The field of AI safety aims to prevent increasingly capable artificially intelligent systems from causing humans harm. Research on moral alignment is widely thought to offer a promising safety strategy: if we can equip AI systems with appropriate ethical rules, according to this line of thought, they'll be unlikely to disempower, destroy or otherwise seriously harm us. Deontological morality looks like a particularly attractive candidate for an alignment target, given its popularity, relative technical tractability and commitment to harm-avoidance principles. I (...) argue that the connection between moral alignment and safe behavior is more tenuous than many have hoped. In general, AI systems can possess either of these properties in the absence of the other, and we should favor safety when the two conflict. In particular, advanced AI systems governed by standard versions of deontology need not be especially safe. (shrink)

Mathematicians often describe the importance of well-developed intuition to productive research and successful learning. But neither education researchers nor philosophers interested in epistemic dimensions of mathematical practice have yet given the topic the sustained attention it deserves. The trouble is partly that intuition in the relevant sense lacks a usefully clear characterization, so we begin by offering one: mature intuition, we say, is the capacity for fast, fluent, reliable and insightful inference with respect to some subject matter. We illustrate the (...) role of mature intuition in mathematical practice with an assortment of examples, including data from a sequence of clinical interviews in which a student improves upon initially misleading covariational intuitions. Finally, we show how the study of intuition can yield insights for philosophers and education theorists. First, it contributes to a longstanding debate in epistemology by undermining epistemicism, the view that an agent’s degree of objectual understanding is determined exclusively by their knowledge, beliefs and credences. We argue on the contrary that intuition can contribute directly and independently to understanding. Second, we identify potential pedagogical avenues towards the development of mature intuition, highlighting strategies including adding imagery, developing associations, establishing confidence and generalizing concepts. (shrink)

We defend a noetic account of intramathematical explanation. On this view, a piece of mathematics is explanatory just in case it produces understanding of an appropriate type. We motivate the view by presenting some appealing features of noeticism. We then discuss and criticize the most prominent extant version of noeticism, due to Inglis and Mejía Ramos, which identifies explanatory understanding with the possession of well-organized cognitive schemas. Finally, we present a novel noetic account. On our view, explanatory understanding arises from (...) meeting specific explanatory objectives. We defend a cluster-concept account of explanatory objectives and identify four important subfamilies within the relevant network of resemblance relations. The resulting view is objectivist (in the sense that it takes explanatory success to be a matter of observer-independent fact), broader in scope than why-question-based accounts, compatible with empirical findings on experts’ explanatory judgments, and capable of generalizing (with appropriate provisos) to scientific explanation as a whole. It thus fulfills Friedman’s half-century-old demand for a general and objectivist theory which accounts for the link between explanation and understanding. (shrink)

A number of companies allocate ownership rights to stakeholders different from shareholders, despite the fact that the law attributes these rights to the equity holders. This article contributes to an understanding of this evidence by developing a contingency model for the allocation of ownership rights. The model sheds light on why companies, despite pressures from the law, vary in their allocation of ownership rights. The model is based on the assumption that corporations increase their chance to survive and prosper if (...) the stakeholders supplying “critical contributions” receive the ownership rights. According to the model, “critical” contributions involve (1) contractual problems due to specific investments, long-term relationships, and low measurability; (2) the assumption of the uncertainty resting on the company; and (3) the supply of scarce and valuable resources. The model is dynamic because it also provides a basis for understanding why the allocation of ownership rights changes with time. Finally, the article presents the strategies companies can use to realize an efficient distribution of ownership rights among their stakeholders. (shrink)

Iglesias et al. (2025) argue that “some of the aims or ostensible goods of person-span expansion could plausibly be fulfilled in part by creating a digital doppelgänger”—that is, an AI system desig...

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 10, Page 20-22, October 2012.

Abstract -/- In this paper, I shall deal with quasi-(proper) names, that is expressions like ‘Mum’, ‘Dad’, ‘Grandpa’, ‘Grandma’ in English or ‘Papà’, ‘Mamma’, ‘Nonna’, ‘Nonno’ in Italian. I shall use examples both from English and Italian. Quasi-names are directly referential like proper names, even if they apparently exhibit some conceptual materials, which, however, are not active and are inert. They can be used as vocatives or as arguments of verbs. I called terms like ‘Mum’, ‘Dad’ ‘quasi-names’ because they have (...) certain characteristics of names (but they could also be called ‘indexical names’). They confer significance to an individual. Quasi-names are indexical, although the word ‘I’ does not appear in the proposition expressed. (shrink)

