Business Ethics, the Environment &Responsibility, EarlyView.

If political fake news is a serious concern for democratic politics, no less worrisome is scientific news with patently distorted content. Prima facie, scientific misinformation partially escapes the definition of fake news provided by empirical and philosophical analysis, mainly patterned after political disinformation. Most notably, we aim to show that people are often unaware not only of disseminating, but also of producing false or misleading information. However, by leveraging the philosophical and psychological literature, we advance some reasons for keeping scientific (...) misinformation under the same umbrella, broadening the definition of fake news in order to account for it as well. In concluding, we shall advance some ideas on how to reform scientific communication, which may help to address the issue of scientific misinformation. (shrink)

The author comments on and criticizes some conclusions of the article by Lubomir Lamy entitled “Beyond Emotion: Love as an Encounter of Myth and Drive.” In addition, she shows evidence that love may be considered an integrated neurobiobehavioral process and, as such, regulated by neural systems and circuits that underlie its emotional, cognitive, and behavioral expressions.

Many scholars have claimed that satire is a genre. At the same time, however, it is also widely acknowledged that satire has changed over the centuries, that it has taken various forms and that it still appears in a variety of other genres. Far from being a drawback in identifying satire as a genre, I will claim that variability is a natural property of genres if the latter are conceived of as dynamic cognitive categories that emerge out of a complex (...) interplay of heterogeneous factors which cluster differently under the effect of different contextual and cotextual attractors. I will assume that, in satire, these factors include a range of linguistic and rhetorical devices which interact in different ways to dynamically bring about specifically intended effects. I will further claim that understanding satire is a context-sensitive complex process which implies setting up and maintaining multiple mental representations, and drawing pragmatic inferences. (shrink)

Bernard Bolzano (1781 - 1848) war ein vielseitiger Philosoph. Seine Interessen bedecken alle Bereiche der Logik über Physik bis zur den Wissenschaften des Übersinnlichen. Die moderne Bolzano-Rezeption schätzt an seinem Werk vor allem die mathematischen, logischen und erkenntnistheoretischen Bemühungen. Trotz des großen Stellenwertes, den Mathematik und Logik in der Forschung Bolzanos einnehmen, können sie die beachtliche Dichte der Querverbindungen seines Denkens nicht ausschöpfen. In diesem Band wird eine kritische Rekonstruktion der theologisch-metaphysischen Untersuchungen (anhand seiner Athanasia) Bolzanos geliefert, welche die Wechselwirkungen (...) aufzeigen soll, die zwischen den theologisch-metaphysischen und den logisch-mathematischen Untersuchungen besteht. (shrink)

Ce livre offre une vue d’ensemble sur la mendicité en traversant plusieurs disciplines (histoire, philosophie, littérature) et plusieurs genres littéraires (epos, tragédie, littérature philosophique) et en se déployant sur un arc chronologique qui s’étend de la Grèce archaïque jusqu’au monde judéo-chrétien. L’ouvrage se compose d’une présentation, rédigée par Étienne Helmer, et de onze contributions, organisées en trois volets : I. « Au centre et au bord. Espaces civiques et institutionnels d...

In this paper I argue that dispositionalism is the metaphysical theory that can best contribute to the construction of a metaphysical model for Molecular Gastronomy. Molecular Gastronomy is better explained if physical and chemical theories, which lie at the heart of Molecular Gastronomy, and cooking phenomena in general are described in terms of dispositions. This is the reason why trying to construct a metaphysical model for Molecular Gastronomy by using a dispositional metaphysics is a challenge worth taking on. I will (...) thus explore what happens when we bring dispositions in the kitchen, and so the intersection between food, science and metaphysics. The main aim of the paper is then to pave the way toward the development of a metaphysical model for the physical and the chemical aspects behind Molecular Gastronomy. In the first section, I will briefly reconstruct the history of Molecular Gastronomy, give a definition of it and outline its program. In the second section, I will describe the version of dispositionalism that I adopt in this paper. In the third section, I will sketch a dispositional model for Molecular Gastronomy by relying on two case studies. In the fourth and final section I will draw my conclusions and raise some issues deserving further investigation. (shrink)

Dispositionalism is the theory of modality according to which all (metaphysical and natural) modal truths are made true by some actual irreducibly dispositional property. The relationship between Dispositionalism and time is yet to be satisfactorily explored. In this paper we contribute to this task by examining how Dispositionalism deals with ‘dated truths’: propositions involving a specific time, e.g. “It might rain at 12.30”. We examine two possible accounts: the first, 'Dated Manifestations Strategy', is the idea that powers are very fine-grained, (...) and tend towards temporally very specific manifestations. We argue that such strategy should not be adopted, for it leads to unnecessary violations of ontological parsimony; it is unable to accommodate an ontology of platonic universals; and it is incapable of offering a principled explanation of the forward-looking nature of powers. We offer an alternative account, the "Duration Strategy", which relies on an independently determined arrow of time and the existence of some “duration facts” that specify how long a power takes to bring about its manifestation. We argue that the Duration Strategy is to be preferred. We then flesh out the account by exploring the connection between powers, duration facts, and processes. (shrink)

In this 2002 book, Anna Elisabetta Galeotti examines the most intractable problems which toleration encounters and argues that what is really at stake is not religious or moral disagreement but the unequal status of different social groups. Liberal theories of toleration fail to grasp this and consequently come up with normative solutions that are inadequate when confronted with controversial cases. Galeotti proposes, as an alternative, toleration as recognition, which addresses the problem of according equal respect to groups as (...) well as equal liberty to individuals. She offers an interpretation that is both a revision and an expansion of liberal theory, in which toleration constitutes an important component not only of a theory of justice, but also of the politics of identity. Her study will appeal to a wide range of readers in political philosophy, political theory, and law. (shrink)

This book continues the editors' work of highlighting and re-evaluating the contributions of the most important political scientists who have gone before.

