v. 1. Dall'antico al moderno -- v. 2. L'età contemporanea -- v. 3. Teoria e metodo.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific experts advised governments for measures to be promptly taken; they also helped people to understand the situation. They carried out this role in the face of a worldwide emergency, when scientific understanding was still underway. Public scientific disputes also arose, creating confusion among people. This article highlights the importance of experts’ epistemic stance under these circumstances. It suggests they should embrace the intellectual virtue of epistemic humility, regulating their epistemic behavior and communication accordingly. In so (...) doing, they would also favour the functioning of the broad network of knowledge-based experts, which is required to properly address all the aspects of the global pandemic. (shrink)

Complex crises like the coronavirus pandemic are showing us that modern societies are becoming increasingly unable to live in equilibrium with nature. These crises are the result of multiple causes, which interact at different scales and across different domains. Therefore, investigating their proximate causes is not enough to fully understand them. It is also crucial to take into account the structural factors involved. As concerns the global pandemic, I suggest four levels of analysis: (i) the surface or “proximate” level of (...) the crisis; (ii) the human–environment–animal interface, as pointed out by the One Health approach; (iii) the broader socioeconomic context; and (iv) the deeper or worldview level. Furthermore, I argue that there is the need for a mindset shift if we want to properly trace causality. Much more attention must be given to the study of multilevel connecting patterns and nonlinear mechanisms as the producers of emergent global effects. (shrink)

The potential for jointly using or integrating Western science and indigenous knowledge, especially in such fields as environmental management, is a hotly debated topic nowadays. However, the difficulties involved in such a task are not always fully understood and co-management experiences achieved only partially the expected outcomes. In this contribution, I show how a sound combination of the two bodies of knowledge would be possible only if there is a way to accommodate different interpretations of reality and knowledge criteria. The (...) issue should then be faced at the epistemological level too, discussing the possibility and implications of a genuine epistemic pluralism. With reference, among others, to Feyerabend’s later writings, here I illustrate some possible insights for addressing the matter that a Western perspectivist stance could provide. (shrink)

Aging is characterized by the decline and deterioration of functional cells and results in a wide variety of molecular damages and reduced physical and mental capacity. The knowledge on aging process is important because life expectancy is expected to rise until 2050. Aging cannot be considered a homogeneous process and includes different trajectories characterized by states of fitness, frailty, and disability. Frailty is a dynamic condition put between a normal functional state and disability, with reduced capacity to cope with stressors. (...) This geriatric syndrome affects physical, neuropsychological, and social domains and is driven by emotional and spiritual components. Sarcopenia is considered one of the determinants and the biological substrates of physical frailty. Physical and cognitive frailty are separately approached during daily clinical practice. The concept of motoric cognitive syndrome has partially changed this scenario, opening interesting windows toward future approaches. Thus, the purpose of this manuscript is to provide an excursus on current clinical practice, enforced by aneddoctical cases. The analysis of the current state of the art seems to support the urgent need of comprehensive organizational model incorporating physical and cognitive spheres in the same umbrella. (shrink)

Moj rad u vezi s Vicovom misli polazi od stajališta da sveukupna zapadna filozofska misao – kao uostalom i religija i moderna znanost – predstavlja proizvod čovjekovog obrambenog mehanizma protiv straha od smrti kao sveopćeg ništavila, odnosno kao obrana od evidentnosti da stvari izlaze iz ničega u kojem se, na kraju egzistencijalnog ciklusa, neminovno i vraćaju. Riječ je o evidentnosti koju je starogrčka filozofija prva evocirala i prikazala.U sklopu tog općeg filozofskog obrambenog mehanizma i Vicova »Nova znanost« promatrana je kao (...) još jedan pokušaj da se u kaotičnost još neuređenih društvenih činjenica uvede određeni epistemski red, tako da se fenomenološka zbilja obuhvati u jednom racionalnom totalitetu koji će ljudskom biću pružati sigurnost.U tom smislu, Vicova filozofija, a posebice njegovo glavno djelo Načela nove znanosti, zauzima posebno mjesto unutar zapadne filozofske tradicije, jer u sebi sadržava i ujedinjuje dvije važne komponente europske misli koje će se u moderno doba razvijati u različitim pravcima. Misli se, s jedne strane, na filozofsku misao koja će svoj vrhunac dostići u Hegelovoj sistematizaciji zapadne filozofske misli i, s druge strane, na modernu znanost koja će, u svojoj sve većoj specijalizaciji u sve partikularnije znanstvene discipline i parcijalizaciji same stvarnosti, istinu identificirati s djelotvornošću proučavanih činjenica, ostavljajući po strani apstraktnu, epistemsku istinu filozofije.My report on G. B. Vico’s thought moves from the assumption that all Western philosophy – just as religion and modern science – represents the product of the defence mechanism human beings use against the fear of death seen as absolute nothingness, that is defence from the evidence that things come from the nothingness to which, at the end of their existence, they imminently return. It is the obviousness that Greek philosophy has evoked and showed first.Within this general philosophical defence mechanism Vico’s “New Science” is also seen as an attempt to introduce a kind of epistemic order in the chaos of social facts not yet systemised according to reason, trying in this way to understand the phenomenological reality inside a rational whole capable of granting security to human beings.In this sense Vico’s philosophy and especially his main work, Modern Science, holds an important position in the Western philosophical tradition, as it contains and combines two important constituents of Western thought which in the modern age will develop in various directions. We are referring to the philosophical thought which will reach its climax in Hegel’s systematisation of Western philosophy and on the other hand, to the modern science that, considered its ever increasing specialisation into always more detailed scientific disciplines and the fragmentation of reality itself, will identify truth with the fulfilling efficacy of tested facts, leaving behind the abstract epistemic truth of philosophy. (shrink)