This article explores the role of habits in shapingaesthetic normativity. It asserts that standards of value within aesthetic agency are not immutable, objective criteriadetached from personal engagement in appreciationand creation, nor should they be reduced to mere individualsubjective pleasure. The former stance fails to consider theessential expressivity and creativity at the heart of aestheticpractices, while the latter overlooks the normative frameworkthat underpins the significance, validity, and qualityof aesthetic agency. This framework is represented in theestablished rules of taste, the need for (...) aesthetic education,and the dynamics of aesthetic disagreements. Consequently, effective aesthetic normativity requires abalance: practices must be organized structurally aroundvalues that are, to a certain degree, communally shared, yetflexible enough to incorporate the expressive creativity ofindividual appreciation. This article contributes a nuancedexplanation of aesthetic normativity by elucidating the impactof habits on aesthetic practices. (shrink)

It is often assumed that habits and aesthetic experiences are fundamentally and irreconcilably opposed. Typically, aesthetic experiences are considered to necessitate non-habitual behavior and to provoke unexpected mental states and extraordinary affective sensations. This article challenges this assumption. Moving beyond potential structural analogies between habitual behavior and aesthetic experience, I focus on two key aspects. Firstly, I argue that the experience of beauty and aesthetic experiences in general actually depend on certain habits, specifically those engaged in aesthetic agency and appreciation, (...) which I term «aesthetic habits». Secondly, I propose that habits have an aesthetic origin, as they virtuously evolve and adapt to their environment. This transformative capacity, along with their ability to resonate with specific situational demands, embodies an improvisational quality that should be encouraged, reflecting the inherently unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of aesthetic experience. (shrink)

In this chapter I deal with indirect reports in terms of language games. I try to make connections between the theory of language games and the theory of indirect reports, in the light of the issue of clues and cues. Indirect reports are based on an interplay of voices. The voice of the reporter must allow hearers to ‘reconstruct’ the voice of the reported speaker. Ideally, it must be possible to separate the reporter’s voice from that of the reported speaker. (...) When we analyze the language game of indirect reporting, we ideally want to establish which parts belong to the primary voice and which parts belong to the reporter’s voice. In this paper I apply considerations on language games by Dascal et al. and I explore the dialectics between abstract pragmatics principles and considerations about situated uses that are sensitive to cues and clues. (shrink)

The paper recognizes the failure of contemporary non-aesthetic theories of art and aims at recovering the phenomenological notion of derealization – which re-emerges in A. Dantoʼs idea of the ʻbracketting effectʼ of art –, in order to explain art and art-experience. The main point is that art makes us free from the ʻreal worldʼ through an act of derealization that leads to the establishment of possible or fictional worlds different from the one we live in. Artworks are primarly imaginary, unreal (...) objects, due to the fact that they interest us only for its appearance and as appearance. Therefore, art cannot be understood without the frame of a particular kind of experience that we can understand in terms of Kantʼs notion of disinterestedness. This notion is still productive to understand why art has a certain power to free us from the needs of reality, although through art we do have profound views of certain aspects of reality and our life. Some objections against Kantʼs theory of aesthetic disinterestedness are discussed and refused, in order to understand the transcendental significance of the aesthetic theory of art. (shrink)

El tema del presente texto es la cuestión del estatuto ontológico del arte y del papel que, con respecto a tal estatuto, juega la relación entre arte y poder político. Para ello voy a traer a colación las obras de dos autores clásicos en este tema: Las cartas sobre la educación estética de la humanidad (1795) de J. C. F. Schiller, y el H. Marcuse de los escritos sobre la dimensión estética, en particular de los ensayos titulados La dimensión estética (...) (1978), Ensayo sobre la liberación (1969) y Arte y revolución, que es un capítulo del libro Contrarrevolución y revuelta (1972). Se trata de textos muy vinculados a las épocas en las cuales fueron escritos, los años sucesivos a la Revolución francesa en el caso de Schiller, y, por lo que concierne a Marcuse, los años de los movimientos libertarios juveniles de protesta, es decir, los años sesenta y setenta del siglo pasado. En ellos, sin embargo, y como en todo buen clásico, aparecen temas y argumentaciones que todavía hoy constituyen una buena herramienta para discutir filosóficamente la relación entre arte, estética y política. (shrink)

