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

La música popular se ha servido de nuevas tecnologías y del carácter globalizador de nuestra época para expandirse por diferentes espacios de la vida cotidiana. Vivimos sobre estimulados por diferentes ritmos, melodías y sonidos. En este contexto tan diverso, ¿cómo explicamos que algo nuevo nos guste? La propuesta de este trabajo es explicar la génesis del gusto, partiendo de la estructura temporal de la sorpresa propuesta por Natalie Depraz: anticipación-impresión-resonancia. La idea es entender el gusto como una posibilidad de la (...) sorpresa; como resonancia de la primera experiencia sonora. De esta forma, se podrá ofrecer una perspectiva distinta de la estética del gusto: fuera o diferenciándose de los modelos estéticos establecidos. Además, se podrá entender cómo la sorpresa participa en el origen de las distintas comunidades musicales que son responsables de sostener la producción musical masiva. (shrink)

Revonsuo proposed an intriguing and detailed evolutionary theory of dreams which stipulates that the biological function of dreaming is to simulate threatening events and to rehearse threat avoidance behaviors. The goal of the present study was to test this theory using a sample of 212 recurrent dreams that was scored using a slightly expanded version of the DreamThreat rating scale. Six of the eight hypotheses tested were supported. Among the positive findings, 66% of the recurrent dream reports contained one or (...) more threats, the threats tended to be dangerous and aimed at the dreamer, and when facing a threat, the dreamer tended to take defensive or evasive actions that were possible and reasonable. However, less than 15% of the recurrent dreams depicted realistic and probable situations critical for one’s physical survival or reproductive success and the dreamer rarely succeeded in fleeing the threat despite important and appropriate efforts. The findings thus provide mixed support for the threat simulation theory. (shrink)

Significant individual differences exist in dream recall frequency but some variance is likely attributable to instrument choice in measuring DRF. Three hundred and fifty eight participants estimated their weekly DRF and recorded their dreams in either a narrative log or checklist log for 2–5 weeks. There was an early peak in DRF within the first week of both types of prospective logs after which DRF remained relatively stable. Although the two groups did not differ in their estimated DRF, significantly fewer (...) dreams were reported per week on the narrative logs and only checklist logs yielded significantly higher DRF than participants’ questionnaire estimates. The interactions between DRF measures did not vary across groups with low, medium or high baseline levels of DRF. Keeping a dream log does not necessarily increase DRF and narrative logs’ time consuming nature can impact subjects’ motivation to report all of their dreams over time. (shrink)

We propose the “microbiota‐inflammasome” hypothesis of major depressive disorder (MDD, a mental illness affecting the way a person feels and thinks, characterized by long‐lasting feelings of sadness). We hypothesize that pathological shifts in gut microbiota composition (dysbiosis) caused by stress and gut conditions result in the upregulation of pro‐inflammatory pathways mediated by the Nod‐like receptors family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome (an intracellular platform involved in the activation of inflammatory processes). This upregulation exacerbates depressive symptomatology and further compounds gut (...) dysbiosis. In this review we describe MDD/chronic stress‐induced changes in: 1) NLRP3 inflammasome; 2) gut microbiota; and 3) metabolic pathways; and how inflammasome signaling may affect depressive‐like behavior and gut microbiota composition. The implication is that novel therapeutic strategies could emerge for MDD and co‐morbid conditions. A number of testable predictions surface from this microbiota‐gut‐inflammasome‐brain hypothesis of MDD, using approaches that modulate gut microbiota composition via inflammasome modulation, fecal microbiota transplantation, psychobiotics supplementation, or dietary change. (shrink)

This article serves as an introduction to the collection of papers in this monographic issue on “What the European tradition can teach about Corporate Social Responsibility” and presents the rationale and the main hypotheses of the project. We maintain that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an ethical concept, that the demands for socially responsible actions have been around since before the Industrial Revolution and that companies have responded to them, especially in Europe, and that the content of CSR has evolved (...) over time, depending on historical, cultural, political, and socio-economic drivers and particular conditions in different countries and also at different points in time. Therefore, there is not – and probably cannot be – a unique, precise definition of CSR: one global standard for CSR is unlikely. (shrink)

