- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto per il Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia delle Idee
c/o Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Dipartimento di Filosofia
Villa Mirafiori, Via Carlo Fea, 2
00161 Roma (Italy)
- La Sapienza University of Rome, Philosophy, Department MemberNABA, MEDIA DESIGN & NEW MEDIA ARTS, Faculty MemberUniversidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de Letras, Departamento de Filosofia, Comunicação e Informação, Faculty Memberadd
- Medieval Scholasticism, Baroque, Thomas Aquinas, Renaissance Philosophy, René Descartes, Aquinas, and 106 moreSecond Scholasticism, History of Medicine, Francisco Suárez, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Scholastic Angelology, Metaphysics, Demonology, History of Philosophy of Science, Monsters and Monster Theory, Kant, Henry of Ghent, Ontology, Teleology, Medieval Philosophy, Second-Order Cybernetics, Jesuits, Fortunio Liceti, Cureau de la Chambre, Intellectual History of the Baroque Period, Aristotle's philosophy of biology, Duns Scotus, Medieval Studies, History of Ideas, Philosophy, Literature, Ancient Cosmologies, Aristotelianism, Aristotle's Commentators, Phenomenology and post-phenomenology, Descartes, René, Jean-Luc Marion, Alexandre Koyré, 17th Century Rationalism, Contemporary Aristotelianism, Michel Foucault, Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Galileo Galilei, Aristotle, Hegel, Giles of Rome, Augustine, Melancholy, Jacques Derrida, Thomas Hobbes, Shakespeare, History of Science, Angelology, Latin tradition of Galenic treatises, Siger of Brabant, Renaissance Studies, Charles de Bovelles, UFOlogy, History of Astrology, Epistemology, Modern Aristotelianism, Cartesianism, Medical Anthropology, Animal Cognition, History Of Modern Philosophy, Book Reviews, Philosophy Of Animals, Descartes, Contemporary Italian Philosophy, Italian Philosophy, Scaravelli, Aristoteles Physik, Political Philosophy, Ethics, Theology, Phenomenology, Philosophy Of Religion, Early Modern History, Neuropsychology, Edmund Husserl, Applied Philosophy, History, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy Of Language, Continental Philosophy, Biopolitics, Communication, Semiotics, Virtue Ethics, Philosophy of Biology, Giorgio Agamben, Contemporary French Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Baruch Spinoza, Posthumanism, Social History of Medicine, Cosmology (Anthropology), History of Medicine and the Body, Archaeological photography, The Monstrous and Otherness, Monsters and the Monstrous, Mythical and Monstrous, The Gothic, Teratology, Posthumans, Deviant Corporeality, Renaissance Art (Monstrosity in), Archaeological representation, Art Theory, Gender Studies, and History of Philosophyedit
- Researcher at the Italian National Research Council - Institute for the European Intellectual Lexicon and History of ... moreResearcher at the Italian National Research Council - Institute for the European Intellectual Lexicon and History of Ideas (CNR-ILIESI). PhD at the University SAPIENZA of Rome. Formerly Assistant Professor (Professor Auxiliar) at the University of Coimbra's Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLUC) and FCT Post-Doc Researcher at the University of Coimbra's Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos (IEF). I am the editorial coordinator of the Conimbricenses.org project, as well as of the international peer-reviewed open access journal "Lo Sguardo". I am also an editor of the international peer-reviewed journals "Quaestio", "Bruniana & Campanelliana" and "Azimuth. Philosophical Coordinates". I constantly contribute to several academic journals and collective volumes.edit
Una fortunata rappresentazione storiografica ha voluto che il dualismo di Descartes si costituisse in diretta rottura col concetto tommasiano di anima-forma. Sulla scia dei numerosi studi che negli ultimi decenni si sono opposti a questo... more
Una fortunata rappresentazione storiografica ha voluto che il dualismo di Descartes si costituisse in diretta rottura col concetto tommasiano di anima-forma. Sulla scia dei numerosi studi che negli ultimi decenni si sono opposti a questo pregiudizio, L'angelo e la macchina ricostruisce nel dettaglio il dibattito cinque-seicentesco sulla psicologia, focalizzandosi specialmente sull'ambiente gesuita e sul contesto aristotelico, platonico e agostiniano di area francese. A partire da una rigorosa indagine sulle teorie dell'anima separata, particolare attenzione è data poi alla derivazione indirettamente angelologica del cogito e dell'innatismo cartesiano. Negli anni in cui Descartes elabora la sua metafisica, infatti, l'immediata prossimità tra anime e angeli costituisce per certi versi un dato di fatto, alla luce del quale appaiono chiare molte scelte argomentative delle Meditationes e persino le dinamiche che congiungono strettamente la "sostanza pensante" con il corpo-macchina.
— Review: Dr. Nicolò Galasso, in La Cultura. Rivista di Filosofia, Letteratura e Storia, 57 (2019, 1), pp. 129-132.
— Review: Dr. Jacopo Francesco Falà, in Lo Sguardo. Rivista di Filosofia, 27 (2018, 2), pp. 369-373.
— Review: Dr. Laurence Dupas-Gelin, in Bulettin Cartésien (Archives de Philosophie), 49 (2020), pp. 196-197.
— Review: Emanuele Landi, in Biblos. Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra (forthcoming).
— Review: Dr. Nicolò Galasso, in La Cultura. Rivista di Filosofia, Letteratura e Storia, 57 (2019, 1), pp. 129-132.
— Review: Dr. Jacopo Francesco Falà, in Lo Sguardo. Rivista di Filosofia, 27 (2018, 2), pp. 369-373.
— Review: Dr. Laurence Dupas-Gelin, in Bulettin Cartésien (Archives de Philosophie), 49 (2020), pp. 196-197.
— Review: Emanuele Landi, in Biblos. Revista da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra (forthcoming).
Research Interests:
This volume publishes the Proceedings of the 1st International Meeting "Thinking Baroque in Portugal" (26-28 June 2017), which dealt with the metaphysical, ethical and political thinking of Francisco Suárez. Counting on the collaboration... more
This volume publishes the Proceedings of the 1st International Meeting "Thinking Baroque in Portugal" (26-28 June 2017), which dealt with the metaphysical, ethical and political thinking of Francisco Suárez. Counting on the collaboration of some of the greatest international specialists in the work and thought of this famous professor of the University of Coimbra in the 17th century, this volume celebrates the 400th anniversary of his death and marks the productivity of his philosophical-theological legacy.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Political Philosophy, Ethics, History of Ethics, and 10 more17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Renaissance Philosophy, 17th-Century Studies, Scholastic Philosophy, Descartes, Second Scholasticism, Francisco Suárez, Cursus Conimbricensis, History of Philosophy a Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes
This paper deals with Suárez's theory of extension and continuous quantity, as it is discussed in the Metaphysical Disputations and as a possible source for Descartes's concept of res extensa. In a first part of the paper, I analyse... more
This paper deals with Suárez's theory of extension and continuous quantity, as it is discussed in the Metaphysical Disputations and as a possible source for Descartes's concept of res extensa. In a first part of the paper, I analyse Suárez' account of divisibility and extension in a comparison with the Dominicans', Scotus and Fonseca's, and Ockham's. In the light of this analysis, Suárez's most original contribution seems being the claim that material composites have integral parts 'entitatively' extended (partem extra partem) independently from categorial quantity. Such a theory allows Suárez to merge the Dominicans', the Scotists' and the Ockhamists' account, as the integral parts fund the internal but pre-quantitative divisibility of body, which is the source of quantity. In a second part of the paper, I deal with the reception of Suárez’s theory (especially in Rubio, Arriaga, Araujo, Eustachius and Abra de Raçonis), as well as with Descartes’ concept of res extensa. I conclude that Suárez’s account has been mainly criticized by the seventeenth Century Aristotelianism, as well as by Descartes. Despite that, Suárez’s idea of non-quantitatively extended parts had an interesting reception and effect in the debate, and especially in the (dominant) Scotistic context.
Research Interests: Philosophy, History of Science, 17th-Century Studies, René Descartes, Scholastic Philosophy, and 9 more17th- and 18th-century Philosophy, Descartes, Second Scholasticism, Francisco Suárez, Early Modern Philosophy, Cursus Conimbricensis, History of Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes, and Pedro Da Fonseca
The Question of Truth in Pedro da Fonseca: the Problem of the simplex apprehensio and the Foundation of Logical Identities. This article deals with the theory of truth in Pedro da Fonseca (1528-1599) as it is presented in his commentary... more
The Question of Truth in Pedro da Fonseca: the Problem of the simplex apprehensio and the Foundation of Logical Identities.
This article deals with the theory of truth in Pedro da Fonseca (1528-1599) as it is presented in his commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1577-1612). The first part of the paper is dedicated to Fonseca’s definition of intellective truth within the doctrinal topography of the Aristotelian tradition. The Author especially points out Fonseca’s attempt to justify the notion of a “simple” truth of the “simple apprehension”, based on a specific use of Cajetan’s distinction between “signified act” and “exercised act” as well as on a (partially) nominalist account of the relationship between “simple” and “enunciative” concepts. The second part deals instead with Fonseca’s definition of transcendental truth, understood as the conformity between the intellect and the esse realis of the res, and as the conformity of the latter with exemplars in God’s mind. Here the Author also reconstructs Fonseca’s theory of divine ideas and his theory of logical identities. Keywords: Pedro da Fonseca, 16th-century scholasticism, theory of truth, simple apprehension, exemplarism and logical identities
This article deals with the theory of truth in Pedro da Fonseca (1528-1599) as it is presented in his commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1577-1612). The first part of the paper is dedicated to Fonseca’s definition of intellective truth within the doctrinal topography of the Aristotelian tradition. The Author especially points out Fonseca’s attempt to justify the notion of a “simple” truth of the “simple apprehension”, based on a specific use of Cajetan’s distinction between “signified act” and “exercised act” as well as on a (partially) nominalist account of the relationship between “simple” and “enunciative” concepts. The second part deals instead with Fonseca’s definition of transcendental truth, understood as the conformity between the intellect and the esse realis of the res, and as the conformity of the latter with exemplars in God’s mind. Here the Author also reconstructs Fonseca’s theory of divine ideas and his theory of logical identities. Keywords: Pedro da Fonseca, 16th-century scholasticism, theory of truth, simple apprehension, exemplarism and logical identities
Research Interests: Philosophy, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Renaissance Philosophy, History of Logic, René Descartes, and 10 moreThomas Aquinas, Theories Of Truth, Theories of truth (Philosophy), Descartes, Second Scholasticism, Francisco Suárez, Early Modern Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes, and Pedro Da Fonseca
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This chapter focuses on the question of the specific truth granted to the human intellect’s concepts qua concepts (simplex apprehensio), as it is presented and discussed in Sebastião do Couto’s commentary on On Interpretation, included in... more
This chapter focuses on the question of the specific truth granted to the human intellect’s concepts qua concepts (simplex apprehensio), as it is presented and discussed in Sebastião do Couto’s commentary on On Interpretation, included in his general commentary on Aristotle’s Dialectics (1606), the final volume of the famous and influential Cursus Conimbricensis (1592–1606). Such a topic finds it roots in a large medieval debate that runs through many authors and especially Augustine, Aquinas, Scotus, Durandus, and Ockham, reaching in the Jesuit early modern context, with Pedro da Fonseca and Francisco Suárez, a complete and eclectic account that paved the way for the modern understanding of “mind.”
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In this article, I deal with the role of hypothesis in the scientific methodology of Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon and René Descartes. The first paragraph is about hypothesis in Newton's lexicon, especially trying to understand the meaning... more
In this article, I deal with the role of hypothesis in the scientific methodology of Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon and René Descartes. The first paragraph is about hypothesis in Newton's lexicon, especially trying to understand the meaning of his famous hypotheses non fingo. The second paragraph deals with Bacon's methodology, arguing especially that his epis-temology was the first to propose an artificial way for inductive inferences, also giving up all hypothesis in science. The third paragraph shows how Descartes, following Bacon's traces and reading his methodology in the light of the idea of a Mathesis Universalis based on mental evidence, structures a full hypothetical-deductive methodology, charging metaphysics with the analytical phase and depriving experiments of any role in it. The fourth paragraph, on Newton again, tries to understand Newton's specific account of hypothesis as an auxiliary phase in the scientific discovery, and what really differentiates Newton from his contemporaries, Boyle and Hooke.
