The vision of an art masterpiece is associated with brain arousal by neural processes occurring quite spontaneously in the viewer. This aesthetic experience may even elicit a response in the motor areas of the observers. In the neurorehabilitation of patients with stroke, art observation has been used for reducing psychological disorders, and creative art therapy for enhancing physical functions and cognitive abilities. Here, we developed a virtual reality task which allows patients, by moving their hand on a virtual canvas, to (...) have the illusion of painting some art masterpieces, such as The Creation of Adam of Michelangelo or The birth of Venus of Botticelli. Twenty healthy subjects and four patients with stroke performed this task and a control one in which they simply colored the virtual canvas. Results from User Satisfaction Evaluation Questionnaire and the NASA Task Load Index highlighted an appropriate level of usability. Moreover, despite the motor task was the same for art and control stimuli, the art condition was performed by healthy subjects with shorter trajectories and with a lower perception of physical demand. In experiment 2, only the patients treated with artistic stimuli showed a reduction in the erroneous movements performed orthogonally to the canvas. This finding reminds the so-called Mozart effect that improves the performance of subjects when they listen to classic music. Thus, we called this improvement in the performance when interacting with an artistic stimulus as Michelangelo effect. (shrink)

It happens when you travel -- The rules for doing nothing -- Other people's rules -- There's someone knocking at the door -- Turbulent hearts -- An ordinary ethics -- Is it really a morality? -- What sort of morality is this? -- A parenthesis -- Taboos -- Cambia, todo cambia -- Lágrimas, tormentos -- Other torments (more familiar this time) -- A question of scale : still the local mind? -- Rights : human? -- Ordinary ethics and aesthetics -- (...) Impertinence. (shrink)

Recent work in the history of philosophy of science details the Kantianism of philosophers often thought opposed to one another, e.g., Hans Reichenbach, C.I. Lewis, Rudolf Carnap, and Thomas Kuhn. Historians of philosophy of science in the last two decades have been particularly interested in the Kantianism of Reichenbach, Carnap, and Kuhn, and more recently, of Lewis. While recent historical work focuses on recovering the threatened-to-be-forgotten Kantian themes of early twentieth-century philosophy of science, we should not elide the differences between (...) the Kantian strands running throughout this work. In this paper, I disentangle a few of these strands in the work of Reichenbach and Lewis focusing especially on their theories of relativized, constitutive a priori principles in empirical knowledge. In particular, I highlight three related differences between Reichenbach and Lewis concerning their motivations in analyzing scientific knowledge and scientific practice, their differing conceptions of constitutivity, and their relativization of constitutive a priori principles. In light of these differences, I argue Lewis’s Kantianism is more similar to Kuhn’s Kantianism than Reichenbach’s, and so might be of more contemporary relevance to social and practice-based approaches to the philosophy of science. (shrink)

I argue that our everyday evaluations of architecture are primarily evaluations of spaces and, in particular, of their inhabitability— that is, whether they serve or can serve to the realization of our individual ideal of life. Inhabitability is not only a functional criterion but an aesthetic one as well. It is aesthetic insofar as the evaluations about inhabitability include evaluations about the quality of the experience of actually doing something in —or simply occupying—a particular space. This aesthetic aspect of our (...) everyday evaluations explains, on one hand, the distinctive features of our everyday preferences for some architectonic spaces over others—namely, their very personal nature; their noticeable value in our daily lives; their inseparability from the activities we plan to realize in those spaces; and the importance of the spaces which are contiguous to the one we are evaluating. And on the other, it both reveals architecture’s significance for the quality of our daily life and serves as a guide for us to choose spaces that improve that quality. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis paper analyses the discourses produced on their websites by the two organisations that conducted the official ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ campaigns in the Brexit referendum. The analysis, whi...

Volume 16, Issue 4, September 2019, Page 381-388.

Una risposta alla prolusione di Zeller.-Della libertà morale.-I problemi della filosofia della storia.-In memoria del Manifesto dei comunisti.- Del materialismo storico.-Discorrendo di socialismo e di filosofia.-Da un secolo all'altro.-Storia, filosofia della storia, sociologia e materialismo storico.

