In the last year of the Great War, Italy was also hit by the Spanish flu. The Civic Hospitals faced a deadly disaster with insufficient resources. All the heavy workload fell on the female nursing staff, who were the only ones able ensure the continuity of the hospital services. This study aimed to explore the impact of the influenza on the health of the nurses at the Maggiore Hospital in Milan during the second and third epidemic waves. Historical research was (...) conducted between February and May 2020. Primary sources were retrieved from the historical archives of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico and the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. In the autumn of 1918, the Maggiore Hospital in Milan changed its organization to hospitalise patients affected by the influenza pandemic. Although the hospital managers wanted to protect their healthcare staff from the risks of contagion by means of prophylaxis rules, 388 lay nurses and 80 religious sister nurses were affected by this insidious disease. The second and third waves of the pandemic claimed 25 victims of duty. Remembered for their altruism and spirit of abnegation, the hospital community honoured their sacrifice, and the citizens expressed their gratitude. (shrink)

Management of different types of partnerships plays a decisive role in company performance. Complex business ventures, such as those created to serve low-income populations, usually include both cross- and same-sector partnerships. However, the initial diversity featured in these alliance portfolios diminishes as companies take their ventures up to scale. This article develops theoretical propositions about the evolution and configuration patterns of portfolios that include both cross- and same-sector partnerships. Two longitudinal case studies serve to illustrate the theoretical framework developed for (...) alliance portfolios that include both types of partnerships. Companies that create such portfolios adopt partnership strategies that follow paths also identified in the evolution of portfolios only made up of partnerships with other private firms: i.e., an evolution from adapting to shaping and exploiting strategies. (shrink)

In this paper I offer a first account of a practice-based conception of normativity for the political domain. This standpoint is used to relocate the most sophisticated normative practices of justification and critique within an experience-based framework, that of the human being as a “normative creature.” I begin by discussing the two major paradigms in political theory, showing that their neglect of this broad framework of normativity is a serious drawback. I then proceed to articulate the central elements of a (...) practicebased account of normativity: the notions of normative practices and normative orders, and an account of the rationality potential of normativity as practice. (shrink)

Comprendre la nature de la pensée, redéfinir notre compréhension de la connaissance et de sa place dans la vie des individus et des sociétés, tel est le projet de John Dewey.

A brief introduction to the main philosophical problems and theories about the nature of holes and such-like nothingnesses.

El debate de la reciente filosofía de la imagen está estructurado en la oposición entre enfoques semióticos y perceptualistas. Entre estos últimos, los especialistas suelen incluir a la fenomenología. Ahora bien, ¿es correcto caracterizar a la fenomenología como una posición perceptualista acerca de la imagen? Defenderé la tesis de que la fenomenología representa un perceptualismo indirecto o débil. Con todo, el lugar que pueda ocupar la fenomenología en el debate no se restringe a su cercanía con el perceptualismo. Intentaré mostrar (...) que la fenomenología plantea temáticas puntuales, tales como la relación entre sentido y presencia, las cuales puede conducir hacia un análisis crítico de los supuestos en los que se apoya el encuadre actual de la discusión. The debate of the recent philosophy of the image is organized in the opposition between semiotic and perceptualistic approaches. Scholars often include the phenomenology into the perceptualistic view. Yet, ¿is it right to characterize the phenomenology as a kind of perceptualism about the image? The first goal of the paper is to demonstrate that phenomenology represents an indirect or weak perceptualism. Anyway, the place of the phenomenology in the debate does not consist only in being a kind of perceptualism. The second goal of the paper is to show that phenomenology raises certain questions, like the relationship between sense and presence, which can lead us to criticize the assumptions the current articulation of the debate is based on. (shrink)

This article explores Axel Honneth’s long-standing philosophical interest for solidarity in the larger context of contemporary theories of democracy. It identifies three models to which Honneth res...

In the standard approach to quantum mechanics, closed subspaces of a Hilbert space represent propositions. In the operational approach, closed subspaces are replaced by effects that represent a mathematical counterpart for properties which can be measured in a physical system. Effects are a proper generalization of closed subspaces. Effects determine a Brouwer-Zadeh poset which is not a lattice. However, such a poset can be embedded in a complete Brouwer-Zadeh lattice. From an intuitive point of view, one can say that these (...) structures represent a natural logical abstraction from the structure of propositions of a quantum system. The logic that arises in this way is Brouwer-Zadeh logic. This paper shows that such a logic can be characterized by means of an algebraic and a Kripkean semantics. Finally, a strong completeness theorem for BZL is proved. (shrink)

This is Dr. Roberto Assagioli's second book on the psychological system he formulated known as Psychosynthesis. It continues where his first book left off and delves into the important process of willing as a psychological function based on a higher self rather on guilt or determination as in the Victorian concept of the will.