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This paper addresses Suárez’s understanding of imagination and phantasy, dealing with it in the general Aristotelian debate on the internal senses. Paragraph 1 sketches Aristotle’s, Avicenna’s and Aquinas’s accounts of imagination,... more
This paper addresses Suárez’s understanding of imagination and phantasy, dealing with it in the general Aristotelian debate on the internal senses. Paragraph 1 sketches Aristotle’s, Avicenna’s and Aquinas’s accounts of imagination, examining especially the boundary between human and animal cognition. Paragraph 2 addresses especially the Jesuits’ understanding of the topology of the internal senses, linking it with the Jesuit strategy for the demonstration of the soul’s immateriality and immortality. Paragraphs 3 and 4 deal with Suárez’s simplification of the internal senses, aimed at establishing a direct opposition between intellection (in men) and a general lower cognitive activity founded in the use of sensory representations (shared by men and animals). Paragraphs 5 and 6 focus on the role of phantasy in Suárez’s account of the illumination of phantasms, on Suárez’s use of Scotus’ concepts of ‘sympathy’, and ‘concomitance’ and the relevance of such a model in the demonstration of the soul’s immortality.
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This article addresses the Aristotelian debate in the 17th century on the incorporeality of light and its extension, focusing especially on the Iberian and Italian contexts. The aim of the essay is to show that, while late Aristotelianism... more
This article addresses the Aristotelian debate in the 17th century on the incorporeality of light and its extension, focusing especially on the Iberian and Italian contexts. The aim of the essay is to show that, while late Aristotelianism unitedly rejected light’s corporeity, many differences arose regarding the way in which this incorporeality should be understood. Relevant perspectives in all of their discussions were Scotus’ teaching of the intentional nature of light, and the Neoplatonics’ claim of its metaphysical provenance. In the Iberian environment, Jesuit scholars/theologians (the school of Toledo, the Conimbricenses, Francisco Suárez, and Antonio Rubio) were especially characterized by their attempt to save Aristotle’s original explanation in De Anima, although theoretical discrepancies on many significant points divide them. Italian intellectuals such as Zabarella, Dandini, Lagalla and Liceti were instead more willing to seek a reconciliation between Aristotle’s statement and the explanation of light posited by Scotus and the Neoplatonists, and more receptive to the need for a new theory of matter.
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The essay deals with Aquinas’ theory of person, focusing especially on the relevance of this qualification in Saint Thomas’ theory of the «spiritual substances», on his rejection of Platonism and on his peculiar use of the Neoplatonic... more
The essay deals with Aquinas’ theory of person, focusing especially on the relevance of this qualification in Saint Thomas’ theory of the «spiritual substances», on his rejection of Platonism and on his peculiar use of the Neoplatonic hierarchy of the intellective substances. We especially stress that Aquinas’ functionalist theory of person places the concept of «dignity» as the ultimate foundation of rationality, understanding the latter as a specific assignment and a specific responsibility in the order of Creation.
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In this essay, I address Descartes’ medical thought, starting from the years of Le Monde and focus- ing especially on the “ontological” explanation of the dropsy in the Sixth Meditation. I especially consider Descartes’ attempt to... more
In this essay, I address Descartes’ medical thought, starting from the years of Le Monde and focus- ing especially on the “ontological” explanation of the dropsy in the Sixth Meditation. I especially consider Descartes’ attempt to ‘reform’ physiology according to the universal methodology of geometrical reasoning, as well as with the importance given by Descartes’ epistemology to the re- lationship between medicine and the mind-body union. The possibility of a coherent explanation of all the embodied phenomena, including illness and passions is, in fact, a strategic opportunity to show the existence of an inner regularity in God’s Creation and so, to reconnect any ‘practical’ order (including medicine) to His essence. This leads Descartes to implicitly face the problem of the monstrous births, retracing what he could find in Toledo’s and Conimbricenses’ Commentaria.
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Medicine, and 11 morePhilosophy of Medicine, Continental Philosophy, 17th-Century Studies, René Descartes, Cartesianism, 17th- and 18th-century Philosophy, Descartes, Early Modern Philosophy, The Monstrous and Otherness, Monsters and the Monstrous, 和 History of Philosophy
The article introduces Marin Cureau de La Chambre’s theory of light, focusing especially on the treatise Le Lumière (1657). Specifically, the anti-Cartesian and anti-mechanistic side of Cureau’s work is stressed, reconstructing its... more
The article introduces Marin Cureau de La Chambre’s theory of light, focusing especially on the treatise Le Lumière (1657). Specifically, the anti-Cartesian and anti-mechanistic side of Cureau’s work is stressed, reconstructing its account of the “essential” nature of light, linking it to the Franciscan and the Platonic tradition and focusing on the peculiar use of the notion of “extensio formalis.” Additionally, Cureau’s theory of color and his theories on irradiance and light’s movement is presented. Finally, the article illustrates Cureau’s qualitative explanation of refraction and reflection, reconstructing his role in the genesis of Fermat’s ‘principle of least time.’
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This article deals with the concept of “mechanism” from a historical point of view, focusing on its relationship with the evolution of hylomorphism in the 17th century. I try to address the following questions: is mechanism structurally... more
This article deals with the concept of “mechanism” from a historical point of view, focusing on its relationship with the evolution of hylomorphism in the 17th century. I try to address the following questions: is mechanism structurally bound to materialism or does it rather represent a form of complete determinism, reconcilable with an “updated” version of hylomorphism? In the first part of the essay, I make the point that the very notion of “mechanism” must be clarified by means of a distinction between Boylean experimental mechanism and what Daniel Garber has called the “pre-history of the Mechanical Philosophy”. My aim is to highlight how the deterministic (and nominalistic) hylomorphism developed in the 17th Century came quite close to mechanism. In this framework, I present the ‘strange case’ of Marin Cureau de La Chambre (1594-1669), which represents a characteristic compromise – based on the possibility of a not bodily extension – between a deterministic mechanization of the lower functions of the vegetative and sensitive soul and Campanella’s panpsychism.
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The article examines Marin Cureau de La Chambre's Système de l'âme (1664), highlighting the role played in the work by the tradition of Italian Renaissance naturalism. La Chambre profoundly criticizes the very concept of 'passion of the... more
The article examines Marin Cureau de La Chambre's Système de l'âme (1664), highlighting the role played in the work by the tradition of Italian Renaissance naturalism. La Chambre profoundly criticizes the very concept of 'passion of the soul', attacking the Aristotelian doctrine of the possible intellect but, contemporarily, also the direct interaction between body and mind presupposed by Descartes in Les passions de l'âme. The solution adopted by Cureau is based on the doctrine of intermediate substances, which allows him to resume Ficino's model, reconciling it with Descartes' intellec-tualist dualism and integrating the latter with a panpsychism of Campanellian brand.
Research Interests: Philosophy, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Medicine, Renaissance Studies, René Descartes, and 13 moreIntellectual History of the Baroque Period, Soul (Humanities), Aristotle's Commentators, Tommaso Campanella, Descartes, Early Modern Philosophy, Marsilio Ficino, Aristotélisme, Cureau de la Chambre, History of Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, Psychology and Noetics, Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes, and Marin Cureau de La Chambre
La gloria, lo specchio e la legge. Nota sull'angelologia tra Agamben e Tommaso”, in A. Lucci (ed.), La vita delle forme. Saggi su Giorgio Agamben, Il Melangolo (forthcoming, October 2015).
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In this essay I address the debate between Pierre Chanet and Marin Cureau de La Chambre on animal instinct, analyzing it in depth and connecting it to the question of the relationship between God and secondary causes. While Chanet... more
In this essay I address the debate between Pierre Chanet and Marin Cureau de La Chambre on animal instinct, analyzing it in depth and connecting it to the question of the relationship between God and secondary causes. While Chanet considers instinctive actions as the result of a direct intervention by God, that would conduct his creatures beyond their natural limits, Cureau places them in the cognitive structure that God has given to the animals, doing of instinctive actions natural actions in the strict sense. Starting from that, Cureau can introduce a bizarre analogy between animal’s innate capability to act in the environment beyond any previous experience and the innate knowledge of angels. This comparaison is strongly criticized by Chanet and probably persuades Cureau to change his presentation of the soul in his late masterpiece, "Le Systéme de l’âme". My conclusion is that both Chanet’s and Cureau’s account for animal istinct are functional to an anthropocentric metaphysics that keeps human soul as an intellective, individual and separable substance; but they also provide - especially with Cureau - a good example of a compromise between hylomorphism, dualism and mechanism.
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This article examines the epistemological role of the fable as used by Descartes in his Monde to present the idea of an entirely mechanical world. Rather than merely a dissimulative-literary device, putting the world into fable form... more
This article examines the epistemological role of the fable as used by Descartes in his Monde to present the idea of an entirely mechanical world. Rather than merely a dissimulative-literary device, putting the world into fable form actually turns out to be a real scientific instrument, making it possible for Descartes to re-create the world from a metaphysical and wholly geometrical point of view, based on the changelessness of the divine essence and creation. In this sense his fable du monde goes hand in hand with the ability of the human imagination to think up scientific models, that, by being plausible, can be applied to the interpretation of phenomena.
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Did Descartes ever develop a political thought of his own? This question, still open in the field of cartesian studies, is maybe doomed to remain without a definitive answer, mainly because of the lack of a specific work dedicated by him... more
Did Descartes ever develop a political thought of his own? This question, still open in the field of cartesian studies, is maybe doomed to remain without a definitive answer, mainly because of the lack of a specific work dedicated by him to politics. Nevertheless, we have a long letter to Princess Elisabeth in which the french philosopher, starting from his reading of Machiavelli's masterpiece, Il Principe, discusses political matters, and especially the political instruments that a good prince should use in order to guarantee stability to his reign. The present essay deals with it, exploring the possibility that Descartes might have been trying to outline in that text the main features of a political anthropology, founding it on the universal anthropology of passions that he was developing in those years.
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According to one of the most influential definitions, formulated by Michel Foucault in his Les anormaux, the monster is, since the Middle Ages, a violation of a “bio-juridical” order. In critically discussing the historical plausibility... more
According to one of the most influential definitions, formulated by Michel Foucault in his Les anormaux, the monster is, since the Middle Ages, a violation of a “bio-juridical” order. In critically discussing the historical plausibility of this claim this article explores medical and philosophical conceptions of monsters between medieval and early modern period, addressing in particular the matter of the relationships between first and second causes in nature's errors. The main authors dealt with are Thomas Aquinas, Ambroise Paré, Francisco Toledo and Fortunio Liceti. What emerges is that up to the 17 th century monsters were always conceived as products – and not as real contradictions – of a nature ordered by God's will, goodness and perfection, without a real “bio-juridical” order (as Foucault thinks).
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Philosophy of Science, Medieval Philosophy, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Medicine, and 15 moreAnthropology of the Body, History of Science, History and Philosophy of Biology, Monster Theory, Thomas Aquinas, Early Modern Science and Philosophy, Michel Foucault, Intellectual History of the Baroque Period, Biopolitics, Monsters and Monster Theory, Mythical and Monstrous, Fortunio Liceti, Ambroise Paré, Francisco Toledo, 和 History of Philosophy
According to one of the most influential definitions, formulated by Michel Foucault in his Les anormaux, the monster is, since the Middle Ages, a violation of a “bio-juridical” order. In critically discussing the historical plausibility... more
According to one of the most influential definitions, formulated by Michel Foucault in his Les anormaux, the monster is, since the Middle Ages, a violation of a “bio-juridical” order. In critically discussing the historical plausibility of this claim this article explores medical and philosophical conceptions of monsters between medieval and early modern period, addressing in particular the matter of the relationships between first and second causes in nature's errors. The main authors dealt with are Thomas Aquinas, Ambroise Paré, Francisco Toledo and Fortunio Liceti. What emerges is that up to the 17th century...
