The present Festschrift was born as a tribute to the scientific production of Rémi Brague. This study collects the interventions of several thinkers, with different scientific profiles, who, fond of reality, have reflected on, and been in dialogue with his thought. Brague has explored many spheres: anthropology, metaphysics, religion, history of religions, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and cosmology – where he recalled those anchors in the sky where mankind throws its roots. We have decided to entitle this collection Europa cura te (...) ipsam! inspired by on the admonition of the famous Medice cura te ipsum. As Brague has repeatedly obser- ved, and recently with no little pessimism, it is now up to Europeans to recover their history and look to their future. We hope that the present work can be a stimulus for today’s thinkers and for generations to come, certain that the search for truth is an endless inquiry where harmony and cooperation among thinkers constitute progress. -/- Contributors: Leonardo Allodi, Rafael Alvira, Jean Baechler, Damiano Bondi, Thomas Buchheim, Virgil Ciomos, Rocio Daga Portillo, Marco Damonte, Chantal Delsol, Phil Devine, Thérèse-Anne Druart, Travis Dumsday, David C. Flatto, Michal Gierycz, Elisa Grimi, John F. X. Knasas, Hans Maier, Sante Maletta, Fr Antonio Malo, Fr Giulio Maspero, Ilaria Vigorelli, Fr Piotr Mazurkiewicz, Isabelle Moulin, José Ignacio Gómez Murillo, Maurits Potappel, John M. Rist, H. Em. Card. Angelo Scola, Hans Seitschek, Wilhelm Vossenkuhl. (shrink)

This book explores the philosophical, legal, and theological roots of Western multiculturalism, that is, the encounter and coexistence of different cultures within a liberal society. Rather than concerning themselves with the particulars of cultural dialogue, the authors of this volume go deeper and question the very reality of "multiculturalism" itself. As a whole the volume devotes attention to the origins of human nature, arguing that regardless of how different another person or culture seems to be, universal human experience discloses what (...) it means to be human and to relate to others and to God. The contributors represent different cultures and faith traditions but are united in friendship and in the conviction that the Christian faith enables an authentic approach to long-standing debates on multiculturalism. Contributors: Massimo Borghesi Francesco Botturi Marta Cartabia Carmine Di Martino Pierpaolo Donati Costantino Esposito Stanley Hauerwas Antonio Lopez Francisco Javier Martnez Fernandez John Milbank Javier Prades David L. Schindler Angelo Cardinal Scola Lorenza Violini Joseph H. H. Weiler. (shrink)

Belliotti unravels the paradoxes of human existence to reveal paths for crafting meaningful, significant, valuable, even important lives. He argues that human life is not inherently absurd; examines the implications of mortality; contrasts subjective and objective meaning, and evaluates contemporary renderings of meaningful human lives.

The work examines the influence of the relationship that football players have with significant others on their psychological wellbeing (PWB), adopting a psychosocial perspective. According to this perspective, PWB can be considered a basic condition for an effective talent development and holistic growth of young athletes. Current literature on talent development in sport has been analyzed to support the theoretical hypothesis of psychosocial perspective. Thus, it has been tested empirically through a Structural Equation Model. Analysis reveals a strong and positive (...) influence of some dimensions of the relationships with significant others on the psychological wellbeing, specifically team effort, coach closeness and parental learning climate. Following ANOVA shows that élite players perceive significantly better relationships than sub-élite and amateurs and have significantly higher levels of PWB. Those results provide a first evidence for the importance of relationships within and outside sport for an effective talent development, since they positively influence players’ PWB, that is higher in higher competitive level players. It emerges the necessity to further investigate different aspects of psychological wellbeing and to deepen the knowledge about the meaning of relationship in developmental athletes according to a psychosocial approach. (shrink)

I critically examine developmental approaches to the notion of habituation in the Nicomachean Ethics. Such approaches conceive of habituation in terms of upbringing. I challenge this view. Developmental approaches provide a restrictive view of habituation. I argue that it is possible for the habituation of character to occur after upbringing. My interpretation avoids the charge that Aristotle only granted the possibility of virtue to those who have had a good upbringing.

