Philosophical discussions about humour go back to ancient aesthetics, to laughing Democritus and the aporia of Socratic self-irony, to Diogenes the Dog performing tricks on the streets of Athens, and to the lost second book of Aristotle’s Poetics. Dramatized in texts and the arts, the comic emerges not only in popular literature and public events, like Dionysia and Saturnalia, but also in the lives of eminent philosophers in antiquity, the Renaissance, and today. Recently, humour has seen a resurgence in aesthetics, (...) in part owing to the titanic efforts of Noël Carroll. Desiring to learn first-hand about the risky aspects of philosophical wit, Valery Vino invited Noël to engage with a series of remarks and anecdotes borrowed from dead authors, led by Michel de Montaigne, about the nexus between humour and cruelty. In what follows, we consider why humans laugh (sometimes at themselves), what social function cruel humour plays, why a callous sense of humour may be of benefit in the face of life’s horrors, and whether we can hold each other morally culpable for vicious jokes. (shrink)

In April 2021, longing to learn first-hand about ageing philosophically, Valery Vino reached out to the legendary Arnold Berleant (who was 89 at the time of writing), to see whether he might be interested in recording a dialogue to this theme, with a companion of his choice. Berleant selected his ideal collaborator Michael Alpert, book designer and collector, poet, senior, and treasured friend. Over the following six months, a rich tapestry of leisurely reading, contemplation and discussion unfolded, culminating in an (...) unrehearsed, free-flowing conversation about ageing, which has been recorded, lightly edited and offered here for readers to share. (shrink)

Background: Although convolutional neural networks (CNNs) achieve high diagnostic accuracy for detecting Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, they are not yet applied in clinical routine. One important reason for this is a lack of model comprehensibility. Recently developed visualization methods for deriving CNN relevance maps may help to fill this gap as they allow the visualization of key input image features that drive the decision of the model. We investigated whether models with higher accuracy (...) also rely more on discriminative brain regions predefined by prior knowledge. Methods: We trained a CNN for the detection of AD in N = 663 T1-weighted MRI scans of patients with dementia and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and verified the accuracy of the models via cross-validation and in three independent samples including in total N = 1655 cases. We evaluated the association of relevance scores and hippocampus volume to validate the clinical utility of this approach. To improve model comprehensibility, we implemented an interactive visualization of 3D CNN relevance maps, thereby allowing intuitive model inspection. Results: Across the three independent datasets, group separation showed high accuracy for AD dementia versus controls (AUC ≥ 0.91) and moderate accuracy for amnestic MCI versus controls (AUC ≈ 0.74). Relevance maps indicated that hippocampal atrophy was considered the most informative factor for AD detection, with additional contributions from atrophy in other cortical and subcortical regions. Relevance scores within the hippocampus were highly correlated with hippocampal volumes (Pearson’s r ≈ −0.86, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The relevance maps highlighted atrophy in regions that we had hypothesized a priori. This strengthens the comprehensibility of the CNN models, which were trained in a purely data-driven manner based on the scans and diagnosis labels. The high hippocampus relevance scores as well as the high performance achieved in independent samples support the validity of the CNN models in the detection of AD-related MRI abnormalities. The presented data-driven and hypothesis-free CNN modeling approach might provide a useful tool to automatically derive discriminative features for complex diagnostic tasks where clear clinical criteria are still missing, for instance for the differential diagnosis between various types of dementia. (shrink)

Regular musical activity as a complex multimodal lifestyle activity is proposed to be protective against age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. This cross-sectional study investigated the association and interplay between musical instrument playing during life, multi-domain cognitive abilities and brain morphology in older adults from the DZNE-Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study study. Participants reporting having played a musical instrument across three life periods were compared to controls without a history of musical instrument playing, well-matched for reserve proxies of education, (...) intelligence, socioeconomic status and physical activity. Participants with musical activity outperformed controls in global cognition, working memory, executive functions, language, and visuospatial abilities, with no effects seen for learning and memory. The musically active group had greater gray matter volume in the somatosensory area, but did not differ from controls in higher-order frontal, temporal, or hippocampal volumes. However, the association between gray matter volume in distributed frontal-to-temporal regions and cognitive abilities was enhanced in participants with musical activity compared to controls. We show that playing a musical instrument during life relates to better late-life cognitive abilities and greater brain capacities in OA. Musical activity may serve as a multimodal enrichment strategy that could help preserve cognitive and brain health in late life. Longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to support this notion. (shrink)

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the French version of the Positivity scale (P scale), a self-report measure of positivity, which is the tendency to view and address life and experience with a positive outlook. Positivity is seen as a latent factor underlying multiple cognitive concepts such as self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism.MethodsWe recruited 666 volunteers (540 women and 126 men). They completed the P scale online, as well as self-report measures of psychological well-being, (...) self-esteem, satisfaction with life, general health, and personality dimensions. The study sample was randomly split into two sub-groups, one used for exploratory factor analysis and the other for confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsWe found conflictual results related to the uni-dimensionality of the French version of the P scale. We found good internal consistency and high concurrent validity.ConclusionThe French version of the P scale demonstrated good psychometric qualities and is a reliable tool that can now be used by French researchers and clinicians to assess positivity. (shrink)