Este artigo busca ressoar um percurso de sensibilização vivido por um professor que descobre a força desestabilizadora e inspiradora da infância das crianças durante as aulas de filosofia. Ao investigar a (im)possibilidade das crianças fazerem filosofia, vemos semelhanças com a experiência de tocar violão, o qual transformamos em um personagem conceitual para nos ajudar a (re)pensar o ensino de filosofia para crianças. Ensaiamos, neste texto, formas de explorar os sentidos que se desprendem de experiências vividas entre a infância e a (...) filosofia a partir de encontros vividos em salas de aula, para encontrarmos/criarmos possibilidades de alimentarmos essa investigação ao invés de pôr fim a ela. Um exercício que nos possibilita encontrar/construir formas mais acolhedoras, sensíveis e inventivas de fazer, viver e habitar a educação entre a infância e a filosofia na escola. Deparamo-nos, assim, com ideia (conceito-corpo) de devir-violão, a qual trabalhamos a partir dos encontros com Gilles Deleuze e Jean-Luc Nancy. Vida. É disso que se trata este texto; e pesquisa, pois, no que diz respeito à educação, essas duas coisas se confundem, acontecem juntas, co-partilham percursos, são inseparáveis; do mesmo modo que não podemos separar o som do arrepio que causam em nossa pele. O texto é, antes de tudo, um convite a nos colocarmos à escuta daquilo que nos toca, não para explicar ou fundamentar nossas práticas, mas sim para descobrir e inventar sentidos: ser em-com-outros, entre educação, filosofia, infâncias e escolas. (shrink)

RIASSUNTO Antonio Rosmini e Alexis de Tocqueville hanno contribuito, nell'orizzonte del pensiero politico del XIX secolo, alla configurazione di un nuovo modello di filosofia politica che crediamo conservi ancora oggi spunti di grande attualità. Il presente articolo assume come scopo quello di descrivere il dialogo ideale tra i due autori in modo da lasciar emergere quella che possiamo definire una terza via sorta davanti ai problemi sociali della discussione politica dell'ottocento, ossia una terza via tra le precedenti soluzioni della restaurazione (...) cattolica da una parte e lo spirito rivoluzionario francese dall'altra. Il cammino ideale nasce dal rinvenimento di una comune antropologia dalla quale si giungerà a una definizione della società fondata a partire dal fine che maggiormente la contraddistingue, il bene del singolo. L'urgenza e attualità dei temi che permeano gli scritti di Rosmini e Tocqueville crediamo risieda nella messa in evidenza di pericoli e storture, che oggi dominano le nostre società, ma che i nostri autori sono stati in grado di individuare sul nascere, cosi come si stavano formando nella società occidentale del XIX secolo. ABSTRACT Antonio Rosmini and Alexis de Tocqueville contributed, on the horizon of nineteenth-century political thought, to the configuration of a new model of political philosophy that we believe still retains insights of great relevance today. This article takes as its purpose to describe the ideal dialogue between the two authors in such a way as to let emerge what we may call a third way that arose before the social problems of political discussion in the 1800s, that is, a third way between the earlier solutions of Catholic restoration on the one hand and the French revolutionary spirit on the other. The ideal path arose from the rediscovery of a common anthropology from which a definition of society founded from the end that most distinguishes it, the good of the individual, would be arrived at. The urgency and topicality of the themes that permeate the writings of Rosmini and Tocqueville we believe lie in the highlighting of dangers and distortions, which dominate our societies today, but which our authors were able to identify in the bud, as they were being formed in 19th century Western society. (shrink)

