v. 1. Essenza, persistenza, sviluppi. Atti del IX Convegno internazionale del Centro di studi umanistici. Montepulciano, Palazzo Tarugi, 1972.--v. 2. Etica, estetica, teatro. Onoranze a Niccolò Copernico. Atti del X Convegno internazionale del Centro di studi umanistici. Montepulciano, Palazzo Tarugi, 1973.--v. 3. L'ideale della pace nell'Umanesimo occidentale. Onoranze a Francesco Petrarca. Atti dell'XI Convegno internazionale del Centro di studi umanistici. Montepulciano, Palazzo Tarugi, 1974.

This study uses a quasi-experimental design to investigate what happens to individual socially responsible attitudes when they are exposed to group dynamics. Findings show that group engagement increases individual attitudes toward social responsibility. We also found that individuals with low attitudes toward social responsibility are more likely to change their opinions when group members show more positive attitudes toward social responsibility. Conversely, individuals with high attitudes do not change much, independent of group characteristics. To better analyze the effect of group (...) dynamics, the study proposes to split social responsibility into relative and absolute components. Findings show that relative social responsibility is correlated with but different from absolute social responsibility although the latter is more susceptible than the former to group dynamics. (shrink)

Individuals sit on the board of directors and set organizational goals, individuals make the product, push new marketing campaigns, make tough decisions, create new products, and so on. What is the role of social responsibility (SR) in their thinking? Do individuals need to behave responsibly to live in a social environment? Could this be grounded in their cognition? Furthermore, is there room for SR in our cognitive processes? And then, how can this analysis help studies on socially responsible business? The (...) article presents how the distributed cognition approach provides a viable explanation for SR in human thinking. The exploitation of external – both social and nonsocial – resources shapes cognitive processes such that the idea of the “isolated brain” is definitely abandoned. Our social cognition uses responsibility as a support mechanism that sustains or discharges distributive processes. The article uses the notion of docility to keep cognition and social behavior together. The conclusion is that SR is (1) a mechanism that allows individuals to maintain cognitive advantages and (2) it emerges when the same social channel is exploited for extended periods of time. (shrink)

A countless variety of stakeholder approaches are referenced by management scholars and practitioners, with theories on stakeholders divided into normative and descriptive categories and managerial and instrumental theories. This paper addresses the normative stakeholder approach and evaluates its strengths and weaknesses in the context of a new framework. We argue that stakeholder theory arose from a philosophical and scientific tradition where the object of scientific analysis was divided into constituent parts that made them easier to understand and to analyse. Although (...) this process of ‘reduction to the minimum’ is powerful and has worked very well in the past, we argue that the excessive emphasis on elemental parts, while ignoring the whole, runs the risk of overlooking the actual nature of organisation:environment relationships. Moreover, this traditional stakeholder approach can overlook change as a fundamental variable in management processes. The specific contribution of this paper is integrating stakeholder theories with an organisation:environment approach grounded in niche-construction and specie preservation. Doing so allows stakeholder theory not only to embrace human agency as part of a broadened evolutionary dynamic but also to incorporate within this view an improved understanding of the co-evolutionary processes of organisation:environment relationships and the nature of change. In this proposed niche-construction framework, stakeholders are explicitly identified as integral actors in, and co-creators of, organisational-environmental change. (shrink)

This paper focuses on social responsibilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective of the paper is to define propositions in order totest if and how the behavior of small companies depends on managerial tasks, and general environmental threats and opportunities. Broadly speaking, we try toanswer to the following questions. Is there a way to connect small companies’ attitudes towards social responsibility to the models of the businesses they run?Does socially responsible behavior depend on the specific industry or the (...) local economic environment, more than on firm size? (shrink)

Cognition is usually associated with brain activity. Undoubtedly, some brain activity is necessary for it to function. However, the last thirty years have revolutionized the way we intend and think about cognition. These developments allow us to think of cognition as distributed in the sense that it needs tools, artifacts, objects, and other external entities to allow the brain to operate properly. Organizational Cognition: The Theory of Social Organizing takes this perspective and applies it to the organization by introducing a (...) model that defines the elements that allow cognition to work. This model shows that cognition needs the combined and simultaneous presence of micro aspects—i.e. the biological individual—and macro super-structural elements—e.g. organizational climate, culture, norms, values, rules. These two become practice of cognition as they materialize in a meso domain—this is any action that allows individuals to perform their daily duties. Due to the micro-meso-macro interactions, this has been called the 3M Model. Most of what happens in the meso domain relates to exchanges between two or more people, i.e. it is a social activity. This is usually mentioned in the perspectives above, but it is rarely explored. By bringing meso activities to the center of cognition, the book develops and presents the Theory of Social Organizing. Not only this is useful to organizational scholars, but it also opens a new path for cognition research. (shrink)

Cognition is usually associated with brain activity. Undoubtedly, some brain activity is necessary for it to function. However, the last thirty years have revolutionized the way we intend and think about cognition. These developments allow us to think of cognition as distributed in the sense that it needs tools, artifacts, objects, and other external entities to allow the brain to operate properly. Organizational Cognition: The Theory of Social Organizing takes this perspective and applies it to the organization by introducing a (...) model that defines the elements that allow cognition to work. This model shows that cognition needs the combined and simultaneous presence of micro aspects—i.e. the biological individual—and macro super-structural elements—e.g. organizational climate, culture, norms, values, rules. These two become practice of cognition as they materialize in a meso domain—this is any action that allows individuals to perform their daily duties. Due to the micro-meso-macro interactions, this has been called the 3M Model. Most of what happens in the meso domain relates to exchanges between two or more people, i.e. it is a social activity. This is usually mentioned in the perspectives above, but it is rarely explored. By bringing meso activities to the center of cognition, the book develops and presents the Theory of Social Organizing. Not only this is useful to organizational scholars, but it also opens a new path for cognition research. (shrink)