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La Cultura Rivista di filosofia, letteratura, storia ISSN : 0393-1560. Numero: 2, agosto 2009, Indice. DOI: 10.1403/29635. Unità e scissione del "capire" cartesiano. Gli Scritti su Cartesio di Luigi Scaravelli Simone... more
La Cultura Rivista di filosofia, letteratura, storia ISSN : 0393-1560. Numero: 2, agosto 2009, Indice. DOI: 10.1403/29635. Unità e scissione del "capire" cartesiano. Gli Scritti su Cartesio di Luigi Scaravelli Simone Guidi, pp. 349-356 ...
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Il corso sulla Storia dell'idea di tempo, tenuto al Collège de France nel 1902-1903, per la prima volta tradotto interamente in italiano, è dedicato al concetto di tempo nella storia della filosofia antica e moderna. In queste... more
Il corso sulla Storia dell'idea di tempo, tenuto al Collège de France nel 1902-1903, per la prima volta tradotto interamente in italiano, è dedicato al concetto di tempo nella storia della filosofia antica e moderna. In queste straordinarie lezioni Bergson si confronta con Platone, Aristotele, Plotino, Galileo, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Newton e Kant. Nel cuore della metafisica occidentale il filosofo francese intravede una fondamentale negazione del tempo, impropriamente considerato come imitazione e riduzione di un’originaria eternità, inattingibile nell’immediato e esperibile solo per il tramite di un apparato simbolico. Alla luce di questa paradossale “falsa partenza” del pensiero occidentale, Bergson indica nella storia della metafisica la costante riproposizione dei suoi errori fondativi; ma vi intravede anche l’inesorabile cammino concettuale che, progressivamente, riconduce il tempo alla sua natura psicologica, quella della durata.
— Review: Dr. Daniele Poccia, Lo Sguardo, 28 (2019, 1), pp. 303-312
— Review: Il Foglio, 23 October 2019
— Review: Dr. Alessandra Campo, Alias (Il Manifesto), 19 January 2020
— Review: Prof. Roberto De Gaetano, “L’azione tra vuoto e caos. Storia dell’idea di tempo di Henri Bergson”, Fata Morgana, 7 February 2020
— Review: La Domenica (Sole24Ore), 9 February 2020
— Review: Dr. Giulia Andronico, Documentazione Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede, 24 February 2020
— Review: La Stampa, 2 March 2020
— Review: Dr. Caterina Zanfi, Italian Thought Network, 2020
— Review: Dr. Daniele Poccia, Lo Sguardo, 28 (2019, 1), pp. 303-312
— Review: Il Foglio, 23 October 2019
— Review: Dr. Alessandra Campo, Alias (Il Manifesto), 19 January 2020
— Review: Prof. Roberto De Gaetano, “L’azione tra vuoto e caos. Storia dell’idea di tempo di Henri Bergson”, Fata Morgana, 7 February 2020
— Review: La Domenica (Sole24Ore), 9 February 2020
— Review: Dr. Giulia Andronico, Documentazione Interdisciplinare di Scienza e Fede, 24 February 2020
— Review: La Stampa, 2 March 2020
— Review: Dr. Caterina Zanfi, Italian Thought Network, 2020
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"Lezioni di metafisica" presenta tradotti per la prima volta in italiano due cicli di lezioni tenuti da Henri Bergson presso la classe di khâgne del Lycée Henri-IV, tra il 1893 e il 1894. Per la loro collocazione temporale, a cavallo... more
"Lezioni di metafisica" presenta tradotti per la prima volta in italiano due cicli di lezioni tenuti da Henri Bergson presso la classe di khâgne del Lycée Henri-IV, tra il 1893 e il 1894. Per la loro collocazione temporale, a cavallo tra gli anni del "Saggio sui dati immediati della coscienza" (1889) e "Materia e memoria" (1896), queste lezioni risultano di straordinario interesse per gli studi sul filosofo francese, che vi sviluppa un serrato confronto con la storia della metafisica moderna e della psicologia. Aristotele, Descartes, Malebranche, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Spencer sono presentati e discussi da Bergson, che riflette – con loro e attraverso di loro – sui grandi temi dello spazio, del tempo, della materia, della memoria e dell’individualità. Tra i banchi dell’Henri-IV Bergson mette a punto un vero e proprio studio preparatorio per la sua originale critica al pensiero classico.
— Review: Dr. Giulio Piatti, in Lo Sguardo, 26 (2018, 1): 369-372.
— Review: Dr. Caterina Zanfi, in Rivista di Filosofia, 3/2018: 509 ff.
— Review: Il Sole 24 Ore, 10 June 2018
— Review: Avvenire, 22 May 2018
— Review: Dr. Giulio Piatti, in Lo Sguardo, 26 (2018, 1): 369-372.
— Review: Dr. Caterina Zanfi, in Rivista di Filosofia, 3/2018: 509 ff.
— Review: Il Sole 24 Ore, 10 June 2018
— Review: Avvenire, 22 May 2018
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Why do we remember? And, for that matter, what is remembering? Placed between body and mind, the phenomenon of memory simultaneously involves biological, psychological, semiotic, and metaphysical elements. Memory’s place at the heart of... more
Why do we remember? And, for that matter, what is remembering? Placed between body and mind, the phenomenon of memory simultaneously involves biological, psychological, semiotic, and metaphysical elements. Memory’s place at the heart of our understanding of ourselves is why many of the greatest philosophers of all the time have dealt with the problem – or, better, have had to deal with it. Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Descartes, Locke, Kant, Hegel, Bergson, Russell, and Wittgenstein, are just a few among many who have proffered explanations. While all such proposals have been deficient in their own ways, each has advanced our understanding of the myriad phenomena associated with memory. With recent developments in phenomenology, analytic philosophy, and the empirical sciences interest in memory has intensified. In the 20th century, philosophers were particularly interested in identifying its causes, the ontology of mnemonic traces, the mechanisms of recall, and its epistemic characteristics. Moreover, as philosophy has directed its sight towards social objects and structures, questions involving memory have developed political and social dimensions as well – extending the debate to collective memory. What are the mechanisms of intersubjective memorization and recall of information, ideas, and representations? What are the ethical dimensions and consequences of public memory?
Research Interests: Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Plato, Philosophy of Psychology, Continental Philosophy, and 15 moreContemporary French Philosophy, Hegel, Henri Bergson, Philosophy of Memory, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Paul Sartre, Ancient Philosophy, G.W.F. Hegel, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Moral Philosophy, Rudolf Carnap, Johann Gottfried Herder, Contemporary Philosophy, and History of Philosophy
Research Interests: Philosophy, Aesthetics, Political Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophical Theology, and 8 moreContinental Philosophy, Theological Aesthetics, Aesthetics and Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics, History Of Modern Philosophy, Philosophical Hermeneutics, History of Philosophy, and Continental Philosophy and Aesthetics
The issue addresses the relationship between cosmology and ratio, or the dialectical and structural connection which links the same definition of “world” as an uniform, homogeneous, coherent and possible system with the very logical and... more
The issue addresses the relationship between cosmology and ratio, or the dialectical and structural connection which links the same definition of “world” as an uniform, homogeneous, coherent and possible system with the very logical and narrative (and then uniform, homogeneous, coherent and possible) character of our rational description of it. Otherwise, every ratio mundi – understood both in a metaphysical or in an epistemological or in a phenomenological way – amounts, really because it is a ratio, as an explication and an articulation of an object formerly preunderstood and, so to speak, invented, cum discursu, or rather into specific logic and descriptive categories. Because of this structural co-belonging of the concept of “cosmos” to his own narrative dimension, we may can reduce the history of cosmology to a long sequence of depictions, but overall of creations and re-creations of the world, that allow us to distinguish in a only partial way a physical and naturalistic discussion from a theological, a metaphysical or a linguistical-imaginative one.
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Chi è quel soggetto che nell’autobiografia dice “io”? Raccontarsi non è già diventare altro? L’autobiografia è un esercizio filosofico in cui l’identità si scopre tramata da altre vite e l’io emerge soltanto perché dislocato nei suoi... more
Chi è quel soggetto che nell’autobiografia dice “io”? Raccontarsi non è già diventare altro? L’autobiografia è un esercizio filosofico in cui l’identità si scopre tramata da altre vite e l’io emerge soltanto perché dislocato nei suoi segni. Sono forse proprio le condizioni di impossibilità di un’autopresentazione trasparente e definitiva che rendono possibile una soggettività autobiografica. Scrivere di sé infatti è già trascendenza: insinua il sospetto
di un’alterità, di un’alterazione e turba la rigida identità, che si presume autonoma e precedente alle sue iscrizioni. L’intreccio tra autós, bíos e graphein non è dunque una neutra auto-espressione, ma uno specchio in cui il proprio volto è riflesso e capovolto, il sé si racconta e si ascolta, recita e osserva.
In che modo quindi l’autobiografia è un luogo di verità? «La verità
può essere il cuore dell’autobiografia», afferma John M. Coetzee, «ma ciò non vuol dire che l’autobiografia abbia a cuore la verità». Ogni lettera scritta traccia l’aderenza di sé a sé e alle cose, nell’istante stesso in cui marca una separazione e una distanza. In questo paradosso si infrange ogni pretesa di obiettività o di adeguazione. Qui la trasparenza dell’io viene disdetta,
come anche la sua sovranità del discorso. L’autobiografia è, allora, la scrittura impossibile come unica iscrizione possibile: il tentativo estremo di restituire il senso di una vita incompiuta, di dare una verità senza verità, di raccontare di sé da sé. È una messa in scena dell’identità e della propria distanza, un’autosospensione e una torsione tropica dell’io, che si racconta e si espone. Dietro ogni scrittura autobiografica c’è infatti un nome proprio, che sigilla l’autore, il narratore, il personaggio. Ma proprio in questa firma
si custodisce, più che il diritto a una proprietà, la promessa di verità per sé e per gli altri: un corpo a corpo con la lingua e con la propria storia.
di un’alterità, di un’alterazione e turba la rigida identità, che si presume autonoma e precedente alle sue iscrizioni. L’intreccio tra autós, bíos e graphein non è dunque una neutra auto-espressione, ma uno specchio in cui il proprio volto è riflesso e capovolto, il sé si racconta e si ascolta, recita e osserva.
In che modo quindi l’autobiografia è un luogo di verità? «La verità
può essere il cuore dell’autobiografia», afferma John M. Coetzee, «ma ciò non vuol dire che l’autobiografia abbia a cuore la verità». Ogni lettera scritta traccia l’aderenza di sé a sé e alle cose, nell’istante stesso in cui marca una separazione e una distanza. In questo paradosso si infrange ogni pretesa di obiettività o di adeguazione. Qui la trasparenza dell’io viene disdetta,
come anche la sua sovranità del discorso. L’autobiografia è, allora, la scrittura impossibile come unica iscrizione possibile: il tentativo estremo di restituire il senso di una vita incompiuta, di dare una verità senza verità, di raccontare di sé da sé. È una messa in scena dell’identità e della propria distanza, un’autosospensione e una torsione tropica dell’io, che si racconta e si espone. Dietro ogni scrittura autobiografica c’è infatti un nome proprio, che sigilla l’autore, il narratore, il personaggio. Ma proprio in questa firma
si custodisce, più che il diritto a una proprietà, la promessa di verità per sé e per gli altri: un corpo a corpo con la lingua e con la propria storia.
