Monograph in six chapters, plus introductory essay, conclusions, two appendixes, notes, and bibliography.

Questa monografia esamina in modo chiaro e conciso ma rigoroso e articolato le concezioni di tempo ed eternità nella filosofia greca, nella Bibbia e nella Patristica. Mostra come i Cristiani criticassero la nozione stoica di ripetizione infinita di evi in cui rivivono le stesse persone compiendo gli stessi atti, in quanto opposta al progresso morale, e ponessero invece l’eternità metafisica platonica alla fine del tempo storico, come luogo di retribuzione e partecipazione all’eternità divina.

Name der Zeitschrift: Der Islam Jahrgang: 93 Heft: 1 Seiten: 252-254.

The concept of a technical frontier in branches of experimental measurement, such as the resolution of the microscope, angular measure and time telling, has been around for more than 60 years. The purpose of this brief paper is to identify the technical frontier operating on the achromatic astronomical telescope, where a limiting factor of the resolution of fine detail was the quality of the optical glass available. The achromatically corrected objective is formed from two kinds of glass, the common (...) crown glass and the heavy clear flint glass or lead glass. This last was difficult to make homogeneous, that is without regions of different density, and therefore different refraction and dispersion. Unusually, optical glass had to pass a second frontier, this time placed on the whole glass industry by the English Government in the form of excise duty, administered with a bureaucratic efficiency that effectively stopped, in around 1800, the making of optical glass suitable for the serious astronomical telescopes. The result of the tax imposition was to delay the English production of improved optical glass for more than 80 years. (shrink)

This collection of original papers, entitled "The beginning and end of the universe: scientific, philosophical, and theological perspectives", derives from an interdisciplinary conference, that had been organized jointly by the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Vatican Observatory. The conference consisted of two sessions of one day each, held at the Pontifical Gregorian University during the academic year 2014-2105. The first day focused on scientific, philosophical and theological questions concerning the beginning of the universe and the second day on questions concerning (...) the end of the universe. The richness of this book derives not only from the variety of academic perspectives but also from the different heuristic methods adopted by the researchers. For the book’s final version, more contributions were added, the entire collection was reviewed by all authors for constructive criticism and mutual evaluation, and the style and content of each contribution were adjusted to ensure that the book presents a satisfactory degree of unity. After a survey of what some current astronomical theories say about the beginning and end of the universe, the philosophical topics treated include the idea of first cause, the finality of the universe, and the Heideggerian idea of world. The theological topics include some current accounts of "creatio ex nihilo", and the relation between theological eschatology and the results of the cosmology of the far distant future. (shrink)

In the ongoing debate, there are a set of mind-body theories sharing a certain physicalist assumption: whenever a genuine cause produces an effect, the causal efficacy of each of the nonphysical properties that participate in that process is determined by the instantiation of a well-defined set of physical properties. These theories would then insist that a nonphysical property could only be causally efficacious insofar as it is physically implemented. However, in what follows we will argue against the idea that (...) class='Hi'>fine-grained mental contents could be physically implemented in the way that functional properties are. Therefore, we will examine the metaphysical conditions under which the implementing mechanism of a particular instance of a functional property may be individuated, and see how genuine beliefs and desires—insofar as they track the world—cannot meet such conditions. (shrink)

La pensée de Kierkegaard constitue une source majeure de l'analytique existentiale de Heidegger qui ne se limite nullement à quelques thèmes comme l'existence ou l'angoisse. Cet essai entend montrer que la filiation va bien au-delà de ce que Heidegger reconnaît explicitement, et que ce sont en fait tous les stades de l'existence chez Kierkegaard qui l'inspirent pour penser aussi bien l'inauthenticité que l'authenticité de l'existence dans Etre et temps. Le coeur de cette source kierkegaardienne de la pensée de Heidegger est (...) à trouver dans la manière dont ce dernier entend penser l'authenticité de l'existence, à savoir comme une résolution. L'ensemble des déterminations qui la caractérisent trouve sa source dans une réappropriation du stade éthique qui entend à chaque fois en neutraliser la portée éthique, dans la mesure où l'analytique existentiale se veut axiologiquement neutre. L'étude de ce problème d'histoire de la philosophie ouvre alors à une réflexion sur un problème plus directement philosophique : si la résolution provient d'une neutralisation de la portée éthique de concepts kierkegaardiens, cette résolution est-elle encore compatible avec la vie éthique? Cet essai prend alors un tournant vers une interprétation critique de la pensée de Heidegger en montrant qu'elle se révèle in fine incompatible avec toute pensée éthique, dans la mesure où la résolution fonctionne comme une réduction existentielle de l'éthique qui trouve elle-même son origine dans le stade religieux, à savoir dans la suspension téléologique de l'éthique. (shrink)

Thinking about the end of capitalism is nothing new. The amazing thing is that Max Weber, who is not suspected of being a socialist or a communist, did so more than 100 years ago – in terms of fossil fuels. This brings him closer to the demands of the “green economy”, but on closer inspection, the energy and raw material base is only one factor in Weber’s complex conception of modern capitalism.