A fine Settecento, quando l’ingresso della musica nel «sistema delle arti» era un evento ancora recente, il fondatore della Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Friedrich Rochlitz, individuava il motivo della maggiore discrepanza nei giudizi in materia musica le rispetto alle altre arti nel fatto che essa sarebbe priva di punti di riferimento visibili. «La musica», egli affermava, «nulla ha divisibile (Sichtbares) cui si possano confrontare le sue opere, o da cui possa scaturire una qualche concordanza nelle valutazioni». Mentre per esempio possiamo valutare (...) la differenza di valore tra due raffigurazioni di una rosa perché abbiamo visto la rosa reale, nella musica, argomentava Rochlitz, dobbiamo affidarci alla nostra sensibilità introspettiva, il che rende il compito del giudizio assai difficile. Non intendo qui commentare questo argomento. Piuttosto mi interessa mettere in discussione l’idea che la musica non abbia a che fare con la dimensione del visibile. Anche dando per scontata l’idea che la musica sia un’arte, o un campo di pratiche, legato in modo fondamentale ai suoni e all’ascolto, non è inutile interrogarsi sul contributo della dimensione visiva all’esperienza musicale. Questo articolo presenterà quindi alcune considerazioni circa gli aspetti visivi della produzione e della ricezione della musica. La prima parte concerne la possibilità di visualizzare l’opera intesa come tipo ideale strutturale. La seconda parte discute il ruolo della visione nell’esecuzione delle opere musicali. La terza parte si sofferma brevemente sul ruolo della visualizzazione immaginativa e del vedere performativo nelle pratiche dell’improvvisazione. La conclusione propone un rapido riferimento all’iconologia musicale. (shrink)

In a recent series of important papers, Søren Overgaard has defended a disjunctivist reading of Edmund Husserl’s theory of perception. According to Overgaard, Husserl commits to disjunctivism when arguing that hallucination intrinsically differs from perception because only experiences of the latter kind carry singular content and, thereby, pick out individuals. This paper rejects that interpretation by invoking the theory of intentionality developed by Husserl in the Logical Investigations. It is claimed that this theory not only lacks the notion of singular (...) content, but it also entails the idea that perceptions and hallucinations belong to the same kind of experience. If that is correct, a commitment to conjuctivism on Husserl’s end follows, pace Overgaard. (shrink)

Social interaction, especially for older people living alone is a challenge currently facing human-robot interaction (HRI). There has been little research on user preference towards HRI interfaces. In this paper, we took both objective observations and participants’ opinions into account in studying older users with a robot partner. The developed dual-modal robot interface offered older users options of speech or touch screen to perform tasks. Fifteen people aged from 70 to 89 years old, participated. We analyzed the spontaneous actions of (...) the participants, including their attentional activities and conversational activities, the temporal characteristics of these social behaviours, as well as questionnaires. It has been revealed that social engagement with the robot demonstrated by older people was no different from what might be expected towards a human partner. This study is an early attempt to reveal the social connections between human beings and a personal robot in real life. (shrink)

This article aims to delve into the theoretical perspective on imagination in education, focusing specifically on Imaginative Education theory. The approach involves a dual objective: critically analyzing the limitations and specific potentials of Imaginative Education to stimulate contemporary discourse on imagination in education and using it as a foundation to frame current research in philosophy and psychology within an educational context. Key elements of this theoretical operation include a critical examination of philosophical taxonomies on the concept of imagination and its (...) reinterpretation in relation to Predictive Coding and Embodied Cognition theories. The fundamental goal of this conceptual clarification goes beyond the theoretical realm. The article aspires to contribute to the growing interest in imagination, fantasy, and creativity as essential elements of curriculum design and teacher education, serving both as educational objectives and resources to create meaningful learning environments and experiences. Hence, the focus on the IE theory aims to bridge the gap between theoretical reflections on imagination and learning and their practical implications in curriculum design and teacher education or professional development. (shrink)

In questo articolo prenderò spunto da due affermazioni attribuite a Miles Davis per discutere un aspetto importante di quello che l’improvvisazione ci insegna sulle pratiche umane: situazioni impreviste, magari indesiderate, possono risultare stimoli sorprendenti per l’esercizio della creatività, anziché restare elementi di disturbo o solamente semplici errori. Questo esercizio di creatività è il modo in cui costruiamo ordini normativi nelle nostre pratiche, artistiche e non.