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a cura di Simone Guidi e Antonio Lucci
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Philosophy, Disability Studies, History of Medicine, Posthumanism, and 16 moreCosmology (Anthropology), Teratology, Monster Theory, Renaissance Art (Monstrosity in), Biopolitics, History Of Modern Philosophy, Social History of Medicine, Monsters and Monster Theory, History of Medicine and the Body, Mythical and Monstrous, The Gothic, The Monstrous and Otherness, Monsters and the Monstrous, History of Philosophy, Posthumans, and Deviant Corporeality
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This essay focuses on the ontology of the virtual, looking especially at its historical connection with today's technology. The work begins by discussing the metaphysical structure of the Aristotelian dynamis, understood as the conceptual... more
This essay focuses on the ontology of the virtual, looking especially at its historical connection with today's technology. The work begins by discussing the metaphysical structure of the Aristotelian dynamis, understood as the conceptual root of the Latin virtus. Reading Aristotle, especially through bergsonian concepts, I show how his dynamis allows a proto-deterministic account of spontaneity, strictly related to goal-oriented processes of human serial production and with the possibility of a homogeneous area of manipulation. Thus we stress how the 'reproductive' model works in every ontological account of the virtual and especially in the Renaissance ones, connected with the idea of a full "enginerization" of the real. The core of metaphysical virtuality seems to lie rather in an ontological account of "form" that denies its processual becoming and its process of stabilization through an infrastructure. Finally, I reject any ontological use of the virtual in teleonomy, especially in its metaphysical attempt to identify autopoiesis and mechanism, and I conclude by stressing how current digital technology is fully oriented to the reproductive model, conceptually rooted in a metaphysical account of the virtual.
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This book provides new theoretical approaches to the subject of virtuality. All chapters reflect the importance of extending the analysis of the concept of “the virtual” to areas of knowledge that, until today, have not been fully... more
This book provides new theoretical approaches to the subject of virtuality. All chapters reflect the importance of extending the analysis of the concept of “the virtual” to areas of knowledge that, until today, have not been fully included in its philosophical foundations. The respective chapters share new insights on art, media, psychic systems and technology, while also presenting new ways of articulating the concept of the virtual with regard to the main premises of Western thought.
Given its thematic scope, this book is intended not only for a philosophical audience, but also for all scientists who have turned to the humanities in search of answers to their questions.
Given its thematic scope, this book is intended not only for a philosophical audience, but also for all scientists who have turned to the humanities in search of answers to their questions.
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Da “Mondi Altri. Processi di soggettivazione nell’era postumana a partire dal pensiero di Antonio Caronia”, a cura di A. Bianchi e G. Leghissa, Mimesis, Milano 2016, pp. 213-226.
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The “onlife” condition is a living sphere in which our practical and ethical action do not need to distinguish between informational and non-informational objects. For this reason, in the last twenty years digital technologies have... more
The “onlife” condition is a living sphere in which our practical and ethical action do not need to distinguish between informational and non-informational objects. For this reason, in the last twenty years digital technologies have generated a strong interest in the philosophical scenario and, since digital tracking has become a daily routine, it started gathering around itself the work of many philosophers, sociologists, anthropologists and media theorists. The aim of this seventh issue of Azimuth is to stir a philosophical debate in the belief that digital traces can offer a new paradigm starting from which we can re-think Humanism and the human being, its environment and its technical action in the world. In other words, we suggest the possibility a computational turn in philosophy comparable with the computational turn we have seen in many ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences in these last ten or fifteen years.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Digital Humanities, and 12 moreCyberpsychology, Hermeneutics, Contemporary French Philosophy, Digital Culture, Hermeneutics and Narrative, Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Moral Philosophy, Cybercultures, Digital Theory and Culture, Contemporary Philosophy, Cyber Security, and History of Philosophy
This essay addresses the question of space in the age digital automated maps from a genealogical perspective. My main assumption is that the concept of ‘mapped space’ generally find its possibility in the metaphysical notion of topos,... more
This essay addresses the question of space in the age digital automated maps from a genealogical perspective. My main assumption is that the concept of ‘mapped space’ generally find its possibility in the metaphysical notion of topos, that Aristotle understood as a place-for-action. This is the point starting from which medieval metaphysics has elaborated its concept of ubi – in a strong connection with divine possible action – and from which, following the latter, modern science has thought space as a mapped-mapping environment for an engineering development. As a consequence of this metaphysical understanding of space, deeply linked to the performativity of the action-in-the-space, contemporary automated maps lead to the extreme the already-Aristotelian rejection of spontaneity, as well as the inner cybernetics of the mapped space.
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This article is the result of a collaboration between two authors having different perspectives, converging in underlining the constitutive role of digital technologies, and technologies of digital tracking in particular, for contemporary... more
This article is the result of a collaboration between two authors having different perspectives, converging in underlining the constitutive role of digital technologies, and technologies of digital tracking in particular, for contemporary subjects. In the first part we discuss a radical posthumanist notion of a technological hetero-constitution of the subject, underlining the impossibility of considering, faced with digital third-order technologies, any subjectivity as an autonomous self-determination. We will argue that subjects live in a subjectivated-subjectivating environment in which technologies continuously not only repeat but first and foremost transform (this is the difference between 'classic' and 'intelligent' technologies) their subjectivity. Digital technologies are not 'silent', 'neutral' or 'passive' media; they rather have an active role both in the understanding and the constitution of our (self)world. In the second paragraph, we will deal with the specific case of the digital emplotments, i.e. the combinations of databases (i.e. collections of traces that have been 'domesticated' in order to become sources of knowledge, action, and eventually control) and specific algorithms, which are capable, with an increasing efficiency, to 'tell' stories about ourselves or what we really care about. Against a widespread tendency in philosophy of the new media to shelter behind humanism to protect individuals from the increasing softwarization of their lives, we argue that posthumanism is an unavoidable option, as it may offer a tool box for opportunely thinking about the main anthropological, ethical, and political challenges of our era.
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KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Btihaj Ajana (King’s College London) - Languages: English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian. SECTIONS: 1. BODY AND THE DIGITAL QUANTIFICATION OF THE SELF 2. HISTORY OF THE QUANTIFICATION OF BODIES 3. POLITICS OF... more
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Btihaj Ajana (King’s College London) - Languages: English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian.
SECTIONS:
1. BODY AND THE DIGITAL QUANTIFICATION OF THE SELF
2. HISTORY OF THE QUANTIFICATION OF BODIES
3. POLITICS OF QUANTIFIED BODIES
4. BIG DATA & DIGITAL MEDICINE
5. BIO-POLITICAL BODIES
6. AESTHETICS OF QUANTIFIED BODIES
SECTIONS:
1. BODY AND THE DIGITAL QUANTIFICATION OF THE SELF
2. HISTORY OF THE QUANTIFICATION OF BODIES
3. POLITICS OF QUANTIFIED BODIES
4. BIG DATA & DIGITAL MEDICINE
5. BIO-POLITICAL BODIES
6. AESTHETICS OF QUANTIFIED BODIES
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Quello del traghelaphos è uno dei più discussi problemi del Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας. La sua discussione in ambito scolastico ha una lungo e articolato corso, che troverà nel tardo Cinquecento il suo ultimo segmento e una compiuta ricezione che lo... more
Quello del traghelaphos è uno dei più discussi problemi del Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας. La sua discussione in ambito scolastico ha una lungo e articolato corso, che troverà nel tardo Cinquecento il suo ultimo segmento e una compiuta ricezione che lo consegnerà all’epoca moderna. In questo intervento propongo di analizzare quella di Suárez, considerandola tuttavia in continuità con l’analisi del suo principale predecessore, Fonseca. Ciò allo scopo di mostrare innanzitutto l’interpretazione gesuita del dibattito medievale sul verum, consistente specialmente nella messa tra parentesi di Tommaso e nel contemporaneo recupero del lessico di Durando (così come quello di Erveo), le cui posizioni restano comunque contestate. Si tenterà dunque di mostrare la peculiarità dell’impostazione di Fonseca e il suo tentativo di riformulazione del concetto di verum, che, a partire dalla conformità tra simplex apprehensio e res, aggira la funzione del giudizio e pone l’esse potentialis quale frontiera tra cognizione del vero e falsità. È alla luce di tali presupposti che va letta la successiva trattazione suáreziana, volta a riportare la conformità entro i limiti della “veritas in significando” di una rappresentazione, e poi a concedere che la conformità “in cognoscendo” sia tra significazione (già relativa alla cosa) e esse obiectivum. In tal modo Suárez può infatti dar conto del perché la proposizione «chymera est ens fictum» sia dotata di senso compiuto (e vero) e al tempo stesso sia conosciuta come vera, pur non avendo alcuna relazione con l’oggetto reale (inesistente). Proponendo alcune annotazioni su una celebre interpretazione novecentesca di questi passaggi — e in particolare sull’uso suáreziano dell’esse obiectivum — si presenteranno alcune osservazioni sulla difesa, da parte di Suárez, dell’impossibilità del falso (se non metaforicamente) nei concetti semplici.
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What makes of Socrates this or that individual? Why and how one can classify many individuals provided with the same features in common groups? How to explain the relationship between singularity and multiplic-ity, dealing with many... more
What makes of Socrates this or that individual? Why and how one can classify many individuals provided with the same features in common groups? How to explain the relationship between singularity and multiplic-ity, dealing with many individuals pertaining to the same genus? The Seminar addresses the many accounts to these issues over the history of Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, choosing a specific path, aimed at showing a surprising continuity, in the discontinuity, between ancient and current debates on individuation. The first four appointments, dedicated to the most relevant stages of in-dividuation in the Scholastic thought, will take place in the course of Medieval Philosophy, dealing with Boethius, Bonaventure, Aquinas, henry of Ghent, Duns Scotus, as well as with the reception of Medieval debate in late Aristotelianism, namely in fonseca and Suárez. I will try to show how the problem of individuation would be place among the questions on the ontological status of universals, on the logical status of individuals, and on the physical and metaphysical composition of substances. The remaining lessons will be instead dedicated to Modern and Contemporary accounts and issues pertaining individuation: Leibniz, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Bergson and Simondon. here I will try to show how the Modern age inherits the early modern paradigms of individuation at least until the end of the nineteenth century. finally, I will also deal with contemporary accounts of individuation as a process, in the philosophy of Berg-son and Simondon, pointing out what looks new and what is borrowed from the classic debate.
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The paper addresses especially the Second Part of Thomas Browne’s Religio Medici (officially published in 1643), in which Browne describes his ethics of Charity. The grounds of Browne’s unorthodox ethics (the Religio Medici will be... more
The paper addresses especially the Second Part of Thomas Browne’s Religio Medici (officially published in 1643), in which Browne describes his ethics of Charity. The grounds of Browne’s unorthodox ethics (the Religio Medici will be included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1645) can be found in a metaphysics of the Creation and in a mystical and religious view of the world, that the author – one of the most prominent physicians of his time – often puts in connection with the ethical meaning of medicine.
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The Seminar is addressed at students of any level and it is aimed to provide them with a comprehensive reading of one of the foundational texts of the modern philosophy, Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). The Cartesian... more
The Seminar is addressed at students of any level and it is aimed to provide them with a comprehensive reading of one of the foundational texts of the modern philosophy, Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy (1641). The Cartesian text will be introduced and meticulously analyzed in six lessons, ideally correspondent to the six chapters of Descartes' masterpiece.
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Quando una teoria scientifica prende forma, nuovi concetti e termini vengono alla luce. Durante il processo della loro invenzione, possono aver bisogno di prendere in prestito concetti e termini da altre discipline. Solo in un secondo... more
Quando una teoria scientifica prende forma, nuovi concetti e termini vengono alla luce. Durante il processo della loro invenzione, possono aver bisogno di prendere in prestito concetti e termini da altre discipline. Solo in un secondo momento, il rigore formale subentrerà, separando opportunamente gli ambiti. Nel corso della storia, la teologia ha spesso offerto suggerimenti e astrazioni agli scienziati che, coscientemente o meno, ne fecero uso. Questo accadde in passato, ma accade ancora oggi. Lo sfondo metafisico e teologico di alcune teorie scientifiche è qui indagato, prendendo in considerazione aspetti particolari dei lavori di alcuni importanti scienziati.
When a scientific theory takes shape, new concepts and terms come to light. During the process of their invention, they may need to borrow concepts and terms from other disciplines. It is only at a later stage that formal rigor will take over, appropriately separating the areas. Throughout history, theology has often offered suggestions and abstractions to scientists who consciously or unconsciously made use of them. This happened in the past, but it still happens today. The metaphysical and theological background of some scientific theories is investigated here, taking into account particular aspects of the works of some important scientists.
