Os pensadores do século XN, até poucos anos, eram considerados como críticos destruidores, que minaram as bases do saber elaborado durante o século XIIl. Nos últimos anos, mostrou-se que esta ideia é falsa. O "nominalismo" de homens como Ockham, Gregório de Rimini, João Buridano e outros, representa um momento importante na história da ciência, graças principalmente à aplicação de sua refinada lógica na releitura da física e da cosmologia. Com a revisão global da linguagem filosófica, eles criaram novas linguagens, (...) e nisto encontra- se sua contribuição para a história da ciência. Foi assim que Buridano inovou em questões de tisica, como na noção do espaço e do movimento. (shrink)

L’articolo analizza il problema dei nessi predicativi analogici nella teoria della dimostrazione di Aristotele, dove essi sono marginali, e i suoi sviluppi nella tradizione esegetica medievale latina del XIII secolo. Grossatesta sostiene che la dimostrazione può provare predicati detti analogicamente di soggetti diversi; Kilwardby e dopo di lui ancor più Egidio Romano mostrano che tale scopo è da raggiungere anche attraverso un termine medio connesso analogicamente ai termini estremi. Inoltre, Egidio sostiene in un passo l’esistenza di un ordinamento gerarchico tra (...) le proprietà dimostrate per analogia, ma altrove mostra invece che esse si configurano più variamente. Nel XIV secolo, Giovanni Buridano riprende i tratti fondamentali di queste interpretazioni, nel quadro di un generale allargamento dei caratteri della scienza aristotelica del quale, forse, le idee sull’analogia potrebbero rappresentare uno stadio iniziale. The paper deals with the problem of predicative analogical connections in the Aristotelian theory of demonstration, where they are marginal, and with its developments in the thirteenth-century medieval latin exegetical tradition. Grosseteste claims that demonstration can prove predicates that are said analogically of different subjects; Kilwardby and, after him, even more Giles of Rome show that this aim can be reached also through a medium analogically connected to the extreme terms. Giles upholds in a passage the existence of a gerarchical order among properties analogically demonstrated; somewhere else, however, he shows that they can configure more variously. In the following century, John Buridan resumes the basic lines of those interpretations, in the framework of a general widening of the features of Aristotelian science; maybe, his ideas on analogy could represent an initial stage of this tendence. (shrink)

Jean Buridan was a leader among those logicians of the fourteenth century who sought to carry out the nominalist program in logic. This volume presents the first English translations of two key tracts, the Treatise on Suppositions and the Treatise on Consequences based respectively on the editions of Maria Elena Reina in "Giovanni Buridano: Tractatus de suppositionibus," Rivista critica di storia della filosofia, pp. 175-208 and pp. 323-52, and Hubert Hubien, Iohannis Buridani tractatus de consequentiis: Édition critique, in (...) Philosophes médiévaux Vol. 16, Université de Louvain, 1976. The extensive introduction and notes locate the texts within a conceptual framework which has held special interest for logicians and historians of logic over the last three decades. (shrink)

The notion of being a burden to others is mostly discussed in the context of care‐intensive diseases or end‐of‐life decisions. But the notion is also crucial in decision‐making at the beginning of life, namely regarding prenatal testing. Ever more sophisticated testing methods, especially non‐invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), allow the detection of genetic traits in the unborn child that may cause disabilities. A positive result often influences the decision of the pregnant women towards a termination of the pregnancy. Thus, critics claim (...) that these testing methods send a negative message to people with disabilities. At the core of this is what we call the burden assumption. This assumption claims that children with disabilities are necessarily a burden to others, especially to their parents and other family members. In this paper, we discuss what being a burden to others means in this context and how such an attitude can be avoided without restraining reproductive autonomy. A closer examination shows that the burden assumption is mostly based on misinformation and a false model of disability. Empirical studies as well as narrative evidence from parents who raise a child with disabilities show that the burden assumption is wrong. Raising a child with disabilities does not necessarily mean a decrease in the quality of life. We show how the burden assumption can be challenged through an advanced genetic counselling that combines empirical evidence with narratives from a first‐person perspective. (shrink)

In 1685, during the heyday of Scottish Cartesianism, regent Robert Lidderdale from Edinburgh University declared Cartesianism the best philosophy in support of the Reformed faith. It is commonplace that Descartes was ostracised by the Reformed, and his role in pre-Enlightenment Scottish philosophy is not yet fully acknowledged. This paper offers an introduction to Scottish Cartesianism, and argues that the philosophers of the Scottish universities warmed up to Cartesianism because they saw it as a newer, better version of their own traditional (...) Reformed scholasticism, chiefly in metaphysics and natural philosophy. (shrink)

Reale's monumental work establishes the exact dimensions of Aristotle's concept of first philosophy and proves the profound unity of concept that exists in Aristotle's Metaphysics.

Digital technologies have become a crucial factor in nursing. Given the fact that many tasks could also be done by robots or AI systems, the place for the nurse in this scenario is unclear. In what way and to what extent will the implementation of ever more sophisticated technology affect nursing practice? It is the aim of this paper to analyse the potential challenges of nursing practice in the digital age. The analysis is conducted through the lens of new materialism, (...) a set of theoretical models that understand the relationship between humans and technology as dynamic and performative. According to this view, there is no prefixed essence of technology. Rather, the meaning of technology is enacted in concrete practice. The analysis shows that in past debates on technology use in nursing, the nurses’ role has been defined as guardians of humanity, defending the patient against the dehumanizing effects of technology. This role has been transferred to the digital age, where it is the duty of nurses to cushion the negative effects of digital technology. As an alternative to this outdated role, nurses should be included in processes of technology design and policymaking. Enabling nursing professionals to shape the circumstances of a digitally enhanced holistic practice may empower their status within the healthcare system and also benefit the patient by contributing to a more person‐centred care. (shrink)

Meeting in the petri dish? -- Screen, test, weed out? -- Prettier, better, stronger? -- Is health a duty? -- The crisis of confidence in organ donation -- On the value of age : beyond the fitness imperative -- Living wills : are forms replacing dialogue? -- Being able to let go : for a new culture of dying -- Epilogue: happiness lies in our attitude toward the world.

