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)

This work suggests how much human sciences can learn from a booklet almost all cultures know, The Little Prince. It stimulates to read them in their anthropological aspects of behavior facing alterity, highlighting its value without proposing it as educational element to homogenize the different. The reflection is thus focused on the demolishing and lasting effects of European culture during its colonization of American and African people. The contribution ends with Ferraioli and De Vitoria's considerations on a society based on (...) the axiom of the free circulation of men and goods, and the legitimization of thinking given by natural law. (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)