Questo studio tratta delle varie specie di banchetto presso i Greci, e in particolare dell’uso del vino, con un accenno al dio Dioniso. In un simposio ben ordinato, dove gli uomini riescono a comunicare tra di loro e a rafforzare i vincoli di amicizia che li uniscono, si prefigura, nei dialoghi platonici, quel simposio eterno che, nel mito, gli dèi promettono ai buoni, dopo la morte. Ci sono, nel Fedone, vari significati del termine “morte”, quello scientifico, quello psicologico e quello (...) metaforico, ed è proprio in quest’ultimo che la morte viene associata all’amore per una delineazione della mortale immortalità che sola per Platone è concessa agli uomini. (shrink)

»In vino metaphora« pomeni delno slavljenje Nietzschejevega preseganja nihi-lizma. Za afirmacijo življenja v voljo do moči kot izvoru vse dejavnosti, ki ustvarja vrednote se izkaže, da presega nihilizem, ki ga Nietzscheju pogosto očitajo njegovi kritiki. Ena od pomembnejših oblik volje do moči v tem smislu je intoksikacija ali dionizicno. V Nietzschejevem zgodnjem opusu je bilo dionizicno metafizično in umetniško načelo. Njegov kasnejši opus kontrastira dionizicno intoksikacijo z drugimi oblikami in dionizicno postane tako psihološki kot fiziološki pojav. Članek tudi primerja Nietzschejeve (...) poglede o intoksikaciji s pogledi Walter j a Benjamina ter ju obravnava v zvezi s pojavi kakršna sta rock glasba in severnoameriško izkustvo šestdesetih let. (shrink)

In vino veritas, car si l'on avait bien la permission de parler, il était interdit de le faire sans être in vino, et on ne devait prêter l'oreille à aucune vérité si elle n'était dite in vino, le vin étant la défense de la vérité et la vérité celle du vin. Le lieu choisi pour le banquet se trouvait dans une forêt à quelques miles de Copenhague. [...] On discourut ensuite longuement sur les rapports du vin et de la conscience, (...) et sur le fait que chez les personnes très réfléchies l'effet du vin ne se traduisait pas par un impetus étrange, mais au contraire par une réflexion étrangement calme. (shrink)

Saturation, intoxication to the medias of realization and porsuit of happyness.

En el presente artículo nos hemos propuesto analizar las variantes textuales griegas relativas a los términos “vino” y “vinagre” dentro del contexto neotestamentario de la Pasión de Cristo, así como sus correlatos en la traducción de los Evangelios en antiguo eslavo. Como resultado de dicho análisis, hemos detectado una tendencia a introducir el término “vinagre” por parte de la tradición textológica del Nuevo Testamento griego, que es secundada además por otras tradiciones, como la siríaca o la eslava.

Este artículo fue bom como lección inaugural del curso académico 1996-1997 en el Instituto de Estudios Teológicos de Sevilla (C.E.T). Se parte de una serie de notas biográficas del Padre Haring necesarias, según el autor, para comprender el desarrollo intelectual del personaje y la evolución de su enseñanza moral. En la segunda parte. La contribución del Padre Haring a la TeologíaMoral renovada se revela: una moral fundada sobre el Custodio de Dios; un nuevo destinatario, es decir, el paso del confesionario (...) al "cristiano adulto": paso de la ley y del mandamiento a la "ley del Espíritu que da la vida en Cristo": diálogo con el hombre de hoy: diálogo ecuménico: cultura continua, que implica renovación continua: moral de tendencia comunitaria (ni individualista, ni perfeccionista), de la solidaridad salvífica; moral que libera al hombre, que no lo aprisiona ni lo encorseta. En conclusion. se muestra claramente la gran aportación del Padre Haring a la Teología Moral: el paso de una moral centrada en el objeto a una moral centrada en el hombre libre, responsable y fiel a Cristo. (shrink)

This paper explores the relationship between farmland investment and environmental uncertainty. It examines how farmland investors seek to “render land investible” in spite of drought, groundwater depletion, and changing regulations. To do so, we analyze a single case study: the purchase of 8000 acres of dry rangeland in California’s Cuyama Valley by the Harvard University endowment for use in creating an irrigated vineyard. Drawing from interviews with Cuyama Valley farmers and community members, participant observation at community meetings, and public document (...) analysis, we make two primary contributions to understandings of uncertain resource materiality in farmland investment. First, this case reveals that investors can turn environmental uncertainty into an advantage, exploiting both the temporal uncertainties associated with resource management under climate change and the spatial uncertainties inherent to all subsurface resources. We argue that the material and legal uncertainties of groundwater access provide investors with a potentially lucrative opening to assert their preferred land imaginaries and improve their property values. In the Cuyama Valley they did so through both participation in groundwater governance and the establishment of water-related infrastructure on their property. Second, this case highlights that the asset-making processes involved in farmland investment may be as much vertical as they are horizontal. The need to map and measure the uncertain vertical dimension of land creates an outsized role for scientific expertise in farmland assetization. (shrink)