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)

Starting from the formal expressions of the hydrodynamical (or “local”) quantities employed in the applications of Clifford algebras to quantum mechanics, we introduce—in terms of the ordinary tensorial language—a new definition for the field of a generic quantity. By translating from Clifford into tensor algebra, we also propose a new (nonrelativistic) velocity operator for a spin- ${\frac{1}{2}}$ particle. This operator appears as the sum of the ordinary part p/m describing the mean motion (the motion of the center-of-mass), and of a (...) second part associated with the so-called Zitterbewegung, which is the spin “internal” motion observed in the center-of-mass frame (CMF). This spin component of the velocity operator is nonzero not only in the Pauli theoretical framework, i.e., in the presence of external electromagnetic fields with a nonconstant spin function, but also in the Schrödinger case, when the wavefunction is a spin eigenstate. Thus, one gets even in the latter case a decomposition of the velocity field for the Madelung fluid into two distinct parts, which constitutes the nonrelativistic analogue of the Gordon decomposition for the Dirac current. Explicit calculations are presented for the velocity field in the particular cases of the hydrogen atom, of a spherical well potential, and of an electron in a uniform magnetic field. We find, furthermore, that the Zitterbewegung motion involves a velocity field which is solenoidal, and that the local angular velocity is parallel to the spin vector. In the presence of a nonuniform spin vector (Pauli case) we have, besides the component of the local velocity normal to the spin (present even in the Schrödinger theory), also a component which is parallel to the curl of the spin vector. (shrink)

Estudo introdutório de apresentação, seguido de tradução, da palestra “Fenomenologia e antropologia”, ministradas por Edmund Husserl nas sedes da Kantgesellschaft de Frankfurt, Berlim e Halle em 1931, na qual avalia criticamente, a partir dos pressupostos transcendentais da fenomenologia, a tendência da filosofia alemã dos anos 20 do século passado para uma antropologia filosófica.

It is a curious feature of Hegelian studies in English that its practitioners seem incapable of tackling their subject without first disclaiming any adherence to the more metaphysical side of Hegel's thought, be it called “speculative metaphysics,” “dialectical logic” or whatever. I say “curious” because I doubt that the same scholars would feel obliged to enter an equivalent disclaimer at the head of a study on, say, Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza or even Newton—even though all of these classics have a metaphysical (...) side at least as abstruse as any of Hegel's worse romantic excesses. Hegel himself, if he could witness the practice, would be flattered by it. He would not see it as an indication that “the problems of [his] logic remain alien and artificial to us in ways that the problems of Cartesian and Kantian philosophy do not” but, on the contrary, as a hidden acknowledgement that, whether for good or bad, his philosophy is still alive, still so close to our culture that we instinctively feel the need of exorcizing it ritually, like a demon capable of frightening us. (shrink)

The author investigates the origin and development of the concept of liberty and its special meaning in the Republican tradition of political thought. The origin of the Western concept of liberty lies in ancient Greece, in the opposition between liberty and slavery conceived after the liberation of Athens from tyranny and the victory over the Persian empire. The author then investigates the Republican notion of liberty that originates in ancient Rome and reaches its peak with Cicero. This conception of liberty (...) emphasizes self-government and partecipation in common deliberation and runs through Western political thought up to Rousseau, Tocqueville and the authors of the Federalist Papers. (shrink)

The present work is a comment of a recent paper by Fortin and coauthors in which the authors propose the introduction of Bohmian mechanics in the philosophy of chemistry and the use of standard quantum mechanics as a mere instrument of prediction. This way would allow overcoming the obstacles found in linking molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics. Starting from some remarks on the orbital concept, we highlight and discuss some general issues that need to be taken into account when two (...) scientific theories coexist within the same investigation field, i.e. SQM and BM. (shrink)

Prema najekstremnijem obliku pravnoga realizma sudske odluke ovise o tome što su suci jeli za doručak. Nejasno je je li itko od američkih pravnih realista takvo što zaista i tvrdio. Ponekad se to ekstremno stajalište pripisuje Jeromeu Franku, što nije iznenađujuće s obzirom da se Franka obično smatra najradikalnijim, najskeptičnijim i najciničnijim među tim realistima. Tvrdi se zapravo da su kritičari američkog pravnog realizma promovirali «frankifikaciju» toga pokreta upravo kako bi ga učini..

Our main hypothesis is that an extended moral agent cannot fulfill their expectation of “extendedness” without a dynamical and evolutionary ecosystem where the agent develops and behave properly. It is important to establish a bridge between extended moral agents and ecosystems for two reasons: first, because there is not an enough direct theoretical reflection about this link. The scholars focus has been independently in improving the “extended agent theory”, the concepts of “ecosystem” or “ecosystem of innovation”. Second, if we want (...) to understand the wide scope of the decentered ethics in design of mobile robots and AI these two theoretical frames cannot be seen separately but in join interdependency. (shrink)