There are three types of solutions to the problems deriving from companies' ethical, social and environmental responsibilities: those based on regulation by an authority or agency; those deigned to create market incentives; and those that rely on self-regulation by companies themselves. In the specific field we are concerned with here, regulation has significant costs and drawbacks that make it particularly desirable that companies should set up their own ethical, social and environmental management systems or programmes. The purpose of this article (...) is twofold. On the one hand, it explains how implementing voluntary ethical, social and environmental management systems or programmes may help to develop and sustain ethical behaviour in organizations, overcoming the conflict between compulsory regulation and occasional ethical practices. On the other hand, it shows that conditions must be met for an ethical management programme to be effective. (shrink)

Una risposta alla prolusione di Zeller -- Della relazione della Chiesa allo Stato -- Origine e natura della passioni secondo l'Etica di Spinoza -- La dottrina di Socrate secondo Senofonte, Platone ed Aristotele -- Della libertà morale -- Morale e religione -- Del concetto della libertà --Dell'insegnamento della storia -- Lezioni di pedagogia -- I problemi della filosofia della storia -- Del socialismo -- Saggi intorno alla concezione materialistica della storia -- Al comitato per la commemorazione di G. Bruno in (...) Pisa -- Giordano Bruno -- L'università e la libertà della scienza -- A proposito del libro di Bernstein -- Da un secolo all'altro -- Storia, filosofia della storia, sociologia e materialismo storico. (shrink)

The paper offers some arguments in favour of the view that there are aesthetic properties of performances of works of Western classical music that always count as good-making features of such performances.

die besagten Begriffe zunachst als synonyme Bezeichnungen fUr die Methode der Philosophie betrachtet werden konnen. Erst am Ende der Abhandlung zeichnet sich die Moglichkeit einer Bedeutungstren nung zwischen EpocM und Reduktion ab - allerdings nicht mehr ganz im Sinne HusserIs. Die Aufgabe, Philosophie als absolute Wissenschaft zu begriinden, ist fUr HusserI im Grunde das Problem der Gewinnung eines Ver fahrens, durch das der sich philosophisch Besinnende die absolute Ge wiBheit erIangt, daB er im Gang seiner Besinnungen keine ungepriif ten, unkritisch (...) hingenommenen Erkenntnisse voraussetzt, kein Vorur teil mitgelten laBt, das die wissenschaftliche Reinheit des gedanklichen Gebaudes zerstOren wiirde. DaB die Philosophie es bisher nicht fertig gebracht hat, sich als solche absolut gerechtfertigte Wissenschaft zu konstituieren, bezeugt fUr HusserI ihre Unfahigkeit, in voller Radika litat alle Voraussetzungen aus dem Wege zu raumen, die der Voraus setzungslosigkeit einer absoluten Wissenschaft im Wege stehen. Ihrem eingeborenen Telos der Letztverantwortung hat die Philosophie nie gerecht werden konnen, obschon in ihrer Geschichte zu alIer Zeit ein Streben, eine intentio auf dieses ihr Ziel der absoluten Reinheit hin wirksam war. Diese intentio war stets die "Motivation", der "Ent wicklungstrieb" des philosophischen Denkens: "In einigen Philoso phien zeitweilig relativ befriedigt, und doch nie letztbefriedigt, wird die Philosophie zu immer neuen methodischen Besinnungen fortgetrieben; sie nimmt immer neue methodische Gestalten an und kommt dabei doch nie zu Ende. (shrink)

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not new. Many entrepreneurs created and developed companies along the time, with a strong sense of ethical and social responsibility. This article presents an example of how CSR was conceived and put into practice when Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros was created in Barcelona in 1905, following the life and ideas of its founder, Francesc Moragas, a lawyer with a deep commitment for social action and a successful conception (...) of the technical and economic dimensions of a financial and social institution. (shrink)

A constructive interpretation of the Confucian conception of shame is offered here. Xunzi's discussion is considered the locus classicus of the Confucian conception of shame as contrasted with honor. In order to show his conception as an articulation and development of the more inchoate attitudes of Confucius and Mencius, and excursion is made into the Lunyu and the Mengzi. Aristotle's conception of shame is used as a sort of catalyst, an opening for appreciating Xunzi's complementary insights.

