It is now generally accepted that the motor system is not purely dedicated to the control of behavior, but also has cognitive functions. Mirror neurons have provided a new perspective on how sensory information regarding others’ actions and gestures is coupled with the internal cortical motor representation of them. This coupling allows an individual to enrich his interpretation of the social world through the activation of his own motor representations. Such mechanisms have been highly preserved in evolution as they are (...) present in humans, apes and monkeys. Recent neuroanatomical data showed that there are two different connectivity patterns in mirror neuron networks in the macaque: one is concerned with sensorimotor transformation in relation to reaching and hand grasping within the traditional parietal-premotor circuits; the second one is linked to the mouth/face motor control and the new data show that it is connected with limbic structures. The mouth mirror sector seems to be wired not only for ingestive behaviors but also for orofacial communicative gestures and vocalizations. Notably, the hand and mouth mirror networks partially overlap, suggesting the importance of hand-mouth synergies not only for sensorimotor transformation, but also for communicative purposes in order to better convey and control social signals. (shrink)

During his late period, Nietzsche is particularly concerned with the value that mankind attributes to truth. In dealing with that topic, Nietzsche is not primarly interested in the metaphysical disputes on truth, but rather in the effects that the "will to truth" has on the human being. In fact, he argues that the "faith in a value as such of truth" influenced Western culture and started the anthropological degeneration of the human type that characterizes European morality. To call into question (...) the value of truth is therefore necessary, if one wants to help mankind to find her way in the labyrinth of nihilism. -/- In this new addition to Nietzsche scholarship, Gori explores the origin and aim of the philosopher's late perspectival thought by merging the theoretical with the historical approach, with a special focus on the epistemological debate that influenced Nietzsche. As a result, the book provides a contextual reading of the issue that supports the idea that Nietzsche’s attitude in addressing the problem of truth is, in a broad sense, pragmatic. (shrink)

This paper explores Thomas Kuhn’s mature conception of incommensurable theories as collective structured lexicons that are not mutually translatable. As will be argued, his view on this issue can profitably be approached in the light of the broad pragmatist attitude that one finds at the core of Wittgenstein’s late philosophy of language, which can also consistently be ascribed to Kuhn.

The author Gino Capozzi, founder of the institutionalist napolitan phenomenological school, includes an original and promising exposition based on the contributions of praxeology and praxeologism, in relation to being and what should be the reality of human rights, their genesis, the development of..

In this paper we will be concerned with the interpretability logic of PA and in particular with the fact that this logic, which is denoted by ILM, does not have the interpolation property. An example for this fact seems to emerge from the fact that ILM cannot express Σ₁-ness. This suggests a way to extend the expressive power of interpretability logic, namely, by an additional operator for Σ₁-ness, which might give us a logic with the interpolation property. We will formulate (...) this extension, give an axiomatization which is modally complete and arithmetically complete (although for proofs of these theorems we refer to an earlier paper), and investigate interpolation. We show that this logic still does not have the interpolation property. (shrink)

This study attempts a reconstruction of the philosophy of the unfinished _Opus tripartitum_ of Meister Eckhart. One new feature is the 'hermeneutic approach' to the question of Eckhart's philosophy, another is the recognition that the concept of Unity plays a decisive role in the organisation of his metaphysics, to the extent, indeed, that one can speak of a metaphysics of the One. Eckhart's metaphysics is determined to a contemplation of the divine, which in this thinking of Unity is understood as (...) the principle and end of all things. Yet, at the same time Eckhart's thinking of Unity marks the boundaries of the _ratio naturalis_. In this way his thought combines a supreme trust in the effectivity of reason with a negative theology of the purest sort. By a systematic reading of linked texts of Meister Eckhart the trail of his philosophy of the One is followed down into the German sermons. (shrink)

A comprehensive interpretation of the "Scienza Nuova" and of the ways in which Vico managed to present his essentially naturalistic philosophy in a form acceptable within the ecclesiastical climate of 18th century Italy.