Through a comparison between Arthur Danto’s philosophy of art and Kantian aesthetic reflection, this article identifies the place from which Danto can underestimate the aesthetic experience and its alleged irrelevance in relation to art. I argue, first, that this position of Danto is crossed by some internal contradictions in his thought. Furthermore, based on the comparison with Kant, I examine the thesis of the “end of the history of art” advanced by Danto, considering in particular two aspects. I argue: (a) (...) that Danto surreptitiously or parasitically uses in his critical activity a notion of aesthetic experience which his philosophical argument, and in particular his “aesthetic of meanings”, cannot legitimize; (b) that his thesis relating to the end of art history is symptomatic of a wider problem, which involves our forms of life, and which finds a particularly significant statement in Friedrich von Hayek’s neoliberal thought. The attempt at a neoliberal anthropology of homo œconomicus implies the tendency to absorb within it the very meaning of the experience that has long been at the center of aesthetic and artistic experience. This totalizing colonization of human forms of life appropriates some exemplary characteristics of aesthetic and artistic experience, perverting them, starting with the presumed generation of spontaneous orders, which we know are framed in an ideological horizon that is anything but obvious or natural. My thesis is that Danto’s idea of a post-historical art is one of the symptoms of this condition. (shrink)

In the ongoing debate, there are a set of mind-body theories sharing a certain physicalist assumption: whenever a genuine cause produces an effect, the causal efficacy of each of the nonphysical properties that participate in that process is determined by the instantiation of a well-defined set of physical properties. These theories would then insist that a nonphysical property could only be causally efficacious insofar as it is physically implemented. However, in what follows we will argue against the idea that (...) class='Hi'>fine-grained mental contents could be physically implemented in the way that functional properties are. Therefore, we will examine the metaphysical conditions under which the implementing mechanism of a particular instance of a functional property may be individuated, and see how genuine beliefs and desires—insofar as they track the world—cannot meet such conditions. (shrink)

Nel cammino della filosofia il realismo ha spesso costituito l’asse fondamentale della ricerca. Esso è in grado di rinnovare il pensiero, oggi, quando la filosofia moderna si è chiusa, sostituita dalla presente povertà postmetafisica e dal disfattismo della ragione. Il volume mette alla prova la forza del realismo, intrecciando riflessione teoretica e riflessione storiografica, e dando voce ad autori come Tommaso d’Aquino, Hegel, Schelling, Gentile, Maritain, Bontadini, Severino, Putnam.

In this thesis, I deal with the notions of a condition holding for some proposition and a proposition being true in a certain number of possible worlds. These notions are called propositional quantifiers and numerical modalizers respectively. In each chapter, I attempt to dispose of a system. A system consists of: a language; axioms and rules of inference; and an interpretation. To dispose of a system is to prove its decidability and its consistency and completeness for the given interpretation. I (...) shall, in passing, make applications to de definability, translatability and other topics. In Chapter 1, I consider the system 5SQ. Its language is that of 55 with Q as a fresh unary operator. Its axioms and rules of inference are those for 85 plus the following special axiom-schemes for Q: 1) QA::>MA 2) Q A ::> L V L 3) L ::> 4) Q A ::> L Q A. 'QA' is interpreted as 'A is true in exactly one possible world.' I dispose of the system by showing that every formula in it is equivalent to one in normal form. In Chapter 2 I consider the system S5n. Its language is that of S5 but with the unary operators Qk for each non-negative integer k. Its axioms and rules are those of S5 plus the following special axiom-schemes for Qk: 1) Qk A>~Q1 A, 1˂K 2) Qk A ≡ Vki≡oQi ˄ Qk-I 3) L ˂ 4) Qk A ˂ L Qk A 5) Qo A ≡ L ~ A, 1 ≥ 0, k ≥ 1 ‘Qk A’ is interpreted as 'A is true in exactly k possible worlds.' I dispose of this system by generalising the normal forms of S5Q. In the chapters 3-5, I consider three systems which result from adding propositional quantifiers to S5. The first two systems, S5╥+ and S5╥, contain the usual axioms and rules for quantifiers. The first contains, in addition, the axiom-scheme G = )). The last, S5╥-, results from S5╥ by restricting the Scheme of Specification, viz., A > A, B free for P in A, to formulas B of the propositional calculus. To interpret these systems we must specify which propositions the variable P ranges over. For St╥-, we merely require that if p and q are propositions, then and are also propositions. For S5╥+, we also require that each possible world be describable i.e. that there be a proposition which is true in that world alone. And for S5╥, we require not that each possible world be describable but that there be a proposition which is true in just those possible worlds which are describable. Again, we dispose of the systems by normal forms. This requires that we eliminate quantifiers and nested occurrences of L by adding new symbols to the language. For S5╥+, the operators Qk suffice. For S5╥, the operators Qk suffice. For S5╥, we also require the constant g and a fresh unary operator N. For S5╥-, even greater additions are required. In the last two chapters, 6 and 7, I turn to systems which have essentially the same language as S5╥. However, ‘Qk A' is now interpreted as 'A is true in exactly k possible worlds accessible from the given world.' Different conditions on R, the relation of accessibility, lead to different axioms. In chapter 6 I consider the conditions of reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity, and in Chapter 7 the conditions of being a partial, convergent, total or dense order. I prove consistency and completeness by the method of maximally consistent systems. The method can yield decidability results, but I do not go into the matter. I have, as a rule, not given acknowledgements for well-established results or terminology. The main references are at the end of each chapter. Fuller references are in the bibliography. (shrink)