When a scientific theory takes shape, new concepts and terms come to light. During the process of their invention, they may need to borrow concepts and terms from other disciplines. It is only at a later stage that formal rigor will take over, appropriately separating the areas. Throughout history, theology has often offered suggestions and abstractions to scientists who consciously or unconsciously made use of them. This happened in the past, but it still happens today. The metaphysical and theological background of some scientific theories is investigated here, taking into account particular aspects of the works of some important scientists.
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Suárez’s theory of imagination and phantasy is a crucial place to understand how the Jesuit has understood the connection between abstraction and sensation and so how he has thought the construction of our everydays’ ideas. This theory... more
Suárez’s theory of imagination and phantasy is a crucial place to understand how the Jesuit has understood the connection between abstraction and sensation and so how he has thought the construction of our everydays’ ideas. This theory is highly relevant to undertand his anthropology and so his theories of law, language, science, etc. The proposed paper addresses Suárez’s theory stressing both its innovation compared to his predecessors (especially the Coimbra Jesuits Pedro da Fonseca and Manuel de Góis), as well as the influence on the following thought. Focusing especially on the postumous Tractatus De Anima (in both Àlvares and Castellote editions), we will deal with: 1) Suárez’s reading of Aristotle’s De Anima III, 3 and the definition of imagination/phantasy – we will address this point in connection with the definition of phantasia as related to the absence of objects («est sensus interior potens congnoscere sensibilia exterioira in eorum abstantia») and with the couple species sensatae/species insensatae; 2) Suárez’s theory of truth as an internal construction of the subject, relating this problem to Suárez’s famous account of the ‘formal concept’ but especially on his understanding of truthness in composition and division; 3) Suárez’s instrumental account of the species intentionales, and the rejection of any formal-representative content; 4) Suárez’s unification of the topology of internal senses’; the new role given to phantasy in the generation of the internal sensation and the new animal-human cognition boundaries; 5) the dependence of the agent intellect from phantasy in the body and its independency in the separated soul; 6) the relevance of the intellect-phantasy distinction in Suárez’s defension of the soul’s immortality.
Keyword: Imagination and Phantasy, Human and Animal Cognition, Agent Intellect
Keyword: Imagination and Phantasy, Human and Animal Cognition, Agent Intellect
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O Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos promove a aula aberta "Goodbye Imagination. The Late Aristotelian Background of Descartes' Sixth Meditation", que terá como convidado Simone Guidi.
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L’Art de Connoistre les homes is probably the most popular work of Marin Cureau de La Chambre. It is a treatise on physiognomy, psychology and theory of emotions published in Amsterdam in three parts and two volumes between 1659 and 1666.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Ideas, History of Medicine, History of Science, Physiognomy, and 6 more17th-Century Studies, History of Physiognomy, 17th Century French Literature (Literature), History Of Modern Philosophy, History of Medicine and the Body, 和 History of Philosophy
This paper deals with Suárez’s account of the relationship between substance, matter and continous quantity (DM 13; DM 40) as well as with the notion of extensio entitativa he uses. Is it right to say – as some readers have done - that it... more
This paper deals with Suárez’s account of the relationship between substance, matter and continous quantity (DM 13; DM 40) as well as with the notion of extensio entitativa he uses. Is it right to say – as some readers have done - that it represents a pre-cartesian backgrounf to Descartes’ res extensa? Passing through a quite complicated twist of different positions we will try to individuate what seems to be Suárez’s specifical contribute into the early modern debate on continuous quantity, focusing especially on the divergences with Fonseca’s. In a second half of the intervention we will try to show that Suárez’s perspective is quite far to be a Descartes’s direct source, also because of its reception in the early 17th Century. As we will try to show, basically none among the most prominent authors of the time seems directly adopt Suárez’s account, while Fonseca's and Scotus's are instead really popular.
Research Interests: Philosophy, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Philosophy of Science, 17th-Century Studies, René Descartes, and 14 moreEarly Modern Science and Philosophy, Duns Scotus, René Descartes (in Philosophy/History Of Philosophy/17th Century Early Modern Philosophy), 17th- and 18th-century Philosophy, Descartes, Francisco Suárez, Early Modern Philosophy, History of early modern philosophy, John Duns Scotus, Suarez, Francisco Suarez, Rene Descartes, History of Philosophy, 和 Early Modern Philosophy (Descartes
Commenting the famous boetian definition of the ‘person’, understood as a rational subsistent substance, Aquinas meaningfully wants to clarify a point regarding the status of the separated soul. For him, the soul in a separated status can... more
Commenting the famous boetian definition of the ‘person’, understood as a rational subsistent substance, Aquinas meaningfully wants to clarify a point regarding the status of the separated soul. For him, the soul in a separated status can be defined “an individual substance of rational nature”, while it cannot be actually qualified as a “person”. The reasons for this position are both historical and theoretical. We would like to present both of them, focusing especially on a theoretical aspect that we think can lead us to reconsider Aquinas’ historical reasons.
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L’intervento si incentra sul fondamentale ruolo assegnato dal Marin Cureau de La Chambre all’image nella costituzione tarda del suo panpsichismo, in una conflittuale e singolare convergenza con il meccanicismo quantitativo degli stessi... more
L’intervento si incentra sul fondamentale ruolo assegnato dal Marin Cureau de La Chambre all’image nella costituzione tarda del suo panpsichismo, in una conflittuale e singolare convergenza con il meccanicismo quantitativo degli stessi anni. Ci si soffermerà: 1) sulla questione della natura intermedia della luce; 2) da qui, su quello del ruolo attivo dell’immagine, che il medico francese utilizza come sostitutivo al contempo delle species e dell’attività formatrice dell’anima vegetativo-sensitiva, impostando una forma di dualismo “debole”; 3) sul ruolo, attribuito, di conseguenza, all’immaginazione.
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The goal of this paper is to offer a new theoretical framework for thinking humanism in the digital age. Our hypothesis is that most of the “digital humanists” – i.e. academics from human and social sciences interested into the impact of... more
The goal of this paper is to offer a new theoretical framework for thinking humanism in the digital age. Our hypothesis is that most of the “digital humanists” – i.e. academics from human and social sciences interested into the impact of digital technologies on human existence – assumed a specific attitude towards digital technologies. In fact, they tend to argue that the role of digital humanism consists into defending what we may call the “undigitalizable” part of human beings. In a world where “the map is becoming the territory”, i.e. where the distance between the “biosphere” and the “infosphere” is closed to zero, it is very important for them to see how “the human has its reasons of which digital reason knows nothing”. For them, the expression “digital humanism” is a sort of alternative – digital or humanism. We suggest, instead, that digital humanists should take seriously into account the effectiveness of digital technologies into reshaping human existence. In this paper, we propose to deconstruct the use of two main concepts that, despite their anti- or post-metaphysical intentions, have been metaphysically exploited for defending humanism, and especially the human self against digitalization: narrativity (Ricoeur 1991) and bare life (Agamben 1998).
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The Institute for Philosophical Studies (IEF) at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) welcomes and supports qualified candidates interested in applying for fix-term (up to 6 years) research positions in... more
The Institute for Philosophical Studies (IEF) at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) welcomes and supports qualified candidates interested in applying for fix-term (up to 6 years) research positions in Philosophy, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT). The deadline is on 26 February, 2020 (17:00 Lisbon Time).
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Che lo si intenda come il frutto di un processo storico inevitabile, oppure come il prodotto di un rovesciamento di paradigma socio-culturale, l’intricato percorso che connette Tolomeo e Newton, mondo chiuso e universo infinito, trova... more
Che lo si intenda come il frutto di un processo storico inevitabile, oppure come il prodotto di un rovesciamento di paradigma socio-culturale, l’intricato percorso che connette Tolomeo e Newton, mondo chiuso e universo infinito, trova nel concetto di “spazio immaginario” un decisivo luogo di incubazione e sviluppo. Ciò perché esso costituirà, all’interno di un ordine cosmologico compiuto, un concetto-ponte che permetterà di pensare l’ossimoro di un ordine infinito, di un universo capace di contenere in un singolo ordine una pluralità di mondi che altrimenti lo infrangerebbe e parcellizzerebbe. Per questo, a nostro parere, la storia e la genesi di questa nozione consente di individuare una delle fucine concettuali all’interno delle quali sono state storicamente messe a punto la cosmologia di età moderna e la sua struttura metafisica.
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The Conimbricenses.org Encyclopedia will be organized into four main sections: the first one is completely devoted to authors and scholars who lived and thought in Coimbra, with a particular focus on Luis Molina, Pedro da Fonseca, and... more
The Conimbricenses.org Encyclopedia will be organized into four main sections: the first one is completely devoted to authors and scholars who lived and thought in Coimbra, with a particular focus on Luis Molina, Pedro da Fonseca, and Manuel de Góis, as well as on the editorial history of the influential Cursus; a second section will be instead fully dedicated to Francisco Suárez, his life, his thought and his cultural heritage in Portugal and Europe; a third section, that will be launched in a second phase, will be realized with the help of scholars in the field of Chinese culture, and it will deal with the history of the Cursus in China (including attempts of translation and adaptation); a fourth section will be devoted to the influence of Coimbra’s Ari-stotelianism on the Portuguese and Spanish colonies in South America.
Research Interests: Philosophy, Metaphysics, 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, History of Education, Portuguese History, and 24 moreJesuit history, 17th-Century Studies, René Descartes, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Aristotelian Logic, Aristotelianism, Leibniz (Philosophy), 17th century Europe, Renaissance Aristotelianism, 16th century Europe, Descartes, Francisco Suárez, Leibniz, Jesuit education, Medieval Aristotelianism, Jesuits, Aristotle's Metaphysics, Portuguese Philosophy, Jesuits in China, Cursus Conimbricensis, History of Philosophy, 16th Century Aristotelianism, Conimbricenses.org, and Portuguese Aristotelianism
ABSTRACT: Nei capitoli 4-6 di Physica II Aristotele si sofferma sulla possibilità di affiancare il caso alle quattro cause rilevate in Ph. II, 3. Lo Stagirita fornisce dunque una definizione allargata di “processo finalistico”, capace di... more
ABSTRACT: Nei capitoli 4-6 di Physica II Aristotele si sofferma sulla possibilità di affiancare il caso alle quattro cause rilevate in Ph. II, 3. Lo Stagirita fornisce dunque una definizione allargata di “processo finalistico”, capace di dar conto dei processi casuali sia in quanto processi apparentemente finalizzati al raggiungimento di un scopo, sia in quanto processi di natura accidentale. Gli eventi casuali sono così affiancati a quelli eminentemente teleologici come fenomeni che sarebbero potuti essere frutto di un processo finalizzato al loro raggiungimento se fossero stati innescati dalla natura o dal pensiero.
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A Spanish theologian, the first Jesuit cardinal. Known for his influential commentaries on Aristotle’s logic and physics. His Commentaria were widely used by the Jesuit schools, also influencing later works such as the famous commentaries... more
A Spanish theologian, the first Jesuit cardinal. Known for his influential commentaries on Aristotle’s logic and physics. His Commentaria were widely used by the Jesuit schools, also influencing later works such as the famous commentaries by the Conimbricenses.
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A Spanish poet and humanist. He owes what little fame he has had to his work Spongia, published in 1617 and now lost, in which he accused Lope de Vega for his distance from Aristotle’s precepts.
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A Spanish theologian and philosopher, now partially forgotten, he was a pupil of Bañez and Medina, among the greatest representatives of the so-called Salamanca School and one of the main intellectuals of the Spanish Counter-Reformation.... more
A Spanish theologian and philosopher, now partially forgotten, he was a pupil of Bañez and Medina, among the greatest representatives of the so-called Salamanca School and one of the main intellectuals of the Spanish Counter-Reformation. A great expert on Medieval and Renaissance scholastic thought, he took a strong stand against the decline of scholasticism and set out to restore Aristotelian philosophy in line with the interpretation of it given by Thomas Aquinas. In 1587 he published his Metaphysica Disputatio de Ente et eius proprietatibus, where he deals in a detailed and systematic way with the main problems of Aristotelian metaphysics.