Este escrito se propone exponer, desarrollar y fundamentar, a grandes rasgos, un cuestionamiento interpretativo sobre la vinculación entre J. Rancière y L. Althusser, específicamente en torno a la concepción de policía del primero y de aparato de Estado del segundo. Es conocido que, en una primera etapa, Rancière fue cercano al pensamiento de Althusser, pero nunca un adherente del mismo. No obstante, en su pensamiento político se pueden hallar residuos y vestigios que parecieran dar cuenta de aquella primera relación intelectual (...) que se trazó como un cruzamiento entre ambos autores. Teniendo esto en mente, se vuelve menos descabellado el plantear lo siguiente como eje de este texto: que la caracterización de lo policiaco o de la policía, tal como está en algunos textos de Rancière, tiende a insinuar un cierto símil con la noción de aparato de Estado, propia del marxismo althusseriano, en tanto que se considera a este último en su duplicidad o doble faceta: aparato represivo de Estado y aparatos ideológicos de Estado. ¿Es plausible una lectura interpretativa que se maneje en esta clave, siguiendo esta intuición pese a todas las objeciones que se alzan a la brevedad? En la presente indagación se intentará dar respuesta a esta interrogante. (shrink)

en este escrito se hará un acercamiento a los conceptos de existencia y estar-en-el-mundo de Heidegger, tal como son expuestos en Ser y tiempo, es decir, a partir de la hermenéutica del Dasein, aunque en algunos pasajes se recurrirá, también, a otras obras del autor alemán, ya sea para matizar o reforzar ciertos aspectos del asunto. Asimismo, se buscará mostrar cómo dichos conceptos se relacionan y se enmarcan en una investigación más amplia sobre la pregunta por el sentido del ser. (...) En síntesis, el objetivo de este escrito es desarrollar un acercamiento a los conceptos de existencia y ser-en-el-mundo o estar-en-el-mundo y su relación y lugar dentro de la indagación heideggeriana que se cuestiona por el sentido del ser. Además, se indicarán, a grandes rasgos, algunas similitudes y vínculos entre el pensamiento de Heidegger y el de Ortega y Gasset y Sartre, teniendo siempre como puntos de referencia los conceptos centrales que aborda este trabajo. Por último, se considerará si las lecturas filosóficas de los autores examinados aún son adecuadas para describir el fenómeno de la vida, vale decir, al ser humano y su existencia concreta. (shrink)

In this unique volume, some of today's most eminent political philosophers examine the thought of John Rawls, focusing in particular on his most recent work. These original essays explore diverse issues, including the problem of pluralism, the relationship between constitutive commitment and liberal institutions, just treatment of dissident minorities, the constitutional implications of liberalism, international relations, and the structure of international law. The first comprehensive study of Rawls's recent work, The Idea of Political Liberalism will be indispensable for political philosophers (...) and theorists interested in contemporary political thought. (shrink)

The topic is characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach to the issue of action and language integration. Such an approach, combining computational models and cognitive robotics experiments with neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and linguistic approaches, can be a powerful means that can help researchers disentangle ambiguous issues, provide better and clearer definitions, and formulate clearer predictions on the links between action and language. In the introduction we briefly describe the papers and discuss the challenges they pose to future research. We identify (...) four important phenomena the papers address and discuss in light of empirical and computational evidence: (a) the role played not only by sensorimotor and emotional information but also of natural language in conceptual representation; (b) the contextual dependency and high flexibility of the interaction between action, concepts, and language; (c) the involvement of the mirror neuron system in action and language processing; (d) the way in which the integration between action and language can be addressed by developmental robotics and Human-Robot Interaction. (shrink)

Deepens our understanding of power through a survey of how its dynamics have been understood from ancient times to the present. Frequently understood in simplistic and often highly negative terms, the concept of power has proven to be both uncommonly intriguing and maddeningly elusive. In Power, Raymond Angelo Belliotti begins by fashioning a general definition of power that is refined enough to capture the numerous types of power in all their multifaceted complexity. He then proceeds in a series of (...) discrete yet thematically connected meditations to explore the meaning of power in ancient, modern, and contemporary thought. In grappling with the critical questions surrounding the accumulation, distribution, and exercise of personal and social power, this work allows us to confront fundamental questions of who we are and how we might live better lives. “Power is an impressive project for its breadth and insight. Belliotti offers an exhaustive discussion of the philosophical notion of power, which deepens the reader’s understanding of power and provides a ‘powerful’ tool for assessing the proper uses of and abuses of social and dyadic power relations. The book is rich with material, expertly organized, and written in a clear and accessible style.” — Kimberly Blessing, Buffalo State, The State University of New York. (shrink)

Mouthpiece interpreters of Plato such as Richard Kraut and Julia Annas believe that Plato had philosophical beliefs, doctrines, and theories that he intended to convey in his dialogues. We argue that some of their primary arguments for this approach to Plato are problematic and that there is a more promising approach to Plato’s dialogues than the mouthpiece interpretation, all things considered.