Nel tentativo di superare l’alessandrinismo, una parte della cultura borghese occidentale ha prodotto qualcosa di mai visto prima d’ora: la cultura dell’avanguardia. Essa è stata resa possibile da una superiore consapevolezza della storia, e più precisamente dalla comparsa di un nuovo genere di critica della società, la critica storica. Clement Greenberg, Avant Garde and Kitsch Le avanguardie appartengono al passato. Con il rischio di un paradosso che vorrei annotare all’inizio di queste rifl...

L'Ora e l'attimo narra--attraverso il confronto di Vico con Platone e Kant, Hegel e Nietzsche, Gadamer e, infine, Benjamin - la storia discontinua di un passaggio epocale nella concezione del mondo storico: il passaggio dal primato dell'orizzonte universale eterno, l''Ora', in cui si inquadrano le diverse età della storia, al primato dell'attimo, in cui sono parimenti possibili sia l'inizio di una 'nuova Ora' che la fine della storia dell'uomo ad opera dell'uomo. In Vico questo 'passaggio,' variamente contrastato e sofferto, (...) ma alla fine vincente, assume la figura del transito dalla 'mathesis universalis' della storia alla visione morale del mondo umano--Back cover. (shrink)

Ces deux livres, parus en même temps et dans la même collection, sont le résultat d'une recherche collective sur les centres maternels, menée par une équipe de sociologues et d'historiens, dirigée par C. Rollet dont on connaît les solides travaux personnels sur l'histoire de la politique à l'égard de la petite enfance sous la Troisième République. Les deux ouvrages se complètent parfaitement dans la mesure où la lecture du premier, une monographie historique sur l'un des plus anciens e...

C’è una tensione all’interno del sistema di Quine: il suo realismo ci porta a credere che la realtà debba essere così come le nostre migliori teorie dicono che sia, ma i suoi assunti semantici – cioè la sua maniera di concepire le dinamiche del significare e del riferirsi ad oggetti – ci gettano in uno stato di incertezza radicale attorno a ciò che vale come oggetto delle nostre teorie. Questo libro si propone di allentare tale tensione, scandagliando il dominio di (...) questa incertezza e mettendone in luce i confini, con il fine di mostrare come la forma di realismo più consona a Quine sia un realismo che guardi non ad oggetti singolarmente denotati da termini, ma alla maniera in cui gli oggetti sono interrelati, alle strutture che in sistemi di oggetti sono realizzate. (shrink)

Ces deux livres, parus en même temps et dans la même collection, sont le résultat d'une recherche collective sur les centres maternels, menée par une équipe de sociologues et d'historiens, dirigée par C. Rollet dont on connaît les solides travaux personnels sur l'histoire de la politique à l'égard de la petite enfance sous la Troisième République. Les deux ouvrages se complètent parfaitement dans la mesure où la lecture du premier, une monographie historique sur l'un des plus anciens e...