This book fills an important gap in the growing reflective literature on the political science discipline: it consists of a series of 'objective' profiles of the 'Masters of Political Science', written by political scientists who have read and studied their work and who are therefore in a position to evaluate the nature of their contributions.

Italy is one of the advanced industrial democracies with the smallest number of women elected to public office. Current literature has focused on several structural, institutional and cultural factors to explain such a gender gap in political participation and representation. However, one of the most basic forms of political participation, political discussion, has not received a thorough investigation. This article analyses gender differences in the attitudes and the habits of talking about politics with relatives, friends and social acquaintances during the (...) Italian 2006 electoral campaign. The main argument is that the analysis of political discussion may shed new light on how Italian women approach politics and help explain their reluctance to be involved in political activities in terms of elected office and party membership. (shrink)

Il termine cohousing č utilizzato, a livello internazionale, per indicare le forme di co-abitazione che rispondono essenzialmente a strategie di tipo elettivo da parte di nuclei familiari e/o singoli che decidono di stabilire la propria residenza stabile in strutture abitative pensate per offrire oltre che spazi di vita privati anche luoghi di condivisione. Diverse sono le forme e, ancor piů, i significati, che a questo particolare tipo di convivenza le persone attribuiscono: solidarietÀ, scambievolezza, comunitÀ di vita. Il contributo propone una (...) piccola ricognizione dei principali modelli presenti oggi in Italia. (shrink)

Traditionally, an adequate strategy to deal with the tension between liberty and security has been toleration, for the latter allows the maximization of individual liberty without endangering security, since it embraces the limits set by the harm principle and the principle of self-defense of the liberal order. The area outside the boundary clearly requires repressive measures to protect the security and the rights of all. In this paper, we focus on the balance of liberty and security afforded by toleration, analyzing (...) how this strategy works in highly conflictual contexts and sorting out the different sets of reason that might motivate individual to assume a tolerant attitude. We contend that toleration represents a reliable political solution to conflicts potentially threatening social security when it is coupled with social tolerance. Hence, we examine the reasons the agents may have for endorsing toleration despite disagreement and disapproval. In the range of these reasons, we argue that the right reasons are those preserving the moral and epistemic integrity of the agent. The right reasons are however not accessible to everyone, as for example is the case with (non-violent) religious fundamentalists. Only prudential reasons for toleration seem to be available to them. And yet, we argue that an open and inclusive democracy should in principle be hospitable towards prudential and pragmatic reasons as well, which may potentially lay the grounds for future cooperation. We conclude therefore that the tolerant society has room for the fundamentalists, granted that they do not resort to violence. (shrink)

The complete characterisation of order types of non-standard models of Peano arithmetic and its extensions is a famous open problem. In this paper, we consider subtheories of Peano arithmetic (both with and without induction), in particular, theories formulated in proper fragments of the full language of arithmetic. We study the order types of their non-standard models and separate all considered theories via their possible order types. We compare the theories with and without induction and observe that the theories without induction (...) tend to have an algebraic character that allows model constructions by closing a model under the relevant algebraic operations. (shrink)

In this article the author intends to provide general normative guidelines which ought to inform policies concerning the most controversial multicultural claims for a liberal democracy. In order to do that, she proposes a general reconsideration of the struggle of cultures and identities which makes up the stuff of multiculturalism. She suggests that instead of focusing on the issue of compatibility, the adequate viewpoint from which considering multicultural claims should be justice and, within justice, the principle of equal respect (ER). (...) The reference to ER is widespread in the literature on multiculturalism, but it does not specify what should be the object of ER: persons and their dignity, or cultures/religions/identities and their members? The alternative is then examined and the author argues in favour of an interpretation of ER for persons which considers persons as they are, given their identities and differences. Finally, the author provides a typology of multicultural claims, ranked on a scale of different levels of disrespect, which consequently require different kinds of response. As a result, one is invited to reflect on the how beside the what, on the procedures and attitudes beside the benefits and measures, and not only for the pragmatic reasons of finding a relatively easy way out, but also for principled reasons of justice. (shrink)

The complete characterisation of order types of non-standard models of Peano arithmetic and its extensions is a famous open problem. In this paper, we consider subtheories of Peano arithmetic (both with and without induction), in particular, theories formulated in proper fragments of the full language of arithmetic. We study the order types of their non-standard models and separate all considered theories via their possible order types. We compare the theories with and without induction and observe that the theories without induction (...) tend to have an algebraic character that allows model constructions by closing a model under the relevant algebraic operations. (shrink)