Gianni Vattimo ha elaborato l’estetica e la teoria dell’arte del «pensiero debole» soprattutto in alcuni articoli pubblicati nella «Rivista di Estetica» (della quale è stato direttore). Parte di questi saggi è stata poi raccolta nella seconda sezione di una delle sue opere centrali, La fine della modernità, sezione intitolata, significativamente, La verità dell’arte. Le diverse questioni discusse da Vattimo sono infatti attraversate dal filo conduttore del problema della verità dell’arte, nell’epoca del nichilismo, della fine della storia e del mondo estetizzato (...) dei mass media. Attraverso una lettura teoreticamente produttiva di M. Heidegger e F. Nietzsche, ma anche – come si vedrà – di certe pagine kantiane, e al contempo “indebolendo” l’ermeneutica di H.-G. Gadamer (ma anche quella di L. Pareyson),Vattimo affronta la questione dell’arte, della sua verità, del suo significato, del suo statuto ontologico, mettendo anzitutto in questione la domanda “che cos’è l’arte?” che molti studiosi, sia in ambito “analitico”, sia in ambito “continentale”, pongono al centro della riflessione estetica. Ha infatti senso, oggi, chiedersi «che cos’è l’arte?», cercando di fornire una definizione che restituisca l’ontos on, l’essenza dell’arte? O è proprio il fatto di presumere la possibilità di offrire una definizione a costituire il vero problema, in quanto tale assunzione presuppone già un determinato modo di pensare il mondo, modo di pensare che, storicamente, si è costituito come la metafisica occidentale? E se nel post-moderno la metafisica occidentale viene decostruita da un pensiero e da prassi vitali che ne mettono in crisi le griglie concettuali, ne sovvertono gli ordini e le tassonomie, esibendone così l’infondatezza, com’è possibile definire, pensare e praticare l’arte e l’estetica, che sono categorie impiantate solidamente nelle strutture della metafisica? (shrink)

En février 2024, le Parlement européen a voté l’autorisation partielle d’utilisation des NGT ( New Genomic Techniques ). À la différence des OGM, interdites, les NGT ne visent pas à injecter dans une plante les gènes d’une autre, mais à modifier le séquençage de son propre génome en imitant l’évolution génétique « spontanée » qui ne prend plus des milliers d’années, mais quelques minutes. Du coup, elles sont peu « traçables ». Les techniques d’hybridation ont, depuis les années 50, été (...) imposées aux agriculteurs du Nord puis du Sud au prétexte de meilleurs rendements pour nourrir le monde et, aujourd’hui, de la protection de l’environnement. En fait, les semences hybrides sont brevetées et constituent une rente exceptionnelle pour les industries chimiques et pharmaceutiques, tout en maintenant dans la dépendance de leur utilisation les paysans du monde entier astreints à l’industrialisation agricole, ce qui provoque de profondes inégalités. Il s’agit de briser le lien mortel qui soumet les États (qui leur accordent un soutien massif) aux entreprises privées qui s’approprient les brevets. (shrink)

Rhythm: definition and philosophical accounts.

In recent years, the concept of habits has emerged as a focal point within international philosophical discourse, particularly through historical, theoretical, and empirical lenses encompassing and integrating, among others, philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific and sociological perspectives. Habits, understood as dispositions that facilitate individual and social activities, influence everything from mundane daily practices to highly specialized skills. They shape the interaction between organism and en- vironment, playing a pivotal role in personal and collective identity formation, cultural education, social coordination, organization and change, (...) and the manifestation of political engagement. However, the exploration of habits within the realm of aesthetics is a relatively new and intriguing domain. This special issue of “Aisthesis” seeks to bridge this gap by examining the intricate relationship between habits and the aesthetic life. (shrink)

The idea that art is related to a process of creation is a modern one. Through a complex history in the $)th century, which is not without contradictions, the connection between art and creativity was debated in different fields – psychology, epistemology, cognitive science, etc. – and became the target of attacks from marxism and (post-)structuralism. Still, the notion of creativity seems to have conserved its force not only in everyday practices but also in media discourses. In diverse areas – (...) from art theory to epistemology, from action theory to economics, from computer science to psychology (to give only a few examples) – it has regained the attention of scholars as well, as is made clear by the number of recent publications on the topic. However, questions remain as to whether and how the notion of creativity can be used and what kind of conceptual work it can do. Trópos dedicated a call for papers to this topic. Selected papers are published in two special issues. The present one includes essays offering theoretical investigations on creativity. They do this under different, even contrasting, perspectives, with different aims and with di5erent outcomes. Yet, the light they throw on the question at issue provides readers with important, often creative, insights. Through them, readers are invited to think creatively, as well as critically, on creativity and its connections with the arts and aesthetics. (shrink)

Philosophers and scientists have recently been showing renewed interest in dualistic conceptions of the human mind, owing to growing acknowledgment of the failings of materialism and reductionism in contemporary philosophical and scientific thought. This book presents a state-of-the-art overview of current developments in this exciting new area of interdisciplinary collaboration, and will be indispensable reading for all researchers and students in this field.