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A French cardinal, among the main intellectuals of the French Counterreformation and the founder of the Oratoire de France. Bérulle’s thought is the fruit of an eclectic meeting between the scholastic tradition, looking back to its father... more
A French cardinal, among the main intellectuals of the French Counterreformation and the founder of the Oratoire de France. Bérulle’s thought is the fruit of an eclectic meeting between the scholastic tradition, looking back to its father figures (notably Augustin) and neo-Platonist Hermeticism. He is known as “the Apostle of the Word Incarnate” for his doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ.
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He was a French physician and natural philosopher, a member of the Académie française, and one of the founders of the Académie des sciences. He is known for his reinterpretation, from a metaphysical and physiological point of view, of... more
He was a French physician and natural philosopher, a member of the Académie française, and one of the founders of the Académie des sciences. He is known for his reinterpretation, from a metaphysical and physiological point of view, of pneumatology, on which he founded his theses on psychology, optics, and physiognomics. His thought attempted a mediation between scholastic conceptualism and the science of physics that was taking off at that time, sometimes also using elements originating in Renaissance Neoplatonism.
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A seventeenth-century French theologian and philosopher. One of the most important intellectuals and churchmen of his time. A leading figure in the French Counter-Reformation. The author of a Summa Philosophiae, published in 1609, which... more
A seventeenth-century French theologian and philosopher. One of the most important intellectuals and churchmen of his time. A leading figure in the French Counter-Reformation. The author of a Summa Philosophiae, published in 1609, which was reprinted many times all over Europe, becoming one of the most widely used school textbooks of the time, famously favored and used by Descartes himself.
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A French polemicist of the first half of the seventeenth century. He was the author of a Philosophie des esprits published in two editions (Paris 1602, Paris 1612), in which he defended and developed, in opposition to the materialists,... more
A French polemicist of the first half of the seventeenth century. He was the author of a Philosophie des esprits published in two editions (Paris 1602, Paris 1612), in which he defended and developed, in opposition to the materialists, the concept of intelligent spiritual substance. Du Pont’s views were close to those of Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, and he put forward a theory of human nature in the scholastic tradition, with strong influences from Hermetic, Augustinian, and neo-Platonic thought.
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A French philosopher and politician of the seventeenth century. Among the founders, in 1634, of the Académie Française. The author of numerous essays in French noted for their refined style and lengthy exposition. He was Richelieu’s... more
A French philosopher and politician of the seventeenth century. Among the founders, in 1634, of the Académie Française. The author of numerous essays in French noted for their refined style and lengthy exposition. He was Richelieu’s secretary and later Mazzarin’s Counsellor of State.
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A Dominican philosopher and theologian, among the main representatives of sixteenth-century Aristotelianism and perhaps the greatest Renaissance commentator on St Thomas’s works. He is known for his restatement of the doctrine of the... more
A Dominican philosopher and theologian, among the main representatives of sixteenth-century Aristotelianism and perhaps the greatest Renaissance commentator on St Thomas’s works. He is known for his restatement of the doctrine of the analogy of being and for his innovations in psychology.
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Tra i principali rischi della storia della filosofia vi è quello della 'gigantomachia', cioè di una rico-struzione volta a attribuire direttamente e esclusivamente la coniazione di concetti e posizioni egemoni, a detrimento del dibattito... more
Tra i principali rischi della storia della filosofia vi è quello della 'gigantomachia', cioè di una rico-struzione volta a attribuire direttamente e esclusivamente la coniazione di concetti e posizioni egemoni, a detrimento del dibattito complessivo e della sua ricchezza 'interna'. L'importante libro di Igor Agostini rifiuta assai saggiamente questa tentazione, e lo fa ricostruendo nel dettaglio, con ammirevole lavoro di scavo, l'intero dibattito sulla dimostrabilità dell'esistenza di Dio nel contesto scolastico-in particolare di area tomista-di Cinque e Seicento. Con La démonstration de l'existence de Dieu Agostini porta d'altronde a compimento-in una forma che potremmo dire già definitiva-un lungo lavoro di ricerca sulla questione o su temi affini, nel quale emergono in particolare le monografie L'infinità di Dio. Il dibattito da Suárez a Caterus (Roma 2008) e L'idea di Dio in Descartes. Dalle Meditationes alle Responsiones (Firenze-Milano 2010). Come in questi precedenti lavori, anche ne La démonstration de l'existence de Dieu il termine ad quem della ricerca-che ora appare però sullo sfondo-è quello delle implicazioni che tale dibattito avrà nella genesi dei più celebri frangenti della filosofia moderna. Ma la maturità del testo sta proprio in una ricostruzione che non riduce il suo oggetto a 'fonte di', e che sa rendere merito della crucialità filosofica del tomismo moderno senza iscriverlo entro ulteriori categorie. E, in questo senso, il volume di Agostini si innesta in una dichiarata continuità con studi che, ammirevolmente, hanno affrontato il tema delle viae tomiste e dei loro sviluppi moderni (si veda l'amplissima Bibliografia che chiude il volume). La struttura del libro è particolarmente densa e complessa-tale che avrebbe persino legittimato una pubblicazione in due tomi-, e nelle righe che seguono si tenterà principalmente di sottolineare la rilevanza delle ricerche qui raccolte senza poter dar conto della enorme mole di interessanti materiali che La démon-stration de l'existence de Dieu prende in analisi e talvolta riporta persino alla luce. In generale, diremmo, l'intento della monografia è quello di seguire le vicende di un grande bivio nella storia della metafisica, virtualmente tracciato dalla quaestio II della prima pars della Summa Theologiae. Qui, come noto, Tommaso affermava dapprima che la proposizione "Dio esiste", sebbene di per sé evidente, non lo è per noi, incapaci di comprendere l'essenza divina 1 ; poi, ricalcando l'opposizione tra dimostrazione 1 ST, I, q. 2, a. 1, co.: «Dico ergo quod haec propositio, Deus est, quantum in se est, per se nota est, quia praedicatum est idem cum
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Il volume a cura di Eugenio Canone, Anima-Corpo alla luce dell'etica raccoglie il lavoro dell'Unità di ricerca "La riflessione morale di fronte al mind/body problem. Problemi storici e prospettive teoriche", promossa dall'Istituto per il... more
Il volume a cura di Eugenio Canone, Anima-Corpo alla luce dell'etica raccoglie il lavoro dell'Unità di ricerca "La riflessione morale di fronte al mind/body problem. Problemi storici e prospettive teoriche", promossa dall'Istituto per il Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia delle Idee nell'ambito del PRIN 2010-2011. Un percorso di ricerca, quello messo in atto e qui ottimamente testimoniato da diciotto preziosi interventi, che connette e interseca costantemente mondo antico e mondo moderno, saggiando la persistenza del primo nel secondo ma anche le nuove rotte aperte dalla modernità sul tema del rapporto mente-corpo. Non si tratta quindi-come sottolinea lo stesso Canone nell'Introduzione-«di riproporre una qualche Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes», quanto al contrario di tracciare un tema di fondo e i grandi ritorni «Platone e i platonici, ma anche epicurei, stoici, scettici» (p. IX) la cui eredità torna a svolgere un ruolo attivo e preminente in età moderna. E una simile operazione, che si impernia su un frangente-quello della filosofia Rinascimentale, e segnatamente della sua riflessione morale-in parte non del tutto conosciuto, porta alla luce diverse, interessanti connessioni. Prima fra tutte quella riguardante «la centralità della cultura filosofico-critica rinascimentale proprio nell'orizzonte di uno sguardo al mondo antico rispetto all'etica e alla prassi, che comportava quindi una riconsiderazione del rapporto tra vita attiva e vita contemplativa» (p. X); tema, questo, che non può essere disgiunto da quelli della relazione anima-corpo, dello statuto psicologico delle passioni e delle pratiche astrologiche, così fortemente presenti nell'età rinascimentale e barocca. Partendo da questa prospettiva, il lavoro dell'Unità di ricerca ILIESI ricostruisce le fondamentali direttive dell'etica di Platone e Aristotele, di cui rintraccia la presenza in epoca moderna. Riguardo allo Stagirita, come spiega ancora Canone, «la fortuna più segreta dell'opera aristotelica nel Rinascimento riguarda l'etica nella sua complessa articolazione […]: da una generale teoria delle virtù, e in rapporto alla dottrina del giusto mezzo, alla concezione della virtù intellettuale e della contemplazione come realizzazione della felicità perfetta» (p. XI)...
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È possibile, e in quali termini, un pensiero della catastrofe, che sia questa naturale, linguistica, politica o estetica? E in cosa consiste, al contrario, una catastrofe del pensiero? È intorno a queste domande che si impernia il... more
È possibile, e in quali termini, un pensiero della catastrofe, che sia questa naturale, linguistica, politica o estetica? E in cosa consiste, al contrario, una catastrofe del pensiero? È intorno a queste domande che si impernia il ventesimo numero de Lo Sguardo (febbraio 2016), che assumerà la catastrofe a partire dal suo significato originario, quello segnatamente drammaturgico della katastrophḗ greca, ma individua in essa una funzione ermeneutica e una categoria di pensiero fondamentale. Catastrofe, quindi, come capovolgimento che sovverte un sistema, ingenerando la fine di una narrazione, di una storia, di una struttura, ma anche sovversione che conserva e fonda la possibilità di un nuovo inizio. Riflettere sulla catastrofe significa così approssimare il discorso filosofico al precipizio sul quale la razionalità stessa costruisce il suo instabile fondamento, e insieme riconoscere nell’improvviso e accidentale rovesciamento il luogo stesso dal quale lo sguardo sul mondo prende le mosse.
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Is it possible, and through which philosophical categories, a thought of the catastrophe, natural, or linguistic, or political or aesthetic? And in what consists — on the contrary — a catastrophe of the thought? The twentieth issue of... more
Is it possible, and through which philosophical categories, a thought of the catastrophe, natural, or linguistic, or political or aesthetic? And in what consists — on the contrary — a catastrophe of the thought?
The twentieth issue of Lo Sguardo (February 2016) addresses these questions, assuming the catastrophe from its original meaning, the dramaturgical one of the greek katastrophé, but identify it in its hermeneutic function and as a category of thought. Catastrophe, thus, as overturning that subverts a system, generating the end of a narrative, of a story, of a structure, but also as an upturning that retains and establishes the possibility of a new beginning. Then, reflecting on the disaster means to approximate the philosophical discourse to the precipice on which rationality builds its unstable foundation, and at the same time recognize in the overturning the very place from which the gaze upon the world starts.
The twentieth issue of Lo Sguardo (February 2016) addresses these questions, assuming the catastrophe from its original meaning, the dramaturgical one of the greek katastrophé, but identify it in its hermeneutic function and as a category of thought. Catastrophe, thus, as overturning that subverts a system, generating the end of a narrative, of a story, of a structure, but also as an upturning that retains and establishes the possibility of a new beginning. Then, reflecting on the disaster means to approximate the philosophical discourse to the precipice on which rationality builds its unstable foundation, and at the same time recognize in the overturning the very place from which the gaze upon the world starts.
Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy Of Language, and 17 morePolitical Philosophy, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Mass Communication, Metaphysics of Time, Continental Philosophy, Catastrophe Modeling, History of Mass Media, Epistemology of the Social Sciences, Mass media, Mass Communication and New Media, Epistemology of natural sciences, Catastrophes, Mass Communication and Media Studies, Catastrophe Theory, Catastrophe Fiction, and Theories of Mass Communication
Jean Baudrillard’s path of thought runs through several phenomena of the modern world (war, information, communication and media, the crisis of Marxism, terrorism, photography, architecture, cloning etc.) occupying a unique position in... more
Jean Baudrillard’s path of thought runs through several phenomena of the modern world (war, information, communication and media, the crisis of Marxism, terrorism, photography, architecture, cloning etc.) occupying a unique position in contemporary philosophical landscape. Most of his keywords, such as “hyper-reality” or “simulacrum” continue to proliferate in latest philosophical-cultural production. These terms have come to constitute a useful set of concept to grasp the contemporary culture in its complex structure.