Il multiculturalismo è un modello culturale e politico-istituzionale per la gestione della diversità in una società multietnica, la cui base teorica viene dal relativismo culturale. Come nessuna cultura può pretendere una validità universale, il processo di storicizzazione della razionalità occidentale segna la fine della pretesa metafisica di dire la verità dell’uomo e del mondo, nononstante si crede che il fare della scienza è l’accadere della verità. Nel gestire la diversità e nell’assicurare la tolleranza risiede la «necessità» del multiculturalismo. Sua (...) debolezza teorica risiede paradossalmente nell’incapacità di pensare la differenza. Universale non è la cultura, che è sempre particolare, ma l’ umano . Solo l’affermazione di questa dimensione universale dell’esperienza può fondare il rispetto della singolarità dell’altro, di sua infinita alterità e differenza. L’umano si dice sempre in una cultura determinata. La struttura universale dell’esperienza è al tempo stesso in e al di là di ogni cultura, insieme trascendente e immanente, trans-immanente . Questa identità strutturale è costitutivamente assegnata a una emergenza molteplice. In questo contesto, si può parlare di una ragione che, in nome di una fedeltà all’esperienza, si dispone a ripensare il problema dell’universalità, il rapporto tra il singolare e l’universale. Palavras-chave : Multiculturalismo, relativismo culturale, cultura, Universale, singolare Resumo O multiculturalismo é um modelo cultural e político-institucional para a gestão da diversidade numa sociedade multiétnica, cuja base teórica procede do relativismo cultural. Como nenhuma cultura pode pretender uma validade universal, o processo de historicização da racionalidade ocidental marca o fim da pretensão metafísica de dizer a verdade do homem e do mundo, não obstante se acredite que fazer ciência já seja o acontecer da verdade. A necessidade do multiculturalismo reside no administrar a diversidade e no assegurar a tolerância. Sua fraqueza teórica se encontra paradoxalmente na incapacidade de pensar a própria diferença. Universal não é a cultura, que é sempre particular, mas o humano . Somente a afirmação desta dimensão universal da experiência pode fundar o respeito da singularidade do outro, de sua infinita alteridade e diferença. O humano se diz sempre numa cultura determinada. A estrutura universal da experiência está, ao mesmo tempo, em e além de cada cultura, ao mesmo tempo transcendente e imanente, trans-imanente . Esta identidade estrutural é constitutivamente assinalada a uma experiência múltipla. Nesse contexto, pode-se falar de uma razão que, em nome da fidelidada à experiência, dispõe-se a repensar o problema da universalidade, a relação entre o singular e o universal. Palavras-chave : Multiculturalismo, relativismo cultural, cultura, Universal, singularMulticulturalism is a cultural and political-institutional framework for managing diversity in a multiethnic society, whose theoretical basis proceeds of cultural relativism. As no culture can claim to universal validity, the historicizing process of western rationality points out the end of metaphysical pretension of telling the truth about man and the world, although one believe that doing science is already the case for truth. The necessity of multiculturalism lies in managing diversity and in ensuring tolerance. Its theoretical weakness is paradoxically unable to think of difference itself. Culture always emerges as being the particular as the human appears as being the universal. Only the statement of this universal dimension of experience can establish the respect of other's uniqueness, of his infinite otherness and difference. The human is always understood within a specific culture. The universal structure of experience is at the same time, in and beyond each culture in particular, at the same time immanent and transcendent, there is to say, trans-immanent. This structural identity is constitutively marked by a multiple experience. In this context, one can speak of a reason that in the name of fidelity to experience is willing to rethink the problem of universality, the relationship between the singular and universal. Key words : Multiculturalism, cultural relativism, culture, Universal, singular. (shrink)

La storia medievale della teologia e della metafisica è attraversata da una rilevante discussione a proposito della predicazione della nozione di ente. I modelli più spesso evocati a tal fine sono stati, com’è noto, l’analogia e l’univocità. Rispetto a questa alternativa, la tendenza generale degli interpreti è stata quella di intendere l’univocità e l’analogia come regimi predicativi opposti o contraddittori. Questa tesi ha dato vita a una sorta di opinione comune e diffusamente condivisa. La verità di questa tesi, tuttavia, (...) non si è mai imposta in maniera definitiva: il primo dibattito sulla compatibilità dell’univocità e dell’analogia risale proprio al Medioevo. A tal proposito appare decisivo il contributo di Pietro di Tommaso (Pere Tomàs, Pietro Tomàs, Petrus Thomae): la settima delle sue Quaestiones de ente (ca. 1325) chiede infatti Utrum vera analogia et vera univocatio possint se compati in eodem conceptu. Il presente contributo cerca di riscostruire gli snodi principali dell’argomentazione che Pietro di Tommaso elabora in questo testo con la duplice finalità di valorizzare il contributo di questo autore nel quadro del dibattito teologico medievale e di giustificare l’opportunità delle ricerche che tentano oggi di ripensare il rapporto tra l’univocità e l’analogia nel pensiero scotista. The history of medieval theology and metaphysics is marked by a relevant discussion about the predication of being. The semantic devices most frequently referred to in this regard were, as is well known, analogy and univocity. With respect to this alternative, the general tendency of scholars has been to understand univocity and analogy as opposite and contradictory modes of predication. This view has led to a kind of common and widely shared opinion. This thesis, however, has never prevailed conclusively: a debate on whether univocity and analogy were compatible dates back to the Middle Ages. In this respect, the contribution of Petrus Thomae is decisive: the seventh of his Quaestiones de ente (ca. 1325) asks in fact Utrum vera analogia et vera univocatio possint se compati in eodem conceptu. This contribution tries to reconstruct the main points of Petrus Thomae’s argumentation with the twofold purpose of enhancing the contribution of this author in the framework of the medieval theological debate and of justifying the opportunity of the current research that tries to rethink the relationship between univocity and analogy in the context of Duns Scotus’ thought. (shrink)

A partire dagli anni '60, György Lukács intraprende una ricerca volta a recuperare e sviluppare l'ontologia sociale racchiusa negli scritti di Marx nel tentativo di rinnovare la riflessione marxista dopo l'effetto inibitorio provocato dallo Stalinismo. Lo scopo di questo articolo è di indagare la concezione lukácsiana dell'ideologia come funzione sociale, mettendola in relazione con il regime di complessità descritto da Lukács nella sua ultima opera, Ontologia dell'essere sociale. Recuperando il riferimento goethiano implicito nell'idea di lavoro come “fenomeno originario” dell'azione sociale, (...) tenteremo di riconcettualizzare la teoria del rispecchiamento adottata nell'Ontologia al fine di mostrare il ruolo che viene ad assumere l'ideologia all'interno di una società volta alla produzione del futuro. (shrink)