This article serves as a step-by-step guide of a new application of Q-methodology to investigate people’s preferences for multivariate stimuli. Q-methodology has been widely applied in fields such as sociology, education and political sciences but, despite its numerous advantages, it has not yet gained much attention from experimental psychologists. This may be due to the fact that psychologists examining preferences, often adopt stimuli resulting from a combination of characteristics from multiple variables, and in repeated measure designs. At present, Q methodology (...) has not been adapted to accommodate. We therefore developed a novel analysis procedure allowing Q-methodology to handle these conditions. We propose a protocol requiring five analyses of a decision process to estimate: the preference of stimuli, the dominance of variables, the individual differences, the interaction between individual differences and preference, and the interaction between individual differences and dominance. The guide comes with a script developed in R to run the five analyses; furthermore, we provide a case study with a detailed description of the procedure and corresponding results. This guide is particularly beneficial to conduct and analyze experiments in any research on people’s preferences, such as experimental aesthetics, prototype testing, visual perception, etc. (shrink)

Starting from the assumption that the ability to see patterns and thus abstract from actual events and properties of specific objects is universal, the article reviews different conceptualizations of and attitudes toward the terms ‘theory’ and ‘model’, identifying two co-existing and opposing tendencies: the love for details and the attraction to generalizations that can cover a wide range of phenomena. Using as a backdrop seven theses here reproduced in the Appendix, the article also examines the implications of taking the notion (...) of interaction as primary in the analysis of language and culture. Such implications involve the need to identify useful units of analysis and evaluative measures for competing theories and models. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In times of crisis, interpersonal and group solidarity often emerge as people face critical challenges that threaten their survival. However, it remains unclear whether spontaneous solidarity practices are enough to effectively face such crisis situations. In this paper, we argue that to be fully effective, solidarity must be deployed through all its political tiers, from interpersonal and group relationships to institutional and legal normativity. We contend that solidarity relations can only reach an enduring goal if they solidify into stable (...) principles that can be acknowledged and enacted at the institutional level. Through an examination of recent literature and concrete case studies, the paper investigates the linkages and mutual dependencies between the various levels of solidarity developed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis may allow us to answer the question of whether a “Multilevel European Solidarity” is a realistic goal, and what is required to achieve it. (shrink)

BackgroundThe preferable position of Deep Brain Stimulation electrodes is proposed to be located in the dorsolateral subthalamic nucleus to improve general motor performance. The optimal DBS electrode localization for the post-operative improvement of balance and gait is unknown.MethodsIn this single-center, retrospective analyses, 66 Parkinson’s disease patients were assessed pre- and post-operatively by using MDS-UPDRS, freezing of gait score, Giladi’s gait and falls questionnaire and Berg balance scale. The clinical outcome was related to the DBS electrode coordinates in x, y, z (...) plane as revealed by image-based reconstruction. Binomial generalized linear mixed models with fixed-effect variables electrode asymmetry, parkinsonian subtype, medication, age class and clinical DBS induced changes were analyzed.ResultsSubthalamic nucleus-deep brain stimulation improved all motor, balance and FoG scores in MED OFF condition, however there were heterogeneous results in MED ON condition. DBS electrode reconstructed coordinates impacted the responsiveness of axial symptoms. FoG and balance responders showed slightly more medially located STN electrode coordinates and less medio-lateral asymmetry of the electrode reconstructed coordinates across hemispheres compared to non-responders.ConclusionDeep brain stimulation electrode reconstructed coordinates, particularly electrode asymmetry on the medio-lateral axis affected the post-operative responsiveness of balance and FoG symptoms in PD patients. (shrink)

After leading to a new axiomatic derivation of quantum theory, the new informational paradigm is entering the domain of quantum field theory, suggesting a quantum automata framework that can be regarded as an extension of quantum field theory to including an hypothetical Planck scale, and with the usual quantum field theory recovered in the relativistic limit of small wave-vectors. Being derived from simple principles, the automata theory is quantum ab-initio, and does not assume Lorentz covariance and mechanical notions. Being discrete (...) it can describe localized states and measurements, solving all the issues plaguing field theory originated from the continuum. These features make the theory an ideal framework for quantum gravity, with relativistic covariance and space-time emergent solely from the interactions, and not assumed a priori. The paper presents a synthetic derivation of the automata theory, showing how the principles lead to a description in terms of a quantum automaton over a Cayley graph of a group. Restricting to Abelian groups we show how the automata recover the Weyl, Dirac and Maxwell dynamics in the relativistic limit. We conclude with some new routes about the more general scenario of non-Abelian Cayley graphs. The phenomenology arising from the automata theory in the ultra-relativistic domain and the analysis of corresponding distorted Lorentz covariance is reviewed in Bisio et al. (shrink)