Ten years after the death of Baudrillard, Lo Sguardo devotes to his thought a special issue, expected to be published in March 2017.
The editorial team invites scholars in the field of Baudrillard’s, media and philosophical studies tosend their proposals of editing. Proposals can be submitted by a single editor or a by group of up to three editors.
Ten years after the death of Baudrillard, Lo Sguardo devotes to his thought a special issue, expected to be published in March 2017.
The editorial team invites scholars in the field of Baudrillard’s, media and philosophical studies tosend their proposals of editing. Proposals can be submitted by a single editor or a by group of up to three editors.
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Lo Sguardo – Journal of Philosophy, Call for Papers PHILOSOPHY AND RETHORIC - N. XVII, February 2015 The issue XVII (February 2015) will be dedicated to Philosophy and Rhetoric. There will be four different sections: 1) Rhetoric and the... more
Lo Sguardo – Journal of Philosophy, Call for Papers
PHILOSOPHY AND RETHORIC - N. XVII, February 2015
The issue XVII (February 2015) will be dedicated to Philosophy and Rhetoric. There will be four different sections: 1) Rhetoric and the Truth of Word; 2) Figures of Thought: About Metaphor 3) Rhetoric and Psychoanalysis 4) Rhetoric and Politics: between Performativity and Subjectivation.
Accepted languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish
Deadline for the delivery: January, 9th 2015
Send contribution to: redazione@losguardo.net
PHILOSOPHY AND RETHORIC - N. XVII, February 2015
The issue XVII (February 2015) will be dedicated to Philosophy and Rhetoric. There will be four different sections: 1) Rhetoric and the Truth of Word; 2) Figures of Thought: About Metaphor 3) Rhetoric and Psychoanalysis 4) Rhetoric and Politics: between Performativity and Subjectivation.
Accepted languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish
Deadline for the delivery: January, 9th 2015
Send contribution to: redazione@losguardo.net
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As a discipline historically placed in between natural sciences, technology, and art, medicine has always been sensitive to both theories and apparatuses, able to provide it with a quantification and a reshaping of the living body, as... more
As a discipline historically placed in between natural sciences, technology, and art, medicine has always been sensitive to both theories and apparatuses, able to provide it with a quantification and a reshaping of the living body, as well as a practical possibility of operating on it. This is why, in the era of the maximum growth of telecommunication, algorithmic information technology, and data-driven decision making, new forms of medical practice, and new alliances between medicine and technology are arising. Not without a continuity, in the discontinuity, with a Modern approach, which has progressively "translated" the living organism and the concept of "health" within a quantitative model. The Congress is aimed at exploring the historical as well as the contemporary connections between "organism" and quantification, dealing with the following philosophical issues, which proposed papers are invited to touch upon (one or more):
Research Interests: Visual Sociology, Medical Anthropology, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Visual Anthropology, and 15 moreHistory of Ideas, History of Mathematics, History of Medicine, History of Science, History of Public Health, Quantification, Healthcare, Data Visualization, Infographics and data visualization, Big Data, .Medical Anthropology, Big Data Analytics, History of Philosophy, Big Data In Healthcare, and Philosophy of Health
ISSN: 2184-2868 | ISBN: 978-989-54328-0-6 Launched online in 2018 by the University of Coimbra’s Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos (IEF), under the direction of Prof. Mário Santiago de Carvalho and the coordination of Dr. Simone Guidi,... more
ISSN: 2184-2868 | ISBN: 978-989-54328-0-6
Launched online in 2018 by the University of Coimbra’s Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos (IEF), under the direction of Prof. Mário Santiago de Carvalho and the coordination of Dr. Simone Guidi, the Conimbricenses.org Project will give access from worldwide to a large collection of information, accurate entries, updated bibliographies, and direct links to the digital version of the most important documents related to Coimbra.
The concrete aim of the Conimbricenses.org project, it is to build the first online, fully open access digital repository on Coimbra and its tradition. The double purpose leading the building of the Encyclopedia is, on the one hand, to let scholars from all over the world access clear and definite information, and, on the other hand, to inspire research on smaller authors, giving to the researchers an opportunity to meet them and their works. This is why all the entries will be written in English and they will be from the beginning realized by an international community of researchers, from Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, the United States and many other countries.
The Conimbricenses.org Encyclopedia will be organized into four main sections: the first one is completely devoted to authors and scholars who lived and thought in Coimbra, with a particular focus on Luis Molina, Pedro da Fonseca, and Manuel de Góis, as well as on the editorial history of the influential Cursus; a second section will be instead fully dedicated to Francisco Suárez, his life, his thought and his cultural heritage in Portugal and Europe; a third section, that will be launched in a second phase, will be realized with the help of scholars in the field of Chinese culture, and it will deal with the history of the Cursus in China (including attempts of translation and adaptation); a fourth section will be devoted to the influence of Coimbra’s Aristotelianism on the Portuguese and Spanish colonies in South America.
Finally, specific attention will be directed to the educational aspects of the Jesuits’ activity in Coimbra, focusing especially on educational practice, the relationship between education and publishing, and the relationship between education and architecture.
Launched online in 2018 by the University of Coimbra’s Instituto de Estudos Filosóficos (IEF), under the direction of Prof. Mário Santiago de Carvalho and the coordination of Dr. Simone Guidi, the Conimbricenses.org Project will give access from worldwide to a large collection of information, accurate entries, updated bibliographies, and direct links to the digital version of the most important documents related to Coimbra.
The concrete aim of the Conimbricenses.org project, it is to build the first online, fully open access digital repository on Coimbra and its tradition. The double purpose leading the building of the Encyclopedia is, on the one hand, to let scholars from all over the world access clear and definite information, and, on the other hand, to inspire research on smaller authors, giving to the researchers an opportunity to meet them and their works. This is why all the entries will be written in English and they will be from the beginning realized by an international community of researchers, from Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, the United States and many other countries.
The Conimbricenses.org Encyclopedia will be organized into four main sections: the first one is completely devoted to authors and scholars who lived and thought in Coimbra, with a particular focus on Luis Molina, Pedro da Fonseca, and Manuel de Góis, as well as on the editorial history of the influential Cursus; a second section will be instead fully dedicated to Francisco Suárez, his life, his thought and his cultural heritage in Portugal and Europe; a third section, that will be launched in a second phase, will be realized with the help of scholars in the field of Chinese culture, and it will deal with the history of the Cursus in China (including attempts of translation and adaptation); a fourth section will be devoted to the influence of Coimbra’s Aristotelianism on the Portuguese and Spanish colonies in South America.
Finally, specific attention will be directed to the educational aspects of the Jesuits’ activity in Coimbra, focusing especially on educational practice, the relationship between education and publishing, and the relationship between education and architecture.
Research Interests: 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophy, Scholastic Philosophy, Aristotelianism, Renaissance Aristotelianism, Second Scholasticism, and 13 moreFrancisco Suárez, Early Modern Philosophy, Spanish Scholasticism, metafísica de Aristóteles, Conímbriga, Late Scholasticism, Scholasticism, Aristotélisme, Medieval Scholasticism, Cursus Conimbricensis, History of Philosophy, 16th Century Aristotelianism, 和 Pedro Da Fonseca
This is the first of two consecutive issues dedicated to memory. It deals especially with memory as it relates to both individuality and individuation processes; the second issue (n. 29) will be dedicated to memory in its social and... more
This is the first of two consecutive issues dedicated to memory. It deals especially with memory as it relates to both individuality and individuation processes; the second issue (n. 29) will be dedicated to memory in its social and political dimensions. In n. 28, memory will be addressed as a historiographic, metaphysical, phenomenological and epistemological problem.
The editors invite researchers and scholars working in the fields of philosophy of memory to contribute to issue 1/2019 according to the following guidelines. We invite proposals (abstracts) in any of the following four areas:
1. Memory in the History of Philosophy - Papers in this section should address memory from a historical point of view, dealing with the major accounts of it in the History of Western Philosophy, from Plato to the XXI Century. Papers addressing historical discussions of physiological, medical and metaphysical accounts of (episodic) memory are welcome. Papers addressing the History of Philosophy of Mind, particularly those thematizing the function of memory in the early theories of soul, including mnemotechnics, consciousness, perception, and subjectivity, are welcome. And papers addressing memory in the entire history of the body-mind problem are welcome.
2. Individual Memory Between Topology, Ontology, Causation and Time - This section is dedicated to the organization of memory, as well as to the ontology of memory and recall. Papers should contribute to the philosophical understanding of one or more of the following matters: the ontological status of memory traces, mnemic causation, the causal and/or non-causal explanation of recall. Papers about the synchronic or diachronic nature of memory are welcome too. Papers devoted to specific intersections between Phenomenology, Post-Phenomenology, Analytic Philosophy and Cognitive Psychology are also welcome.
3. Memory, Individuation, Process, Technology - Papers in this section should thematize memory from the perspective of Process Philosophy, Philosophy of Individuation and Philosophy of Technology. Papers may address the following questions: what is memory’s role in the becoming of individuation processes (including biological ones), and what is its role in technological ones? Papers dealing with the intersection between Philosophy and Biology are also welcome. Papers dealing with contemporary Philosophy of Technology, including cybernetics, automation and the digital, are welcome. And papers dealing with the ontology of computer memory are welcome.
4. The Epistemology of Memory: Personal Representation, and Reality - Papers in this section are expected to address memory as a representative, metarepresentative, propositional and epistemological issue. Papers about the Epistemology of memory are welcome. Papers about the Narrative and/or Contextualist nature of memory are welcome. Papers dealing with the value of memory are welcome.
The editors invite researchers and scholars working in the fields of philosophy of memory to contribute to issue 1/2019 according to the following guidelines. We invite proposals (abstracts) in any of the following four areas:
1. Memory in the History of Philosophy - Papers in this section should address memory from a historical point of view, dealing with the major accounts of it in the History of Western Philosophy, from Plato to the XXI Century. Papers addressing historical discussions of physiological, medical and metaphysical accounts of (episodic) memory are welcome. Papers addressing the History of Philosophy of Mind, particularly those thematizing the function of memory in the early theories of soul, including mnemotechnics, consciousness, perception, and subjectivity, are welcome. And papers addressing memory in the entire history of the body-mind problem are welcome.
2. Individual Memory Between Topology, Ontology, Causation and Time - This section is dedicated to the organization of memory, as well as to the ontology of memory and recall. Papers should contribute to the philosophical understanding of one or more of the following matters: the ontological status of memory traces, mnemic causation, the causal and/or non-causal explanation of recall. Papers about the synchronic or diachronic nature of memory are welcome too. Papers devoted to specific intersections between Phenomenology, Post-Phenomenology, Analytic Philosophy and Cognitive Psychology are also welcome.
3. Memory, Individuation, Process, Technology - Papers in this section should thematize memory from the perspective of Process Philosophy, Philosophy of Individuation and Philosophy of Technology. Papers may address the following questions: what is memory’s role in the becoming of individuation processes (including biological ones), and what is its role in technological ones? Papers dealing with the intersection between Philosophy and Biology are also welcome. Papers dealing with contemporary Philosophy of Technology, including cybernetics, automation and the digital, are welcome. And papers dealing with the ontology of computer memory are welcome.
4. The Epistemology of Memory: Personal Representation, and Reality - Papers in this section are expected to address memory as a representative, metarepresentative, propositional and epistemological issue. Papers about the Epistemology of memory are welcome. Papers about the Narrative and/or Contextualist nature of memory are welcome. Papers dealing with the value of memory are welcome.
Research Interests: Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, and 12 moreAnalytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), Theory of Mind, Embodied Mind and Cognition, Continental Philosophy, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Moral Philosophy, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsicología, History of Philosophy, 和 Neurosciences
In occasione del suo decimo anniversario (2009-2019), Lo Sguardo dedicherà due numeri consecutivi (nn. 28-29) al tema della memoria. Il numero 28 verterà in particolare sul rapporto tra memoria, individuo e processi di individuazione; il... more
In occasione del suo decimo anniversario (2009-2019), Lo Sguardo dedicherà due numeri consecutivi (nn. 28-29) al tema della memoria. Il numero 28 verterà in particolare sul rapporto tra memoria, individuo e processi di individuazione; il secondo fascicolo (il numero 29), sarà invece consacrato alla memoria nella sua dimensione sociale e politica. Nel n. 28 il tema della memoria sarà affrontato dunque come problema storiografico, metafisico, psicologico, epistemologico e fenomenologico.