In every introductory course on logic, students learn that expressions like ‘somebody’, ‘nothing’ or ‘every woman’ are not names or referring expressions, but quantifiers, and that, owing to this,...

La réflexion sur la culture tend à établir un ordre absolu des valeurs et un dogmatisme théorique et pratique. La dialectique, propre à la métaphysique de la culture, se révèle d’une part, dans un relativisme radical, d’autre part dans une philosophie pure de la culture, qui est à la fois savoir de l’esprit ou système des lois transcendentales qui la définissent, et de ses aspects phénoménologiques. Ce système est le fondement unitaire de l’intégration et du développement de tous les éléments (...) particuliers de la culture, qu’il rassemble ; il s’intégre en une philosophie de la vie, comme acte de la raison. (shrink)

The present brief commentary to Englert’s recent article on Kant’s distinction between practical ideas and ideals extends the significance of its contribution by considering the psychological dimensions underpinned by those ethical concepts. According to regulatory focus theory, in the moral domain the prevention focus subsumes duties and obligations, whereas the promotion focus underlies aspirations toward virtue. I argue here that prevention motives induce the enactment of behaviours consistent with ethical rules corresponding to Kant’s practical idea, and that promotion motives inspire (...) imitation processes aimed at advancement toward the archetypal excellence of Kant’s practical ideal. I conclude discussing the relevance and value, beyond Kant’s ethical conception, of a psychological analysis of the main Western normative theories through the lens of regulatory focus and the other motivational primitives. (shrink)

This essay deals with one basic feature of Confucian ethics as an ethics of flexibility by way of examining Confucius's concept of paradigmatic individuals (chün?tzu). Part I attempts a critical reconstruction and assessment of this concept. Part II takes up a feature of the account of chün?tzu in terms of the problem of rules and exceptions. It is suggested that the problem is best dealt with by making a distinction between normal and exigent moral situations ? a distinction that appears (...) to be implicit in the Confucian doctrine of ching?ch'üan. Viewed in this light, the flexible character of Confucian ethics can be seen to have an important bearing on a problem in moral philosophy. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é pensar sobre as relações entre Vico e Rousseau e suas respectivas perspectivas sobre o estatuto da linguagem, da retórica e da sociedade.

El presente artículo intentar partir de los casos concretos que Jean-Luc Marion pone como ejemplos para la comprensión de los fenómenos saturados, que en la última parte de la obra del autor francés giran a una con-sideración más radical respecto a la implicación en su vivencia por parte del «sujeto». Surgen con ello los «fenómenos de revelación». A partir del estudio concreto de los ejemplos literarios de Baudelaire y M. Proust, descubrimos en el último Marion una apuesta más decidida por (...) un papel activo y positivo del «suje-to» no solo en la manifestación, sino también en la donación como tal del fenómeno. En la Conclusión avan-zamos a partir de todo lo ganado una tesis que aún habrá de esperar para verse cumplida en la obra en curso de Marion. (shrink)

La finalidad de este artículo es explicar, mediante algunos testimonios significativos, de qué manera penetra en España el aristotelismo y cómo esta penetración del nuevo pensamiento aristotélico en Europa pone de manifiesto un permanente conflicto entre Edad Media y Renacimiento, fundamentalmente en España, donde el redescubrimiento y uso de las autoridades antiguas constituye a menudo un importante problema teórico. El autor muestra alguna de estas dificultades en varios dominios (filosofía, ciencia, literatura).

We analyze in this brief study the remains excavated in the great courtyard of the al-Badī‘ Palace in Marrakech, which correspond to a ḥammām, whose disappearance was probably caused by the construction of the great Palace erected by the Saadian Sultan Aḥmad al-Manṣūr in 1578. The use in that thermal building of some characteristic forms of the Ottoman baths built at the same time suggests that its construction was performed by the brother and predecessor of al-Manṣūr, ‘Abd al-Malik, between 1576 (...) and 1578. (shrink)