The first generation of Christians slowly became aware that Jesus‟ message was addressed to “all nations”. It produced a movement of itinerant missionaries, which slowly decreased in number. Subsequently, the Christian mission became the responsibility of local communities. Since few pagans could read books written by Christian authors, the community gave witness through their conduct, through testimony given during trials in the forum and through martyrdom in the stadiums. Increasingly, conversions came about through bonds of friendship, kinship and personal daily (...) contact. (shrink)

We compute the effect of collapse models on neutrino oscillations. The effect of the collapse is to modify the evolution of the spatial part of the wave function and we will show that this indirectly amounts to a change on the flavor components. For the analysis we use the mass proportional CSL model, and perform the calculation to second order perturbation theory. As we will show, the CSL effect is very small—mainly due to the very small mass of neutrinos—and practically (...) undetectable. (shrink)

In recent times there have been increasing efforts at reinterpreting core CSR theories such as stakeholder theory with new perspectives as well as applying them to different contexts away from its Western masculinist connotations. This work seeks to add to these efforts by exploring the impacts that the African philosophical worldview of Afro-communitarianism has on small business stakeholder relationships. Specifically it discusses the kinds of relationships that owner/managers of small businesses, in adherence to Afro-communitarianism, maintain with their families, employees, local (...) communities and competitors- all key stakeholders. The contention is that such ethics demand more extensive ethical responsibilities from owner/managers of small businesses than owner/managers motivated by traditional stakeholder theory with its Western masculinist undertones. It is hoped that this effort will add significant perspectives to stakeholder theory as well as having implications for both small and large business practice. (shrink)

A philosophical assessment of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, exposing some errors of reasoning that undermine part of the foundation of his atheism. Distinctions between theism, atheism and agnosticism are also provided and explored for their significance to Dawkins’ argument.

Implanting deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes in patients with Parkinson’s disease often results in the appearance of a non-infectious, delayed-onset edema that disappears over time. However, the time window between the DBS electrode and DBS stimulating device implant is often used to record local field potentials (LFPs) which are used both to better understand basal ganglia pathophysiology and to improve DBS therapy. In this work, we investigated whether the presence of post-surgery edema correlates with the quality of LFP recordings in (...) eight patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease implanted with subthalamic DBS electrodes. The magnetic resonance scans of the brain after 8.5 ± 1.5 days from the implantation surgery were segmented and the peri-electrode edema volume was calculated for both brain hemispheres. We found a correlation (ρ = −0.81, p < 0.0218, Spearman’s correlation coefficient) between left side local field potentials of the low beta band (11–20 Hz) and the edema volume of the same side. No other significant differences between the hemispheres were found. Despite the limited sample size, our results suggest that the effect on LFPs may be related to the edema localization, thus indicating a mechanism involving brain networks instead of a simple change in the electrode-tissue interface. (shrink)

This book reconstructs the cornerstones of Jesus’s moral teachings about how to lead a good, even exemplary, human life. It does so in a way that is compatible with the most prominent, competing versions of the historical Jesus. The work also contrast Jesus’ understanding of the best way to lead our lives with that of Friedrich Nietzsche. Both Jesus and Nietzsche were self-consciously moral revolutionaries. Jesus refashioned the imperatives of Jewish law to conform to what he was firmly convinced was (...) the divine will. Nietzsche aspired to transvalue the dominant values of his time —which themselves were influenced greatly by Christianity— in service of what he took to be a higher vision. The interplay of these radical versions of the good human life, seasoned with critical commentary emerging from modern findings in the sciences and humanities, opens possibilities and lines of inquiry that can inform our choices in answering that enduring, paramount question, “How should we live our lives?”. (shrink)

_Dante’s Deadly Sins_ is a unique study of the moral philosophy behind Dante’s master work that considers the _Commedia_ as he intended, namely, as a practical guide to moral betterment. Focusing on _Inferno_ and _Purgatorio_, Belliotti examines the puzzles and paradoxes of Dante’s moral assumptions, his treatment of the 7 deadly sins, and how 10 of his most powerful moral lessons anticipate modern existentialism. Analyzes the moral philosophy underpinning one of the greatest works of world culture Summarizes the _Inferno_ and (...) _Purgatorio_, while underscoring their moral implications Explains and evaluates Dante’s understanding of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and the ultimate role they play as the basis of human transgression. Provides a detailed discussion of the philosophical concepts of moral desert and the law of _contrapasso_, using character case studies within Dante’s work Connects the poem’s moral themes to our own contemporary condition. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Dante and Existentialism Jean‐Paul Sartre and Hell Dante's Ten Existential Lessons Individualism and Community Personal Strategies.

Heroism and Wisdom is an interdisciplinary work dissecting the lives, philosophies, and works of fourteen historically significant Italian figures to examine the topics of Italian history, culture, and moral psychology of notions such as practical wisdom, heroism, authenticity, honor, will to power, and leading a meaningful human life.

This chapter contains sections titled: Historical Background Superbia (Pride) Invidia (Envy) Ira (Wrath) Acedia (Sloth) Avaritia (Avarice) Gula (Gluttony) Luxuria (Lust) The Antidote: Righteous Love The Bridge to Salvation.

This chapter contains sections titled: The Historical Context The Life of Dante Later Writings The Commedia Dante's Death Aims of this Book Dante as Moral Philosopher.