I grandi interrogativi sul significato della vita umana - sull'origine e la fine di ognuno - sull'origine e la fine dell'esistenza di ognuno - sono al cuore della riflessione filosofica e teologica, ma interpellano in maniera nuova anche le discipline scientifiche, psicologiche, sociali e giuridiche. Soprattutto toccano il nostro agire; è la sfera dell'etica ad essere coinvolta, come valori, principi e norme che guidano le decisioni da prendere. Le religioni e le tradizioni culturali hanno sempre accompagnato queste realtà, (...) elaborando principi e norme etiche, esperienze rituali e assistenziali. Al loro significato per la bioetica è dedicato il progetto di ricerca della Fondazione Lanza, che ha già trovato una prima espressione nel volume Bioetica e religioni. Un confronto dall'inizio della vita, a cura di Lorenzo Biagi e Renzo Pegoraro. In questo secondo testo, l'attenzione è sulle questioni legate alla fase terminale della vita umana, così profondamente toccata dai progressi della scienza e della medicina. Vi si trovano documentate le posizioni delle diverse confessioni cristiane (Cattolicesimo, Ortodossia, Protestantesimo, Anglicanesimo) e delle altre grandi fedi dell'umanità (Ebraismo, Islam, Buddismo, Induismo), illustrate da esponenti qualificati. Ad ampliare l'orizzonte, viene presentato l'approccio delle “nuove religioni” alla fine della vita, mentre un contributo esplora il rapporto tra religioni, etica e dialogo. (shrink)

The paper suggests a theoretical re-reading of Utopia. Usually dismissed as a pathological form of politics, it deals with the borders of modern political semantics and raises important issues about contemporary political theory. Bloch’s notion of Utopia helps to reframe the discussion about the ambiguous meaning of this term and introduce philosophical interpretations of this concept. Drawing from heterogeneous philosophical material, it is argued that the problem of the death of Utopia arises when a particular form of subjective cognition, confronting (...) contingency, is asked to open up for the prospect of progressive and democratic expectations. Utopia thus acquires an ambivalent position by articulating contemporary political reason. (shrink)

This book focuses on the relationship between different epistemological and theoretical advances in archaeology within different academic and philosophical traditions."--Publisher's web site.

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)

L'ed. delle Obligationes si basa su quattro mss.: Praha, Knihovni Metropolitni Kapituly, M.CXLV ; Oxford, New College, E 289 ; Praha, Státní Knihóvna CSR, VIII E 11 ; Salamanca, Biblioteca de la Universidad, 2358 . Nell'introduzione l'A. prende in esame la tradizione manoscritta delle opere di Giovanni Tarteys, fornendo anche una breve notizia biografica di questo magister artium attivo ad Oxford tra la fine del Trecento e gli inizi del Quattrocento. Segue un'analisi comparata del De Obligationibus di Giovanni con (...) le trattazioni analoghe di altri maestri, tra i quali Rodolfo Strode, Gualterio Burley, Paolo da Venezia e Giovanni Wyclif. Discussi infine i criteri di edizione. (shrink)

Riassunto : Questo articolo propone un confronto tra la teoria mente-corpo di Henri Bergson e gli ultimi sviluppi della filosofia della mente e, più specificamente, con il cosiddetto “esternalismo”. Lo scopo è duplice. In primo luogo, si vuole sostenere che l’opera del filosofo francese ha anticipato i principali punti teorici dell’esternalismo: la teoria della percezione di Bergson, infatti, ha molti e rilevanti tratti in comune con la cosiddetta 4E Cognition, che finora non sono stati adeguatamente riconosciuti. In secondo luogo, l’articolo (...) intende anche mostrare come il quadro ontologico in cui Bergson colloca la propria interpretazione dell’esperienza cosciente, possa fungere da utile riferimento per il modello esternalista, al fine di sistematizzare i dati sperimentali entro un orizzonte teorico coerente. La teoria della "percezione pura" di Bergson, infatti, supera il modello correlazionista dell’esperienza, rilevando come quest’ultima, allo stato puro, si collochi nelle cose stesse, a un livello di realtà che precede la divaricazione dell’esperienza tra soggetto e oggetto, livello che deve essere pensato come l’origine impersonale della coscienza soggettiva. Parole chiave: Esternalismo; Percezione; Azione; Problema mente/corpo The mind/body problem in Henri Bergson e the externalism in philosophy of mind. Towards an ontological model: In this article we contrast Henri Bergson’s mind-body theory with the latest developments in Philosophy of Mind, more specifically, in so-called “Externalism”. This paper has two specific aims. First, we argue that the work of this French philosopher anticipated the main theoretical concepts of Externalism. Indeed, Bergson’s theory of perception shares many important features, which have not been adequately recognized until now, with so-called 4E Cognition. Second, we show how Bergson’s basic ontology, which frames his interpretation of conscious experience, could offer a coherent theoretical framework to systematize experimental data in an externalist model. Bergson’s theory of “pure perception” goes beyond correlation, showing that our experience, in its purest state, takes place within things themselves, at a level of reality that precedes the bifurcation of experience into a subject and an object. This undivided level of reality can be considered the impersonal origin of subjective consciousness. Keywords: Externalism; Perception; Action; Mind/Body Problem. (shrink)