In the recent literature across philosophy, medicine and public health policy, many influential arguments have been put forward to support the use of randomization procedures to allocate scarce life-saving resources. In this paper, I provide a systematic categorization and a critical evaluation of these arguments. I shall argue that those arguments justify using RAND to allocate SLSR in fewer cases than their proponents maintain and that the relevant decision-makers should typically allocate SLSR directly to the individuals with the strongest claims (...) to these resources rather than use RAND to allocate such resources. (shrink)

In this essay, the author tries to decipher the linguistics usages of gestaltic therapy, through a mixed analysis from both a perspective of the theory of talking acts (Searle) and the perspective of the phenomenological dimension of the project of Schutz.

La première rencontre de la pensée husserlienne avec la question de l’historicité, de façon exemplaire dans La philosophie comme science rigoureuse, ne semblait pas promettre de longs développements : c’était la possibilité même d’une rencontre réelle qui était mise en question, et ce à cause des éléments constitutifs mêmes de la phénoménologie, à savoir sa démarche eidétique et transcendantale. En tant que domaine de la factualité contingente et variable, milieu de ce qui est déjà donné au s...

In this article, I seek to account for the importance of a principle which governs a significant part of Patocˇka’s philosophy of history. For Patocˇka, history is characterised by an alternation of rises and falls; this is determined, on the one hand, by the attempt of the existence to rise above the simple imperatives of biological life; and, on the other, by the ever-present risk of falling back into what Patocˇka calls the project of “bare life,” bound to itself. I (...) analyse the presence of these claims in Patocˇka’s work at three levels: first, the role of the dynamic of life within the dynamic of existence, and in particular within the practice of work; second, the transition from prehistory to historical existence proper; and finally, the description of two striking phenomena of modern life, namely the domination of technology and war. I conclude by raising some critical questions, concerning in particular the ambiguity of the notion of life and the ethical perspectives that Patocˇka outlines as a way out. In my analysis I try to show that Patocˇka’s position is constructed in a dialogue with Arendt and Heidegger and implies in some respects an anticipation of the problems of biopolitics. (shrink)

Mathematical game theory – developed starting from the publication of The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior , by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern – aims to outline an ideal model of behaviour of rational agents involved in some interaction with other rational agents. For this reason, game theory has immediately attracted the attention of philosophers dealing with practical rationality and, since the fifties, has been applied to the analysis of several issues concerning ethics and philosophy of politics. Here (...) we will focus on one of the most interesting applications of game theory to ethical-political inquiry, i.e., with the game theoretic analysis of some problems related to the evolution of moral norms. Firstly, we will provide a short outline of the development of game theory, which has lead to the formulation of a plurality of different game theories. It will be shown that such theories can be classified in two main groups: rationalistic game theories –in two different versions: classical and epistemic – and evolutionary game theories. Moreover, some basic elements of classical game theory will be introduced and the key ideas of epistemic and evolutionary game theories will be illustrated. Afterwards, the main approaches developed within the ethical-political applications of game theory will be shortly described. Finally, some results obtained in the last twenty years by the researchers who have analysed the evolution of moral norms by the conceptual tools of evolutionary and epistemic game theories, will be examined. (shrink)

Os chamados manuscritos C, recentemente publicados, têm um interesse especial para a clarificação da constituição do mundo na medida em que mostram como, a partir de um mundo primordial ou quasi-mundo correlato à pré-intencionalidade, se atinge o mundo plenamente intersubjetivo constituído por uma intencionalidade de interesses desde uma práxis comunicativa. Seguindo os manuscritos, este artigo tem um propósito quádruplo: 1) tentar discernir diferentes caracterizações do mundo como horizonte universal, representação-mundo, todo, forma, idéia e fundamento; mostra-se, assim, o papel da temporalidade (...) na raiz desses traços de mundanidade; 2) níveis de constituição do mundo são desvelados a fim de diferenciar um fundamento previamente dado de um fundamento que se desenvolve através dos estágios do mundo egóico, mundo da casa, mundo da vida e mundo-em-si; desvela-se aqui um encaixamento desses horizontes um no outro; 3) uma análise posterior dos níveis é dada através do questionamento retroativo na primalidade como um retrocesso que revela o desenvolvimento de um pré-mundo a um mundo genuíno; uma gênese permanente, antes de uma gênese do passado, é realçada; 4) finalmente, mostrar- se-á como antecipações da fenomenologia póshusserliana nos remetem a uma abertura originária do mundo em sua mundanidade, um âmbito que é anterior à manifestação de um mundo de objetos e uma ordem de manifestação diferente daquela do mundo. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Fenomenologia genética. Husserl. Manuscritos C. Mundo. Temporalidade. ABSTRACT The recently published C-manuscripts hold special interest for the clarification of the constitution of the world by showing how, starting from a primal or quasiworld correlated with preintentionality, it advances to the full intersubjective world constituted by an intentionality of interests within communicative praxis. Following the manuscripts, this paper has a fourfold purpose. First, it attempts to discern different characterizations of the world as universal horizon, world-representation, whole, form, idea, and ground. The role of temporality at the roots of these traits of worldliness is shown. Second, levels of constitution of the world are disclosed in order to differentiate a readymade ground from a ground that develops through the stages of egoical world, homeworld, lifeworld, and world-in-itself. An encasement of these horizons one-in another is displayed. Third, a further analysis of levels is given through the inquiry back into primality as a retrogression that reveals the development from a pre-world to a genuine world. A permanent genesis rather than a past genesis is brought out. Finally, anticipations will be shown of post-Husserlian phenomenological views regarding an originary openness of the world in its worldliness, a realm that is prior to the manifestation of a world of objects, and a different order of manifestation than that of the world. KEY WORDS – Genetic phenomenology. Husserl. C-manuscripts. World. Temporality. (shrink)

