CHAPTER Structure and function In physical systems made by a large number of basic constituents one can observe collective properties which find their ...

Non-compensatory aggregation rules are applied in a variety of problems such as voting theory, multi-criteria analysis, composite indicators, web ranking algorithms and so on. A major open problem is the fact that non-compensability implies the analytical cost of loosing all available information about intensity of preference, i.e. if some variables are measured on interval or ratio scales, they have to be treated as measured on an ordinal scale. Here this problem has been tackled in its most general formulation, that is (...) when mixed measurement scales (interval, ratio and ordinal) are used and both stochastic and fuzzy uncertainties are present. Objectives of this article are first to present a comprehensive review of useful solutions already proposed in the literature and second to advance the state of the art mainly in the theoretical guarantee that weights have the meaning of importance coefficients and they can be summarized in a voting matrix. This is a key result for using non-compensatory Condorcet consistent rules. A proof on the probability of existence of ties in the voting matrix is also developed. (shrink)

Nel 2012 la Casa editrice Tilgher ha cessato la sua attività. E’ un evento grave, che dà a pensare - di là da quel che comporta per il Giornale di Metafisica, la sua storia e la sua tradizione - perché non dovuto a una scelta ma, in gran parte, alla difficoltà di far fronte alla condizione di estremo disaggio in cui versano attualmente l’editoria scientifica e, più in generale, la cultura e la ricerca. Anche questo disagio è specchio della più (...) ampia crisi, non solo economica ma anche istituzionale ed etica, che ha investito il nostro paese, l’Europa, e il mondo; abbastanza pervasiva e profonda. Abbastanza significativa del nostro tempo da interpellare per proprio conto la comunità di ricerca di quanti, fra coloro che hanno interesse alla metafisica e ai suoi temi, frequentano a vario livello l’attività della Rivista. ... (shrink)

In this article the author reflects on some of the most recent instances of the hybridization of identities, brought about by movements of migration in the more general context of globalization. New situations triggered by the epoch-making historical developments of the world we live in require us to modify our notion of individual identity, which is no longer seen as a fundamental and self-referential essence of the individual, but rather as the product of a number of relational variables, many of (...) which arise from processes of ethnic amalgamation and cultural blending. In this new historical condition, one that old styles of thought are no longer able to grasp, the notion of memory is paramount. Memory, as Said has indicated, is connected to Vico’s concept of “invention” as “finding again,” that is, as an incessant process of the remembrance and the discovery of stories that are lived, leading to a “re-creation” and reconfiguration of one’s roots. This article, however, does not simply formulate, articulate and discuss the problem, but also raises the question of its genealogy, locating this in Vico’s distinction between the topical and the critical, that is connected with the triad of memory-imagination-ingenuity, and in certain philosophical positions – such as that of Dilthey, which is specifically acknowledged here – that involve an instance of hybridism, interpreted as a relationship between biological-natural and psychological subjectivity on one hand and historical-cultural identity on the other. (shrink)