For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more—it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for (...) madness and unconsciousness. The collection Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine, edited by Barry Smith, originated at a conference at London University in 2004.1 Smith writes that “it was the first ever conference on the philosophy of wine” (i). As Smith claims.. (shrink)

The image of wine has a “spiritual sense”, which helps the faithful to understand the principles of their belief. Its mystery is connected with the theme of “sober inebriation”, developed by Philo of Alexandria and Origen, and culminating in Ambrose. The good wines that the bride enjoys before the groom’s arrival are a symbol of the good doctrines of the OT, whose teachings are however inferior to the revelation of the incarnate Christ. Good, sweet wine, meanwhile, refers to the doctrines (...) of the NT interpreted spiritually, the logos that helps us begin to know Christ, to bind ourselves to him in ecclesial unity and to love our neighbour. It also leads us to the “winepress”, i.e. renouncing superfluous land, becoming “full of must” and inebriated, so that we can dedicate ourselves to contemplation. The vine has a Christological value and catechetical function, dating back to John 15.1, which is often quoted with Saint Paul. The place where the vine is born and develops is the soul; the Logos supports its flowering in those who, by their free will, choose to flourish. The cluster of grapes refers to Christ, or to the victory of the righteous; the many grapes that he contains are believers. The vineyard is a symbol of the church formed by the pagans, of the commandments of God, or of the good things that God gave to man, who did not preserve them, having been stripped of them by the devil. The guardians of the vineyard are angels or priests. (shrink)

The article, titled «Mircea Eliade and Eugenio d’Ors (and the archetype)», is an analysis of the relationship between the Romanian intellectual Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) and the Spanish thinker Eugenio d’Ors (1881-1954). Divided in five parts, the first one, titled «The intellectual encounter: Eliade discovers d’Ors», is a revision of the process of the discovery of the works of d’Ors by Eliade in their French translations. In the second part titled «The personal encounter and the project of the Romanian translation of (...) a selection of works of d’Ors» is revised the Eliade-d’Ors relationship during the Portuguese years of Eliade using the Portuguese Journal and the correspondence of Eliade as primary source. The third part titled «D’Ors discovers Eliade» is a study of the reception by d’Ors of the two 1949 books of Eliade (and specially The Myth of the Eternal Return). The fourth part, devoted to revise the resemblances between Eliade and d’Ors, is titled «Eliade and d’Ors: affinities and convergences». The fifth part titled «The archetype’s question: an imaginary debt?» analyses the inclusion in the American preface of the 1959 edition of Cosmos and History (i.e. The Myth of the Eternal Return) of the following words: «I use the term “archetype,” just as Eugenio d’Ors does, as a synonym for “exemplary model” or “paradigm”». Due to the differences between the use by d’Ors of the notion of archetype and the Eliadian archetype (one of the core concepts in his hermeneutic) that words are analysed as an imaginary debt, a tactical parti pris liberating Eliade of the Jungian implications of the term archetype. (shrink)

Este artículo, partiendo de un proceso metalingüístico estandarizado, pretende mostrar algunas alternativas psicolingüísticas al aprendizaje conversacional. El desarrollo del estudio corresponde al siguiente esquema: (1) Importancia de la comprensión metalingüística en el perfeccionamiento de una le..

Ogni vino bevuto ha il suo racconto. Mio proposito: renderne facile l’ascolto e la comprensione a te, lettore, che ami il vino – mi leggi –, o sei disposto a riconoscerlo amico.L. Veronelli 1. Introduction: A little something about the wineworld 1.1. The first time In 1971, Mario Soldati, Italian writer, journalist and expert of wine, published the second series of Vino al Vino, a book about wine production in Italy. In the Introduction titled “Wine as a Work of Art” (...) Soldati stated: Between t... (shrink)

Sometimes when a person acts while drunk we see her actions as not reflective of her character ("oh, she was just drunk"). At other times we see her actions as reflective of her "deep self" ("in vino veritas"). What is the difference between the two types of cases? This paper sketches a possible answer.

Eight philosophers discuss the works of the best-selling novelist and graphic novelist, including The Graveyard Book, Coraline and Good Omens and reveal their thoughts on the intersection of fantasy and reality and whether the unknown is as ...

La silogística aristotélica muestra algunos antecedentes del formalismo lógico en tanto sistema deductivo axiomático que emplea nociones de implicación y validez, además de usar variables en los términos. Los megárico-estoicos estudiaron la implicación material y formal o estricta, mientras que los escolásticos formaron ideas sobre un lenguaje depurado para la lógica. Además de las ideas de Lulio, Descartes, Leibniz o Hobbes, los estudios combinatorios de Alberto Magno, la insistencia de Roger Bacon en la importancia de la matemática como paradigma de (...) la demostración en las ciencias y en la lógica, y las consideraciones formales de Juan Buridan y Walter Burleigh sobre la lógica pura en tanto estudio sitáctico-semántico de los esquemas de inferencia y los principios primitivos que comandan el funcionamiento de la lógica, son algunos antecedentes del cálculo lógico que vino por primera vez con George Boole en el siglo XIX. (shrink)