This paper is the first in a series of three related papers on modal methods in interpretability logics and applications. In this first paper the fundaments are laid for later results. These fundaments consist of a thorough treatment of a construction method to obtain modal models. This construction method is used to reprove some known results in the area of interpretability like the modal completeness of the logic IL. Next, the method is applied to obtain new results: the modal completeness (...) of the logic ILMo, and modal completeness of ILW*. (shrink)

Archibald Pitcairne’s medical writings are inspired by Newton’s Principia mathematica, as the Scottish physician assumed Newtonian physics as a model for scientific inquiry that should be applied to other branches of natural philosophy, including physiology and pathology. The ideal of a comprehensive mathematical science was very appealing to late seventeenth-century intellectuals, including physicians. This essay focuses on how Pitcairne tried to implement these ideas. In particular, I argue that Pitcairne’s medical thinking is based on three philosophical assumptions: first, a methodological (...) assumption, for which medical knowledge should be sought in the form of a deductive system; second, an epistemological assumption, that is, that our knowledge of physiological processes is sound only when we reduce them to a set of mathematical laws; and, third, an ontological assumption that identifies blood as the substance on which animal life most directly depends. I also suggest that such ideas should be studied against the backdrop of Pitcairne’s general mindset, including his personal sympathy for political conservativism. I further argue that his insistence on the reduction of natural processes to mathematical relations and his search for the universal order of nature also connect to his religious and political ideals. (shrink)

In this paper I deal with Nietzsche's theory of knowledge in the context of 19th century epistemology. In particular, I argue that, even though Nietzsche shows the ontological lack of content of truths (both on the theoretic and on the moral plane), he nevertheless leaves the space for a practical use of them, in a way that can be compared with William James' pragmatism. I thus deal with Nietzsche's and James' concept of "truth", and show their relationship with some outcomes (...) of Ernst Mach's epistemology. (shrink)

"Absolute Beginners" is a multi-approach study of the founding role of the Absolute as the very beginning of knowledge in medieval philosophy (Henry of Ghent, Richard Conington), the subject being addressed from historical, methodological, ...

Stories about near-death experiences draw much attention from the general public and are extensively discussed by medical doctors and neuroscientists. However, though eschatology belongs to their core business, only few theologians participate in the debate. This article proposes a theological interpretation of NDEs as ‘private revelations’. I first give a critical analysis of the development of the modern, allegedly ‘scientific’, concept of NDE. This concept changes concrete personal testimonies into statistical data that are used as scientific evidence for the existence (...) of an immortal soul. Next, the main criticisms against this concept from neurosciences, study of mysticism and philosophy of mind are discussed. Finally, I argue that ‘private revelation’ is a useful model for a theological understanding of NDEs and that an analogy from Thomas Aquinas’ view on prophetic dreams can help to account for the specific circumstance of imminent death. The interpretation I propose can do justice to the impression NDEs make on people, but can also accept and meet some of the most important criticisms raised against the modern concept of NDEs. (shrink)

En contra de la interpretación de Anselm Jappe del fetichismo de la mercancía como contradicción principal del capitalismo, sostengo que su obra adolece de un sobredimensionamiento del fetichismo que resulta determinista y reduccionista, y que comprende la contradicción en la obra de Marx de un modo simplista. Ofrezco, en cambio, una interpretación del fetichismo que parte de la noción de que la mercancía es una cristalización de las relaciones sociales de las sociedades capitalistas junto con una defensa de la contradicción (...) como motor dinámico del capitalismo antes que como aspecto paradójico del mismo. (shrink)

In The Cultural Roots of Strategic Intelligence, Gino LaPaglia argues that Strategic Intelligence is a core dynamic of human rationality and that it has always been foundational for creating meaning in society. For thousands of years the identity of the heroic strategist has provided hope for human life lived in extremis.

This paper focuses on sections of Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols that deal with Goethe, with the aim of reflecting on the anthropological ideal that Nietzsche outlines in his late period. I give particular attention to the way in which Nietzsche deals with concepts such as "German", "(good) European", and "free spirit", connecting them in a coherent picture. Finally, I argue that the Renaissance plays an important role in Nietzsche's anthropological project, for it helps to define the spiritual strength that (...) characterizes the healthy type of man whom Nietzsche thought destined to realize his late philosophy. (shrink)

Like bundles of homogeneous light or particles that are scattered in physics experiments, says Goris, the homogeneous field of metaphysics was dispersed in the 14th century. He connects that dispersion to the contemporary rejection of metaphysics. His topics are the analysis of concepts, the contested primacy, scattering the homogeneous field of me.

Describing the will and the extent of its causal power over human actions, Joseph Priestley famously compared the mind to a stone, as both are subject to deterministic laws: “Though an inclination...