Commonsense metaphysics populates the world with an enormous variety of macroscopic objects, conceived as being capable of persisting through time and undergoing various changes in their properties and relations to one another. Many of these objects fall under J. L. Austin’s memorable description, “moderate-sized specimens of dry goods.” More broadly, they include, for instance, all of those old favourites of philosophers too idle to think of more interesting examples—tables, books, rocks, apples, cats, and statues. Some of them are natural objects, (...) such as rocks, apples, and cats. Some are artefacts, such as tables, books, and statues. Some are living things, such as apples and cats. Some are inanimate things, such as tables, books, rocks, and statues. To such a list we could add much larger natural objects, such as planets and stars, as well as much smaller ones barely visible to the naked eye, such as mites and pollen grains. Telescopes and microscopes enable us to extend the scale further in both directions, to include such things as galaxies and microbes. To call into question the existence of all or any of these things would appear to be an extravagance of the sort that only a philosopher could indulge. Until fairly recently in the history of philosophy, however, the only way in which their existence would have been called into question was in the context of the debate between realism and idealism. Idealism calls their existence into question by questioning the existence of an “external world” as such, proposing instead that only minds and their experiences exist. What is much more recent is the suggestion that, although there is an external world of entities existing in space and time, it is not in fact populated by most, or perhaps even by any, of the objects recognized by common sense. Instead, it is suggested, the world is populated by submicroscopic entities of a highly esoteric kind best understood by theoretical physicists—entities which may not even qualify as “objects” in anything like the familiar sense because, quite possibly, they should not be thought of as having precise spatiotemporal locations or as persisting over time and through processes of qualitative change. Let us call these putative entities ‘atoms’, without prejudice as to whether they conform to the descriptions currently favoured by physicists in speaking of what they call ‘atoms’. In other words, let us use ‘atom’ as a place-holder for whatever kind or kinds of entities an ideal or completed physics would postulate as the “ultimate” constituents, as opposed to infinitely descending levels of ever more fine-grained physical structure, but let us set aside dispute over these alternatives for the time being, if only because we have little idea as to how to settle it. (shrink)

Questo libro presenta per la prima volta in lingua italiana, tradotto dall'ebraico, il testo poco noto di un grande umanista ebreo consulente e maestro di Pico della Mirandola, pubblicato da un lontano nipote rabbino di Amsterdam nel 1629 e presente nella biblioteca di Spinoza. Si tratta dell'Esame della religione (Beḥinat ha-dat) del cretese askenazita Elia del Medigo, personalità di primo piano non solo nella cultura ebraica di fine Quattrocento, ma anche nel mondo accademico latino, in particolare di ascendenza aristotelica."--P. (...) [vii]. (shrink)

