanish. The complete dematerialization of bodily qualities is a generalphenomenon of the society of the spectacle, with the dominance of the commodity form. Digital technology brings this tendency to extremes, (...) changing the ontological nature of the film. Digital technology, and now the three-dimensional, they realize a complete reversal of reality and fantasy and they change the basis of our mode of perception. The film “critic-expressive” is opposed to the phantasmagoria of the spectacle, calling for self-consciousness of the viewer. The techniques of three-dimensionality are part of a dream world, which aims to block all awareness of pain and conflict. The technique is not destiny, but dialectic, continuous contradiction, between two possible forms: the one is dominated by the will of power, the other by the idea of salvation of the phenomenon and the singularity. The three-dimensional cinema produce a magic, auratic film: what will it be a new “critic-expressive” film? (shrink)

The film is a copy of the real or a phantasmagoria of dreams? This alternative should be considered one of the genetic matrices of the language and theory of cinema. Using digital technology, the reference to the referent and the ontological nature of cinema as a trace of reality, they entirely vanish. The complete dematerialization of bodily qualities is a generalphenomenon of the society of the spectacle, with the dominance of the commodity form. Digital technology brings this tendency to extremes, (...) changing the ontological nature of the film. Digital technology, and now the three-dimensional, they realize a complete reversal of reality and fantasy and they change the basis of our mode of perception. The film “critic-expressive” is opposed to the phantasmagoria of the spectacle, calling for self-consciousness of the viewer. The techniques of three-dimensionality are part of a dream world, which aims to block all awareness of pain and conflict. The technique is not destiny, but dialectic, continuous contradiction, between two possible forms: the one is dominated by the will of power, the other by the idea of salvation of the phenomenon and the singularity. The three-dimensional cinema produce a magic, auratic film: what will it be a new “critic-expressive” film? (shrink)

Il fenomeno del linguaggio pervade tutta la realtà. Ogni evento può essere raccontato. Ci orientiamo nel mondo dando nomi alle cose. Il linguaggio non è solo uno strumento di comunicazione, ma segna profondamente la nostra esistenza. Questo libro risponde al desiderio di guardare il fenomeno del linguaggio da molteplici punti di vista, non solo nella sua struttura logica, ma anche come luogo dell'interpretazione, della comunicazione e della conoscenza. Pertanto, gli autori presi in considerazione appartengono sia alla tradizione nota come analitica (...) sia a quella che viene definita continentale. Questo sguardo inclusivo riguarda anche la dimensione storica: la risposta ai quesiti che emergono viene cercata infatti sia negli autori classici del mondo antico sia nei contributi dei pensatori contemporanei. (shrink)

Despite its biological importance, the mechanism of formation of cutin, the polymeric matrix of plant cuticles, has not yet been fully clarified. Here, for the first time, we show the participation in the process of lipid vesicles formed by the self‐assembly of endogenous polyhydroxy fatty acids. The accumulation and fusion of these vesicles (cutinsomes) at the outer part of epidermal cell wall is proposed as the mechanism for early cuticle formation. BioEssays 30:273–277, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This paper argues that the hypothesis that there are facts is ungrounded. I first introduce a series of important theoretical distinctions to say what facts are not – and to avoid misunderstandings as to what I take to be facts, states of affairs and relations. Then I present the so-called problem of the glue, which is linked to Bradley’s regress. Finally, I propose a stronger version of the problem of the glue, which I call the problem of directional glue, with (...) the aim of giving additional evidence that the problem of the glue is not solvable by the theories of facts which fall prey to it. (shrink)

Fatty acids (FAs) are well known to serve as substrates for reactions that provide cells with membranes and energy. In contrast to these metabolic reactions, the physiological importance of FAs themselves known as free FAs (FFAs) in cells remains obscure. Since accumulation of FFAs in cells is toxic, cells must develop mechanisms to detoxify FFAs. One such mechanism is to sequester free polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) into a droplet‐like structure assembled by Fas‐Associated Factor 1 (FAF1), a cytosolic protein. This sequestration limits (...) access of PUFAs to Fe2+, thereby preventing Fe2+‐catalyzed PUFA peroxidation. Consequently, assembly of the FAF1‐FFA complex is critical to protect cells from ferroptosis, a cell death pathway triggered by PUFA peroxidation. The observations that free PUFAs in cytosol are not randomly diffused but rather sequestered into a membraneless complex should open new directions to explore signaling pathways by which FFAs regulate cellular physiology. (shrink)

The evolution of Habermas follows that of Rawls in Political Liberalism, where the principles of justice are traced back to a historical background and no longer derived from an original position as in A Theory of Justice; and even Rawls, curiously enough, while he made his own the criticism in a broad sense Hegelian, of opponents such as Walzer,continued not to recognize the debt he now owed them. Appropriations of the opponents' objections, withdrawals disguised as victories, ad hoc distinctions and (...) so on, are common staple in disputes between thinkers, phenomena that it would be too easy to dismiss with accusations of tendentiousness or lack of rigour. -/- . (shrink)

Zwar kann der Akt – sofern er sich in gesprochenen oder geschriebenen Worten ausdrückt selbst etwas über seine Bedeutung aussagen, seinen eigenen Sinn angeben.Darin liegt sogar eine besondere Eigentümlichkeit des der sozialen und insbesondere der juristischen Erkenntnis gegebenen Materials. Certamente l’atto, in quanto si esprime a voce o per iscritto, di per sé può dire qualcosa attorno al suo senso, può dichiarare il proprio senso.In ciò consiste una speciale caratteristica del materiale og...

Giancarlo Marchetti’s La contingenza dei fatti e l’oggettività dei valori is a collection of nine essays concerning the fact–value debate. Among the authors, we find some of the most important protagonists of contemporary philosophy, including Donald Davidson and Hilary Putnam, to whom we probably owe the renaissance of the issue discussed in Marchetti’s volume. Undoubtedly, Putnam’s 2002 book The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Lo...