Call for abstracts / papers
I curatori invitano ricercatori e studiosi nell’ambito della filosofia della memoria, della filosofia della mente, della storia della filosofia e della psicologia, a contribure alla raccolta 1/2019, attenendosi ad almeno una delle seguenti linee tematiche:
1. Memoria e storia della filosofia – I contributi di questa sezione affronteranno il rapporto tra memoria individuale e filosofia dal punto di vista storico, ricostruendo le maggiori tesi prodotte nel pensiero occidentale da Platone al XXI secolo. Saranno considerate proposte di discussione delle dottrine fisiologiche, mediche e metafisiche della memoria, nonché proposte incentrate sulla storia della filosofia della mente e volte a tematizzare la funzione della memoria nelle teorie classiche sull’anima, nelle pratiche mnemotecniche, nelle teorie della coscienza, della percezione e della soggettività. Saranno tenute in considerazione proposte riguardanti il ruolo del memoria nella storia del dualismo mente-corpo.
2. La memoria individuale: tra topologia, ontologia, causazione e tempo – La sezione sarà dedicata all’organizzazione e all’ontologia della memoria, così come all’ontologia del ricordo. Le proposte contribuiranno dunque all’analisi filosofica di una o più delle seguenti questioni: lo status ontologico delle tracce mnestiche, la causazione mnemica, la spiegazione causale / non-causale del richiamo mnemonico. Saranno considerati anche contributi sulla natura sincronica o diacronica della memoria, così come quelli dedicati all’intersezione tra fenomenologia, post-fenomenologia, filosofia analitica e psicologia cognitiva.
3. Memoria, individuazione, processi di individuazione, tecnologia – Gli articoli di questa sezione affronteranno la memoria dalla prospettiva della filosofia dei processi, della filosofia dell’individuazione e della filosofia della tecnologia. Saranno considerate in particolare proposte che rispondano alle seguenti questioni: qual è il ruolo della memoria (psicologica o non) nel divenire dei processi di individuazione (inclusi quelli biologici), e quale il suo ruolo nei processi tecnologici? Saranno particolarmente apprezzate proposte concernenti l’intersezione tra filosofia e biologia, così come contributi dedicati alla filosofia della tecnologia, della cibernetica, dell’automazione, del digitale e all’ontologia della memoria informatica.
4. Epistemologia della memoria: rappesentazione personale e realtà – Gli articoli di questa sezione affronteranno la relazione tra memoria e rappresentazione, metarappresentazione, epistemologia. Dunque saranno considerati specialmente articoli concernenti l’epistemologia della memoria, nonché la natura contestuale o non-contestuale della memoria.
Call for abstracts / papers
I curatori invitano ricercatori e studiosi nell’ambito della filosofia della memoria, della filosofia della mente, della storia della filosofia e della psicologia, a contribure alla raccolta 1/2019, attenendosi ad almeno una delle seguenti linee tematiche:
1. Memoria e storia della filosofia – I contributi di questa sezione affronteranno il rapporto tra memoria individuale e filosofia dal punto di vista storico, ricostruendo le maggiori tesi prodotte nel pensiero occidentale da Platone al XXI secolo. Saranno considerate proposte di discussione delle dottrine fisiologiche, mediche e metafisiche della memoria, nonché proposte incentrate sulla storia della filosofia della mente e volte a tematizzare la funzione della memoria nelle teorie classiche sull’anima, nelle pratiche mnemotecniche, nelle teorie della coscienza, della percezione e della soggettività. Saranno tenute in considerazione proposte riguardanti il ruolo del memoria nella storia del dualismo mente-corpo.
2. La memoria individuale: tra topologia, ontologia, causazione e tempo – La sezione sarà dedicata all’organizzazione e all’ontologia della memoria, così come all’ontologia del ricordo. Le proposte contribuiranno dunque all’analisi filosofica di una o più delle seguenti questioni: lo status ontologico delle tracce mnestiche, la causazione mnemica, la spiegazione causale / non-causale del richiamo mnemonico. Saranno considerati anche contributi sulla natura sincronica o diacronica della memoria, così come quelli dedicati all’intersezione tra fenomenologia, post-fenomenologia, filosofia analitica e psicologia cognitiva.
3. Memoria, individuazione, processi di individuazione, tecnologia – Gli articoli di questa sezione affronteranno la memoria dalla prospettiva della filosofia dei processi, della filosofia dell’individuazione e della filosofia della tecnologia. Saranno considerate in particolare proposte che rispondano alle seguenti questioni: qual è il ruolo della memoria (psicologica o non) nel divenire dei processi di individuazione (inclusi quelli biologici), e quale il suo ruolo nei processi tecnologici? Saranno particolarmente apprezzate proposte concernenti l’intersezione tra filosofia e biologia, così come contributi dedicati alla filosofia della tecnologia, della cibernetica, dell’automazione, del digitale e all’ontologia della memoria informatica.
4. Epistemologia della memoria: rappesentazione personale e realtà – Gli articoli di questa sezione affronteranno la relazione tra memoria e rappresentazione, metarappresentazione, epistemologia. Dunque saranno considerati specialmente articoli concernenti l’epistemologia della memoria, nonché la natura contestuale o non-contestuale della memoria.
Research Interests: Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, and 11 moreAnalytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, History of Ideas, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), History of Science, Theory of Mind, Embodied Mind and Cognition, Metaphysics of Mind, History Of Psychology, Neuropsicología, 和 History of Philosophy
Ceci sera le premier de deux numéros consécutifs dédiés à la mémoire. On traitera spécialement de la mémoire en tant que processus d'individualité et d'individuation ; le deuxième numéro (n° 29) sera consacré par contre à la mémoire dans... more
Ceci sera le premier de deux numéros consécutifs dédiés à la mémoire. On traitera spécialement de la mémoire en tant que processus d'individualité et d'individuation ; le deuxième numéro (n° 29) sera consacré par contre à la mémoire dans ses dimensions sociales et politiques. Dans le numéro 28, la mémoire sera abordée comme un problème historiographique, métaphysique, phénoménologique et épistémologique.
Research Interests:
In occasione del suo decimo anniversario (2009-2019), Lo Sguardo dedicherà due numeri consecutivi (nn. 28-29) al tema della memoria. Il numero 28 verterà in particolare sul rapporto tra memoria, individuo e processi di individuazione; il... more
In occasione del suo decimo anniversario (2009-2019), Lo Sguardo dedicherà due numeri consecutivi (nn. 28-29) al tema della memoria. Il numero 28 verterà in particolare sul rapporto tra memoria, individuo e processi di individuazione; il secondo fascicolo (il numero 29), sarà invece consacrato alla memoria nella sua dimensione sociale e politica. Nel n. 28 il tema della memoria sarà affrontato dunque come problema storiografico, metafisico, psicologico, epistemologico e fenomenologico.
Research Interests: Cognitive Psychology, Medical Anthropology, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, and 12 moreMemory (Cognitive Psychology), Metaphysics of Consciousness, History of Science, Philosophy of Medicine, Metaphysics of Mind, Philosophy of Memory, History Of Modern Philosophy, Consciousness Studies, Filosofía, Filosofia Della Mente, Mnemotechnics, and History of Philosophy
This is the first of two consecutive issues dedicated to memory. It deals especially with memory as it relates to both individuality and individuation processes; the second issue (n. 29) will be dedicated to memory in its social and... more
This is the first of two consecutive issues dedicated to memory. It deals especially with memory as it relates to both individuality and individuation processes; the second issue (n. 29) will be dedicated to memory in its social and political dimensions. In n. 28, memory will be addressed as a historiographic, metaphysical, phenomenological and epistemological problem.
Research Interests: Medical Anthropology, Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology, and 11 moreHistory of Ideas, Memory (Cognitive Psychology), History of Medicine, Metaphysics of Consciousness, History of Science, Metaphysics of Mind, Philosophy of Memory, History Of Psychology, Consciousness Studies, Mnemotechnics, and History of Philosophy
Digital traceability is today a total social fact. Digital technologies keep track of everything we do online, and we spend online an increasing part of our time. Until the end of the last century, several technological practices mediated... more
Digital traceability is today a total social fact. Digital technologies keep track of everything we do online, and we spend online an increasing part of our time. Until the end of the last century, several technological practices mediated our access to the new media and these rituals used to found a strong distinction between online and offline. For some years, however, such a frontier is becoming more and more subtle. The quick diffusion of portable, wearable, and implantable technologies, together with the fact that most of us are living in highly connected environments, is making the real-virtual distinction obsolete. Even without sharing such an extreme position, it is clear that digital traces represent nowadays a new way to access individual and social lives. Private companies, public institutions, and social scientists are currently developing several techniques and technologies in order to make sense, and in some cases profit, of such a great amount of traces.
The seventh issue of Azimuth aims to investigate digital traces and their impact on human existence and ontology. Our hypothesis is that digital traces can represent a new paradigm starting from we can think humanism and the human being, its environment and its technical action in the world The importance of such a computational turn is comparable with that of the linguistic turn in HSS in the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, we believe that human and social sciences, and philosophy in particular, can give an important contribution for a critical understanding of those political and economical uses of digital traces that have an effect on human individual and social life. Traditionally, philosophy developed a deterministic approach to technology. In this context, all considerations must be rather object-oriented.
The seventh issue of Azimuth aims to investigate digital traces and their impact on human existence and ontology. Our hypothesis is that digital traces can represent a new paradigm starting from we can think humanism and the human being, its environment and its technical action in the world The importance of such a computational turn is comparable with that of the linguistic turn in HSS in the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, we believe that human and social sciences, and philosophy in particular, can give an important contribution for a critical understanding of those political and economical uses of digital traces that have an effect on human individual and social life. Traditionally, philosophy developed a deterministic approach to technology. In this context, all considerations must be rather object-oriented.
Research Interests:
Digital traceability is today a total social fact. Digital technologies keep track of everything we do online, and we spend online an increasing part of our time. Until the end of the last century, several technological practices mediated... more
Digital traceability is today a total social fact. Digital technologies keep track of everything we do online, and we spend online an increasing part of our time. Until the end of the last century, several technological practices mediated our access to the new media and these rituals used to found a strong distinction between online and offline. For some years, however, such a frontier is becoming more and more subtle. The quick diffusion of portable, wearable, and implantable technologies, together with the fact that most of us are living in highly connected environments, is making the real-virtual distinction obsolete. Even without sharing such an extreme position, it is clear that digital traces represent nowadays a new way to access individual and social lives. Private companies, public institutions, and social scientists are currently developing several techniques and technologies in order to make sense, and in some cases profit, of such a great amount of traces.
The seventh issue of Azimuth aims to investigate digital traces and their impact on human existence and ontology. Our hypothesis is that digital traces can represent a new paradigm starting from we can think humanism and the human being, its environment and its technical action in the world The importance of such a computational turn is comparable with that of the linguistic turn in HSS in the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, we believe that human and social sciences, and philosophy in particular, can give an important contribution for a critical understanding of those political and economical uses of digital traces that have an effect on human individual and social life. Traditionally, philosophy developed a deterministic approach to technology. In this context, all considerations must be rather object-oriented.
The seventh issue of Azimuth aims to investigate digital traces and their impact on human existence and ontology. Our hypothesis is that digital traces can represent a new paradigm starting from we can think humanism and the human being, its environment and its technical action in the world The importance of such a computational turn is comparable with that of the linguistic turn in HSS in the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, we believe that human and social sciences, and philosophy in particular, can give an important contribution for a critical understanding of those political and economical uses of digital traces that have an effect on human individual and social life. Traditionally, philosophy developed a deterministic approach to technology. In this context, all considerations must be rather object-oriented.