A directional trend of floral evolution, due to the selective activity of pollinating insects, birds and bats, is here described and discussed. Six clearly distinguishable levels in the evolution of flower types are correlated with six corresponding stages of sensory development of pollinating insects . This sequence of floral evolution was used for classification of present-day flower types , and for identification of flower imprints in fossilized clays, muds, and fine sands. It was also used as a practical yardstick (...) to determine the relative sensory ability of various groups of pollinating insects to distinguish flower types .This zoophilous trend of floral evolution is directed towards improvement of fine biochemical qualities of higher plants, and in this respect it is comparable to the evolution of cultivated plants of man. In both cases better looking individuals of the most useful species are preserved for further crossings and selections, whereas individuals of poor quality are neglected or rejected. During a roughly estimated 200 million years, the selective activity of pollinating insects has produced a variety of plants with high biochemical qualities. These have served man as progenitors of presentday cultivated plants. By similar reasoning, it took prehistoric man about 4,000 years to develop existing cultivated plants from wild progenitors.Un cours directionnel de l'évolution des fleurs, résultant de l'activité sélective des insectes polliniseurs, oiseaux et chauve-souris est ici décrit et discuté.Six niveaux clairement distincts dans l'évolution des types de fleurs sont associés à six étappes correspondantes dans le développement sensoriel des insectes polliniseurs . Cette séquence dans l'évolution des fleurs a été utilisée pour la classification des types de fleurs actuels , et pour l'identification des empreintes de fleurs sur les argiles, boues et sables fins, fossiles. Elle a été également utilisée comme étalon de référence pour déterminer les capacités sensorielles à distinguer les types de fleurs de divers groupes d'insectes polliniseurs .Ce cours zoophile de l'évolution des fleurs tend à une amélioration des propriétés biochimiques fines des plantes supérieures et, en ce sens, est comparable à l'évolution des plantes cultivées par l'homme. Dans les deux cas, les individus les plus beaux des espèces les plus utiles sont mis à l'abri de nouveaux croisements ou sélections, tandis que les individus de mauvaise qualité sont négligés ou rejetés. Durant une période grossièrement estimée à 200 millions d'années, l'activité sélective des insectes polliniseurs a produit une variété de plantes aux grandes qualités biochimiques et nutritives. Celles-ci ont servi l'homme en tant qu'ancêtres des plantes actuellement cultivées. Par des raisonnements analogues, il a fallu 4000 ans pour que l'homme préhistorique développe les plantes actuellement cultivées à partir de leurs ancêtres sauvages. Avec les méthodes d'élevage modernes, l'homme est à même d'accélérer considérablement l'évolution des plantes cultivées.Die Entwicklung der meisten Angiospermengruppen ist seit der Kreidezeit und wahrscheinlich noch früher vollkommen von der Insektenbestäubung abhängig geworden, während viele Insektengruppen ihre Entwicklung und ihre ganze Existenz den Blütenpflanzen als ihren Nährquellen Verdanken. Diese wechselseitige Zusammenwirkung der Insekten und Pflanzen hat eine gemeinsame Entwicklungsrichtung verursacht, die man neuerdings alsgerichtete Evolution bezeichnet hat. Eine durch die selektive Tätigkeit der pollenübertragenden Insekten, Vögel und Fledermäuse gerichtete Entwicklungsrichtung der Blütentypen ist hier kurz zusammengefasst.Sechs klargelegte Altersstufen in der Blütenevolution entsprechen den sechs Etappen in der Sinnesentwicklung der betreffenden pollenübertragenden Insekten . Diese Stufenfolge wurde für die Klassifikation der gegenwärtigen Blütentypen und auch für die Bestimmung der versteinerten Blütenabdrücke auf Tonerde, Schlammarten, feine Sandsteine und auf andere geologische Ablagerungen angewendet. Mit dieser Stufenfolge wurden ferner noch die Fähigkeitsgrade der anthophilen Insekten näher festgestellt.Die zoophile Richtung der Blütenevolution ist demnach mit der Verbesserung der biochemischen Eigenschaften der höheren Pflanzen derart eng verbunden, dass man diese mit der Züchtungstätigkeit der Menschen vergleichen kann. In beiden Fällen werden die Individuen mit höheren Qualitäten bevorzugt, während weniger auffallende Exemplare vernachlässigt oder abgewiesen werden. Ungefähr nach 200 Millionen Jahren haben die Insekten eine grosse Menge von biochemisch wertvollen höheren Pflanzen geschaffen. Von diesem Material hat der prähistorischer Mensch während ungefähr 4000 Jahre seine Kulturpflanzen ausgewählt und weiter entwickelt. Mit den modernen Züchtungsmethoden wird es aber wohl möglich sein die jetzigen Kulturpflanzen noch bedeutend zu verbessern und das auch innerhalb einer kürzeren Zeitspanne als diese Insekten und der prähistorische. Mensch es vermochten. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: "De Doctrina Christiana" and the Search for a Distinctly Christian RhetoricCalvin L. TroupThe Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: "De Doctrina Christiana" and the Search for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric by Ed. Richard Leo Enos and Roger Thompson Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2008. Pp. 420. $44.95, paperback.Is De doctrina christiana (DDC), by Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo, a narrow appropriation (...) of the rhetorical tradition to serve the limited purposes of sectarian religion? Or does DDC extend and expand the rhetorical tradition in a transitional historical moment? One is often led to different conclusions when reading about Augustine than when actually reading Augustine, even in translation. The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: "De Doctrina Christiana" and the Search for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric offers students of rhetoric an opportunity to do both: to read Augustine, in Latin and in English translation and to locate Augustine definitively within the scholarly tradition of rhetoric and philosophy. The volume offers formative essays by Charles Sears Baldwin and James J. Murphy, introduces basic arguments about how Augustine's rhetoric emerged amid the turbulence of the late Roman Empire through the work of Ernest Fortin and Michael Leff, and offers more recent engagements with DDC in essays by Gerard Watson, David W. Tracy, and John D. Schaeffer. However, what makes the volume indispensable for students of philosophy [End Page 86] and rhetoric is the reproduction of the complete work of Sister Theresa Sullivan on DDC, book IV (DDC IV)—the Latin text, her translation, her notes, and the front matter of her original version (Sullivan's English translation and notes were anthologized in both the first and second editions of The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, edited by Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Hezberg).Every generation needs examples of good scholarship that does not take shortcuts. Sullivan's work captures the careful craft of close work with an ancient text. Thanks to Enos and Thompson et al., Sullivan's impressive scholarship anchors this fine volume. I first review Sullivan's contributions in the book, then comment briefly on the essays that contextualize her work within the broader sphere of rhetorical scholarship on DDC IV. Why is Sullivan's work indispensible? First, the Latin text set beside the translation is unique to English translations of DDC IV currently in print. The quality of Sullivan's translation is evident. The Latin text also reminds us to consider the text as it might sound to Latin/Roman ears and foregrounds the enigmatic process of translating an ancient, complex text. Second, the commentary elevates the significance of DDC for philosophy and rhetoric. Sullivan dispenses with a great deal of nonsense about DDC in a few simple lines. For example, she demonstrates Augustine's deep knowledge and reliance on a broad spectrum of the received philosophical tradition in rhetoric. The notes correlate Augustine with Cicero in ways obvious in the Latin but opaque in translation and similarly show how DDC IV incorporates rhetorical theory from Aristotle, the Ad Herrennium, Quintilian, and Plato (e.g., see notes on 130–35). Third, Sullivan's front matter presents impressive research on textual authenticity of the Latin text of DDC as well as translation and publication histories for DDC IV and the book as a whole. She fixes the date and occasion of the writing of DDC IV with precision. The sources and parallels from Greco-Roman rhetorical theory are unmatched in the literature. These features alone are worth the cost of The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo.The remainder of the volume presents a faithful account of a received rhetorical tradition: Augustine's DDC preserves the tradition of rhetoric and philosophy into and through the Middle Ages. Most of the essays correspond with Sullivan's work, featuring DDC IV, which could give the impression that the place to find Augustine's rhetoric is in DDC IV. However, Enos and Thompson et al. do not seem to fall into this trap. Rather, the book suggests that DDC IV is a door to fuller engagement with Augustine. Some indices within the rhetorical tradition do read Augustine and... (shrink)