Any living organism interacts with and responds specifically to environmental molecules by expressing specific olfactory receptors. In this paper, this specificity will be first examined in causal terms with particular emphasis on the mechanisms controlling olfactory gene expression, cell-to-cell interactions and odor-decoding processes. However, this type of explanation does not entirely justify the role olfactory receptors have played during evolution, since they are also expressed ectopically in different organs and/or tissues. Homologous olfactory genes have in fact been found in such (...) diverse cells and/or organs as spermatozoa, testis and kidney where they are assumed to act as chemotactic sensors or renin modulators. To justify their functional diversity, homologous olfactory receptors are assumed to share the same basic role: that of conferring a self-identity to cells or tissues under varying environmental conditions. By adopting this standpoint, the functional attribution as olfactory or chemotactic sensors to these receptors should not be seen either as a cause conditioning receptor gene expression, or as a final effect resulting from genetically predetermined programs, but as a direct consequence of the environmental conditions olfactory receptor genes have explored during evolution. The association of odorant patterns with specific environmental or contextual situations makes their relationship semiotically triadic, due to the emergence of an interpretant capable of perceiving odorants as meaningful signs out of a noisy background. This perspective highlights the importance of odorant-receptor relationships as respect to the properties of the interacting partners. It is our contention that only when taken together can these different explanatory strategies provide a realistic account of how olfactory receptor genes have been structurally and functionally modified during evolution. (shrink)

Comprensione, spiegazione, interpretazione : attualità della riflessione ermeneutica di Max Weber -- Oggettività dell'interpretazione e forme del comprendere : un'analisi critica dell'ermeneutica di Emilio Betti -- Comprensione dell'essere e linguaggio : Martin Heidegger e i problemi dell'ermeneutica contemporanea -- Esperienza ermeneutica e ontologia linguistica in Hans-Georg Gadamer -- I limiti dell'esperienza ermeneutica -- Il dibattito sull'interpretazione nella filosofia italiana del Novecento -- Traduzione e interpretazione nell'ermeneutica contemporanea -- Ermeneutica e scienze sociali.

O tema da natureza da virtude e de sua transmissibilidade atravessa quase todos os diálogos da juventude de Platão, isto é, os considerados “diálogos socráticos”. Este adquire uma relevância central no Protágoras e no Mênon, o qual se abre exatamente com a interrogação acerca da maneira de adquirir a virtude. No curso do diálogo, a arete assume um significado eminentemente político: Mênon pergunta a Sócrates como se pode obter sucesso no campo político, como se pode adquirir reconhecimento social. A tese (...) em torno a qual se desenvolve a conversação assume a identidade de virtude e conhecimento (episteme). Todavia, a consequência que deriva da assunção desta tese, isto é, o princípio com base no qual a virtude, enquanto conhecimento, seja ensinável, é refutado por meio do célebre “argumento empírico”: a ausência de homens capazes de transmitir a sua virtude aos filhos demonstra que essa não é ensinável, e ,portanto, não é conhecimento. Sócrates propõe, então, situar na opinião correta (orthe doxa) a fonte da virtude política. Todavia, a validade do argumento empírico resulta muito incerta, uma vez que parece fundar-se na ambiguidade do significado do termo didakton, que quer dizer seja “ensinável” seja efetivamente “ensinado”. Também a tentativa de fundar a virtude na theia moira deve ser tratada com certo ceticismo. Na realidade, Sócrates alude, no fim do diálogo, à possibilidade de que exista um homem que seja virtuoso e que seja também capaz de ensinar a virtude a outro homem: este homem extraordinário é naturalmente o próprio Sócrates. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that Socrates' speech in Plato’s Symposium cannot by itself express Plato’s view of love. All the non-philosophical speeches, each standing for a different contemporary view of love, should be taken into serious consideration, for they are not mere pastiches of empty theories. In fact, they seem to have been placed there to have their intellectual strength tested by philosophy, for not only their contents reveal commonsensical accepted wisdom, but their discursive beauty powerfully impresses the audience, (...) making them true challenges to the cold, though persuasive logos of philosophy. Furthermore, placing Alcibiades' speech right after Diotima’s austere account of love, when the program of speeches as proposed seemed to have arrived at an end, would be unnecessary, if Plato’s aim were simply to disapprove Alcibiades’ behavior to excuse Socrates political attitudes, as it is assumed by Leon Robin in his Notice to his famous translation to the Belles Lettres edition. On the contrary, Alcibiades’ speech sounds more like a criticism of Socratic love made by Plato himself. (shrink)