This collection of essays by scholars from Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America offers new perspectives of the phenomenological investigation of experiential life on the basis of Husserl’s phenomenology. Not only well-known works of Husserl are interpreted from new angles, but also the latest volumes of the Husserliana are closely examined. In a variety of ways, the contributors explore the emergence of reason in experience that is disclosed in the very regions that are traditionally considered to be “irrational” or (...) “pre-rational.” The leading idea of such explorations is Husserl’s view that perception, affectivity, and volition are regarded as the three aspects of reason. Without affectivity, which is supposedly irrational, no rationality can be established in the spheres of representation and volition, whereas volitional and representational acts consistently structure the process of affective experience. In such a framework, it is also shown that theoretical and practical reason are inseparably intertwined. Thus, the papers collected here can be regarded as a collaborative phenomenological investigation into the entanglement and mutual dependency of the supposedly “rational” and the “irrational” as well as that of the “practical” and the “theoretical.”. (shrink)

This paper deals with recent work on the role of objects in cognition and the methodological problems created by findings and theories in various strands of the cognitive sciences. The term ‘object’ is here mean to refer to spatially extended items that persist over time. The main theses of this paper are as follows. First, we should ideally consider the various notions and representations of objects and objecthood that emerge from the literature as components of something akin to the notion (...) of internalized language that is at the core of mainstream linguistics. There appear to be as many different I-representations of objects as there are fields of investigation, and this creates some interesting methodological problems. Second, it is important to assess whether these different notions may be traced back to a common ground of underlying principles. Existing unification attempts either underestimate the differences between the I-representations or pave the way to an eliminative position that would dispose of the variety of I-notions altogether. The paper builds on these previous attempts and proposes to use again an analogy from linguistics in order to show how commonalities and differences between the various I-notions can be accounted for. Third, this framework can allow us to make sense of some so far piecemeal analyses of the commonsense notion of an object. (shrink)

Cet essai rappelle l’interprétation qu’ont donnée Carl Schmitt, Dolf Sternberger et Nicole Loraux du caractère essentiel de la politique. Celui-ci a un rapport intrinsèque avec ce que Joachim Ritter et Manfred Riedel ont essayé de penser à travers la catégorie de « métapolitique ». Mais c’est en se référant également aux grandes époques que décrit la philosophie de l’histoire de Hegel que l’auteur conclut que le noyau métapolitique de la politique est constitué par la relation antinomique entre inclusion et exclusion. (...) La machine de la théologie politique, autour de laquelle s’articule depuis longtemps la politique occidentale, fonctionne en attribuant constamment le rôle du tout à une partie par le biais de la soumission et de l’exclusion d’une autre partie. (shrink)

Dans le développement de l’idée de l’utopie, de la création du terme à sa diffusion et à sa torsion dans de nombreux dérivés (dystopie, hétérotropie, rétrotopie), l’intuition originale et la méthode inaugurée par Sir Thomas More en philosophie politique ont été oubliées et souvent trahies. Il faut restaurer l’esprit humaniste, réaliste et imaginatif de la pensée utopique, en clarifiant ses structures essentielles et le modus operandi de l’expérience de pensée que l’utopie utilise pour déterminer les principes d’une société raisonnablement juste (...) et heureuse. Libérée des malentendus, la pensée utopique est une ressource fondamentale pour tous les temps, mais surtout elle semble inéluctable pour le présent, où l’imagination politique semble être coincée entre des formes mal comprises de réalisme et des tentations nostalgiques. (shrink)