Il saggio ricostruisce lo scontro sull’emancipazione negli Stati Uniti dei decenni precedenti la Guerra Civile, concentrandosi sul discorso dell’economia politica del Nord e in particolare sugli scritti di Henry Charles Carey (1793-1879). Obiettivo del saggio è mostrare come, tra anni Trenta e Cinquanta, gli economisti del Nord, contro l’abolizionismo radicale, elaborino una visione graduale e limitata dell’emancipazione, nel tentativo di garantire, anche dopo la fine della schiavitù, la continuità del comando sul lavoro nero nel Sud e la persistenza delle (...) gerarchie razziali e di classe del capitalismo americano. Il saggio evidenzia inoltre come questa visione dell’emancipazione, pur influenzando il Partito Repubblicano e l’amministrazione Lincoln, venga sconfitta dal general strike degli schiavi durante la Guerra Civile. (shrink)

The main aim of the present essay is to explore Arthur C. Danto’s passionate confrontation with German philosophy. As will emerge, it is neither an analysis planned according to a precise chronological order, nor a rigidly systematic investigation. In a succession of irreverent betrayals, syncretistic appropriations and courageous afterthoughts, Danto will proceed rather backwards, going from Nietzsche to Hegel and from Hegel to Kant. In doing so – during his long and tireless philosophical r...

Senza una filosofia della storia, la storia non è altro che un incomprensibile susseguirsi di eventi che non trasmette le autentiche motivazioni umane ad agire. Capire il fine ultimo della storia significa porsi in un'ottica assoluta, metafisica, abbandonando la concezione del corpo sociale come semplice lotta per la sopravvivenza. In questo senso la filosofia è sorella della teologia come dimostrano, secondo Karl Lowith, le tappe fondamentali del pensiero europeo. Dalla Bibbia a sant'Agostino, da Voltaire a Marx, da Vico a (...) Hegel, l'interpretazione filosofica della storia rimane ancorata a un'originaria matrice religiosa. Anche quando alla fede e all'idea di provvidenza sostituisce quella di progresso. (shrink)

I prefix to this paper for convenience of reference the three extant chapters of the law: K.L. III. Quae colonia hac lege deducta quodue municipium praefectura forum conciliabulum constitutum erit, qui ager intra fines eorum erit, qui termini in eo agro statuti erunt, quo in loco terminus non stabit, in eo loco is, cuius is ager erit, terminum restituendum curato, uti quod recte factum esse uolet: idque magistratus, qui in ea colonia municipio praefectura foro conciliabulo iure dicundo praeerit, facito ut (...) fiat. (shrink)

Although very young children have unprecedented access to touchscreen devices, there is limited research on how successfully they operate these devices for play and learning. For infants and toddlers, whose cognitive, fine motor, and executive functions are immature, several basic questions are significant: Can they operate a tablet purposefully to achieve a goal? Can they acquire operating skills and learn new information from commercially available apps? Do individual differences in executive functioning predict success in using and learning from the (...) apps? Accordingly, 31 2-year-olds were compared with 29 3-year-olds using two commercially available apps with different task and skill requirements: a shape matching app performed across 3 days, and a storybook app with performance compared to that on a matched paper storybook. Children also completed the Minnesota Executive Functioning Scale. An adult provided minimal scaffolding throughout. The results showed: toddlers could provide simple goal-directed touch gestures and the manual interactions needed to operate the tablet after controlling for prior experience with shape matching, toddlers’ increased success and efficiency, made fewer errors, decreased completion times, and required less scaffolding across trials, they recognized more story content from the e-book and were less distracted than from the paper book, executive functioning contributed unique variance to the outcome measures on both apps, and 3-year-olds outperformed 2-year-olds on all measures. The results are discussed in terms of the potential of interactive devices to support toddlers’ learning. (shrink)