O propósito deste ensaio é o de investigar as razões pelas quais a educação de Alcibíades por Sócrates não é tão exitosa quanto a educação de Sócrates por Diotima. Em outras palavras: qual é o motivo da derrota de Sócrates enquanto educador? Segundo a minha interpretação, enquanto Sócrates aprende de Diotima a scala amoris com a separação ontológica entre entidades materiais e imateriais, isto é, ideais, Alcibíades não recebe esta mesma teoria de Sócrates. A falta deste conhecimento (isto é, dos (...) princípios metafísicos do platonismo) é a razão pela qual Alcibíades pode propor a Sócrates a troca da verdade (isto é, da verdadeira virtude) pela opinião (a beleza corporal). (shrink)

This essay is drawn up to represent Francisco Suárez's system of laws. The civil law is mainly founded on the legislator's will, but this law must also be fair. The law of nations is divided into a...

The essay illustrates the figure of Demetrios Kavàkis Rhaoul, Byzantine official at the service of the last two Paleologue emperors and of the Despots of the Peloponnese, who was also George Gemistos Plethon’s friend and student. Two short works of his are here published for the first time, one on the Sun God and another on the classification of the religions professed by humanity, alongside two small inedited letters by Plethon. In the first of the two writings, Kavàkis clears the (...) reasons for his aversion towards any kind of religion or philosophy that places the divine beyond the visible world and that believes in the existence of an intelligible or, even worse, over-intelligible world. These ideas lead him to clash not only with Christianity, but also with Plato and with the ideas of his beloved teacher Plethon, who, however, seems to agree with him in a dream. In the second writing this peculiar solar religion is reaffirmed, against the religion of poets and the religions of transcendence, warning however that nature wants some respect for the religion of ancestors, whichever this might be, when it is functional to the life of the society and of the State. (shrink)

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 is a genetic neuromuscular disease in children that leads to degeneration of spinal cord motor neurons. This sometimes results in severe muscular paralysis requiring mechanical ventilation to sustain the child’s life. The onset of SMA type 1, the most severe form of the disease, is during the first year of life. These children become severely paralysed, but retain their intellectual capacity. Ethical concerns arise when mechanical ventilation becomes necessary for survival. When professionals assess the (...) resulting life for the child and family, they sometimes fear it will result in unreasonably excessive care. The aim of this article is to present an analysis of ethical arguments that could support or oppose the provision of invasive ventilation in this population. This examination is particularly relevant as France is one of the few countries performing tracheotomies and mechanical ventilation for this condition. (shrink)

En virtud del carácter difuso que Foucault atribuye a las relaciones de poder, es posible afirmar que la sujeción de los cuerpos nunca es absoluta, de modo que estos no son algo inexorablemente determinado por el ejercicio del poder. En este artículo se muestra de qué manera el cuerpo, en tanto que blanco principal de un poder preponderantemente físico, puede en forma eventual constituirse en escenario de des-sujeción y resistencia, en el “lugar” desde el cual ese mismo poder puede ser (...) resistido. Esto, gracias a lo que en este artículo se describe como una “condición heterotópica” del cuerpo, que implicaría la excedencia y el desbordamiento de los procesos de sujeción, y que, en última instancia, permitiría hablar del “cuerpo experiencial” como el espacio en el que tendría lugar la puesta en cuestión de la propia subjetividad. (shrink)

Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

Pour Platon l'instrument principal de la connaissance philosophique est le logos, non seulement dans le sens général de « raison », mais aussi dans le sens spécifique de connaissance qui se réalise au moyen du « discours », c'est à dire d'une raison qui possède un caractère foncièrement linguistique. Cela semble impliquer que le logos a une nature entièrement transparente à soi même, et par conséquent, comme on peut le déduire de l'analyse consacrée dans le Théétète à la théorie du (...) songe, que les éléments dont le logos est composé sont pleinement intelligibles et dépourvus de toute opacité. Cependant cette prétention semble échouer dans le Cratyle, où la tentative de montrer l'intelligibilité des éléments du langage, c'est à dire lettres et syllabes, n'est pas couronnée de succès. Une possible solution à ce problème repose sur le fait que les éléments du langage, à la différence des éléments naturels, épuisent entièrement leur nature dans le rôle qu'ils jouent à l'intérieur du langage lui-même ; et donc la connaissance de ce rôle, exactement comme il en est des pièces des échecs, coïncide avec la connaissance de l'objet dans son entier. (shrink)