Lo scopo di questo articolo consiste nel rilevare il peso del pensiero di Machiavelli, a volte tralasciato dagli studiosi di Del Noce, non solo nella ricostruzione della modernità delnociana a partire dal pensiero di Cartesio, ma anche nell’elaborazione di una proposta politica cristiana durante il secondo dopoguerra italiano, proposta che si presenterà proprio nei termini di superamento del dualismo cartesiano e recupero della dimensione storico-politica al pensiero religioso. Cercheremo di offrire innanzitutto un’esatta ricostruzione dei caratteri del dualismo cartesiano, inquadrandolo fin (...) da subito all’interno di quello che Del Noce definisce come l’orizzonte condizionante rappresentato dall’eredità del pensiero di Machiavelli. Riteniamo che tale prospettiva possa dare nuova luce all’interpretazione del pensiero di Marx da parte di Del Noce, punto di partenza della sua intera riflessione. Analizzeremo nessi e differenze tra l’impostazione marxista e quella di Machiavelli, per poter infine concludere accennando ai compiti che il pensiero cristiano deve oggi assumere rispetto alla sfera politica. (shrink)

Cybernetic governmentality weakens the capacity of resistant subjectivities to struggle against neoliberal rationality because digitalized subjectivation processes are constantly pushed towards the logics of the market and into codifications of competitive evaluation. Despite the potential for new forms of collectivity contained in the concept of virtuality, technological evolution has disseminated a systemic form of digitality that operates not through collective procedures but through subjective-individualistic ones. Hence arises a danger that was indicated by Deleuze decades ago: that of confusing the virtual (...) with the possible. By constructing a genealogy that is built around Pierre Levy’s optimistic representation of cyberspace, Bernard Stiegler’s work on the contemporary disenchantment of the computerized world, Baudrillard’s metaphysics of code and Antoinette Rouvroy’s analysis of algorithmic governmentality, we will demonstrate that digitality is between us and that this amounts to an irreversible fact entailing a critical confrontation with its current manifestation. (shrink)

Nakon uvodnoga dijela u kojem ću govoriti o problematičnosti identiteta i poteškoći njegovog faktičnog priznavanja unutar suvremenog zapadnog kulturnog okruženja, u prvom ću poglavlju analizirati neke vidove suvremenog zapadnog mišljenja koji su problematiku identiteta, u bilo kojem svom obliku, dovele na površinu. U drugom ću se poglavlju usredotočiti na poimanje pojedinca kao individue, budući da se radi o pojmu koji je pretežito zapadnog porijekla i koji ima svoj izvor u antičkoj filozofiji, a unutar suvremenog tehničkog doba sve preduvjete svog završetka. (...) U trećem poglavlju pažnja će biti usmjerena na sagledavanje funkcionalnosti kao na noviji oblik »identiteta« koji neminovno vodi do sve rasprostranjenijeg procesa deidentifikacije, budući da je ljudskom djelovanju oduzeta ona svrhovitost koja ga je razlikovala od ostalih živih bića. Upravo zato cjelokupno obzorje tehničke funkcionalnosti čovjeku postaje sve nedostupnije i neshvatljivije. Zato je unutar tog obzorja potrebno tražiti i pronaći nova značenja za već istrošene pojmove, kao što je pojam identiteta, koji je svoj pravi smisao i izvor nalazio unutar prijašnjeg, antropološkog obzorja.After the introduction which deals with the problem of identity and the difficulty of real recognition in the modern western cultural environment, in the first chapter I am going to analyse some aspects of the modern western thought, which have brought to surface the problem of identity in all its forms. In the second chapter I will concentrate on the concept of the single person as individual, as it is a concept of mainly western origin, which finds its origin in ancient philosophy while in the modern technical age it finds all the conditions for its end. The third part will focus on the examination of functionality as a new kind of “identity”, which, inevitably, brings to a larger process of deidentification, considering that human action has lost the functionality that used to distinguish humans from other living beings. Because of this, the complete horizon of technical functionality is becoming more inaccessible and obscure. Thus, it is within this horizon that we should look for and find new meanings for already old and worn out concepts, among which there is also identity, which has found its sense and origin in the previous, anthropological horizon. (shrink)

First, the article illustrates the concept of ‘cultural heritage’ as traditionally meant, namely relying on a historically consolidated narrative. Next, it undertakes a broader conceptual analysis and deals with three distinct issues: (i) the fact that the conceptualizations and uses of heritage largely depend on long lasting dichotomies (e.g., tangible/intangible, natural/cultural); (ii) the way in which cultural backgrounds shape the dynamics of valuing and approaching heritage; (iii) the temporal framing of heritage, which today, in the Anthropocene, also points towards how (...) to deal with a future of uncertainty. Lastly, it introduces the notion of epistemic heritage, (i.e., the existence of multiple cultural ways of knowing), investigating its implications for both how cultural heritage is conceived and the future approached. (shrink)