Este artículo pretende ofrecer una visión alternativa tanto de la lectura conceptualista tradicional de Kant como de la nueva lectura no conceptualista. En contra de las lecturas conceptualistas tradicionales sostengo que confunden las condiciones para la representación sensible de los objetos con las condiciones para el reconocimiento de que representamos objetos mediante intuiciones sensibles. En contra de las lecturas no conceptualistas sostengo que no distinguen el no conceptualismo -propio de la filosofía contemporánea de la mente- de las tesis antiintelectualistas de (...) Kant. Tales lecturas fracasan porque se equivocan al atribuir un contenido representacional a las intuiciones sensibles de Kant. Las intuiciones sensibles, según Kant, no presentan el mundo según ciertas condiciones de satisfacción que podrían o no ser satisfechas por el mundo. Por lo tanto, no son ni verídicas ni non verídicas. Se limitan a presentar el mundo de una manera directa, independiente de los conceptos, lo que llamaré aquí la presentación de re de los objetos. En mi lectura, la oposición entre intuiciones y conceptos es la oposición entre la presentación de re de um objeto y el reconocimento proposicional de dicto de que representamos algo como um objeto. (shrink)

En este artículo se exponen las objeciones éticas y jurídicas a la maternidad subrogada. Algunos opinan que ésta es una cuestión de solidaridad con las parejas infértiles, por lo que es una práctica reproductiva, que nace de la autonomía de la mujer gestante y del derecho que a todo ser humano le asiste de ser padres. Otros opinan que los defensores de la maternidad subrogada en cualquiera de sus dos modalidades: comercial y altruista, olvidan a los dos sujetos más importantes (...) implicados en la misma: la mujer gestante y su bebé. Consideran que la maternidad subrogada discrimina y cosifica al bebé y a la mujer gestante mercantilizando e instrumentalizando su cuerpo. Utiliza a la gestante y al niño, como medios al servicio del cumplimiento de los deseos de otros. Luego parece que con la admisión de la maternidad subrogada resulta evidente que la dignidad de la mujer y la maternidad no se contemplan como algo indisponible y digno de protección. También el bebé no tiene valor en sí mismo, sino que lo tiene únicamente si es querido, recibido, deseado. En definitiva, no se puede admitir una práctica reproductiva que, en mi opinión, tiene como objetivo ser padre o madre a cualquier «precio». (shrink)

The contributions presented in this symposium explore, from different perspectives, the relationship between pragmatism and history, that is, the empirical study of the human past. These connections run deep, and may be assessed on several counts. First of all, many pragmatist philosophers have devoted a great deal of attention to investigating the nature of historical knowledge and its relevance to philosophy. Classical pragmatists such as Peirce, Dewey and Mead laid a strong emphasis on pro...

El trabajo tiene como hilo conductor la diferenciación efectuada por P. Ricoeur respecto del lenguaje entre la lengua, el discurso oral, la escritura y la lectura. Cada uno de estos modos de lenguaje puede ser examinado según los fenómenos de la temporalidad, la subjetividad, el mundo y la intersubjetividad. Siguiendo a M. Presas, este esquema se aplica al arte y a su función de dejar que las cosas se manifiesten en su plena presencia. Se destaca su énfasis en la liberación (...) efectuada por el arte respecto de la limitación fáctica de nuestra situación finita. Esto se logra mediante la apertura a la verdad de una existencia posible que no se identifica con una evasión de la realidad. Los análisis de Presas se centran en P. Klee y F. Marc, y destacan los rasgos distintivos relacionados con los mencionados fenómenos. En el intento de ofrecer un complemento a este examen, se mencionan las interpretaciones de Merleau-Ponty sobre P. Cézanne, de M. Henry sobre V. Kandinsky y de J.-C. Marion sobre G. Courbet. Se muestra que en ellas también se encuentran explicitaciones de lo que Presas ha afirmado sobre la discordia, el ser insular y la ausencia de apremio. (shrink)

This article contains a case study of some innovative early fourteenth-century conceptions of the temporal structure of substantial change. An important tenet of thirteenth-century scholastic hylomorphism is that substantial change is an instantaneous process. In contrast, three early fourteenth-century Aristotelian commentators, first Walter Burley and then John Buridan and Albert of Saxony, progressively develop a view on which substantial change is linked to temporal duration. This process culminated, in Buridan and Albert of Saxony, with the explicit recognition of the temporally (...) extended nature of some (if not most) instances of substantial change. This article sheds light on this neglected episode in the history of late medieval hylomorphism taking as its point of departure these commentators’ discussions of the issue of minima naturalia, i.e., the issue of the lowest possible limit of any division of substantial forms coming about through the potentially infinite division of the matter they inform. In short: is there a piece of matter so small that no substantial form can possibly inhere in it? (shrink)