Probabilism, the view that agents have numerical degrees of beliefs that conform to the axioms of probability, has been defended by the vast majority of its proponents by way of either of two arguments, the Dutch Book Argument and the Representation Theorems Argument. In this paper I argue that both arguments are flawed. The Dutch Book Argument is based on an unwarranted, ad hoc premise that cannot be dispensed with. The Representation Theorems Argument hinges on an invalid implication.

This paper proposes an analytical framework for the analysis of organizational cognition that borrows from distributed and ecological cognition. In so doing, we take a case study featuring a decision on the topic of agreeing on a set point in the agenda of a meeting. It is through the analysis of a few minutes of video-recording used in the case that enables us to demonstrate the power of applying distributed and ecological cognition to organizing processes. Cognitive mechanism, resources, and processes (...) are identified within this combined framework. Mechanisms are described as “socio-material” —where “people” and “artifacts” are the related cognitive resources—and as “conceptual” —with “group” identity, “topic” understanding, meaning of “procedures,” and perception of “time” as resources. Processes are defined as “coupling,” “de-coupling,” and “un-coupled” depending on the type of relation in place. Finally, the paper presents an agent-based computational simulation to demonstrate the potentials of operationalizing this approach. (shrink)

This article proposes a framework for the analysis of experienced discrimination in home mortgages. It addresses the problem of home mortgage lending discrimination in one of the richest areas of northern Italy. Employees of a local hospital were interviewed to study their perception of discriminatory behavior related to home financing. The analysis follows two steps. The first evaluates self-selection and the second focuses on the likelihood that applications are accepted by the bank. Findings show that discrimination is likely to appear (...) when the applicant’s nationality is considered. In addition to its findings, the study provides an original econometric model on a two-step procedure to test perceived discrimination and suggests a method and approach that may constitute a point of reference for those willing to study perceived discrimination. (shrink)

Using a “psychotherapeutic attitude”, as a criterion and measure of the psychiatrist’s involvement in clinical relationship (with the “trial identification” according to Fliess), some phenomenological and epistemological considerations are offered about diagnostic assessments, as a synchronic and diachronic recognising process. Inspired by Gehlen’s notion of “exoneration” (i.e., the reducing and focusing of the perceptive experience as applied to the wealth of the perceptible), this paper examines how the mind of a skilled diagnostician might work. Three levels are explored: firstly, “the (...) symbolic perception”, where perceptive/emotional data derived by “trial identification” and worked through during one’s professional experience, automatically selects wide fields of allusions (e.g., in the psychopathological prefigurations, suggested by the ‘‘contact’’); then, we consider the “exoneration” of scientific hypothesis, which allows the psychiatrist to give a scientifically recognisable form to the first diagnostic outlines gathered in the interpersonal communication; and thirdly, the holistic reflection is examined, which returns the doctor’s focus to the patient’s individual problems, after going through different and, at times, very high inference levels. It is not a question of phases, but of varyingly interwoven moments in the mind of the skilful clinician, which are based on the dialectics of identification/separation. (shrink)

Studies in astronomy and stellar astrophysics have played a significant role in the ongoing research of the Specola Vaticana throughout its history. Within the last 150 years, this has been evidenced by the work of Angelo Secchi in the 19th century, by the Specola’s participation in the 19th–20th century Carte du Ciel project, and by the Observatory’s sponsorship of the prominent Vatican Conference on Stellar Populations in 1957. The latter was a milestone in the understanding of stellar populations. Since (...) then, the astronomy community’s knowledge of stellar populations, especially with regard to the various components of the Milky Way Galaxy and other galaxies, along with globular and open clusters, has increased greatly, commensurate with the advent of more powerful telescopes. The Specola Vaticana continues to contribute actively to such astrophysical studies by research conducted on photometric surveys of portions of the Milky Way Galaxy and also by the study of extreme horizontal branch stars that are thought to be ubiquitous in most stellar populations. (shrink)

Summary The anniversary of the death of Pietro Tacchini (1838?1905), one of the pioneers of solar physics in Italy, is commemorared by this account of his major creation, the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani (1871). Established to promote cooperation among solar spectroscopists engaged in the study of the solar chromosphere, it was the first scientific Society devoted to spectroscopy and its astronomical applications. Its journal, the Memorie, collected most of the important works on solar physics by Angelo Secchi SJ (1818?1878), (...) Tacchini himself, and many other protagonists of the newly born astrophysics. A brief history of the Society and its development draws on many previously unexploited archival sources, in order to show its role in raising astrophysics to the status of a scientific discipline, in the context of the astronomical research of that time in Italy and abroad, especially in the USA. (shrink)

Este artigo parte da compreensão do campo da política pública, considerando-o como espaço de disputas. Ao pensar a formação continuada como uma política pública apresenta-se o Ciclo de Políticas (SECCHI, 2012; 2016), como referencial de análise, para discussão de possibilidades. Utiliza-se como instrumento de pesquisa a observação em quatro escolas públicas, em turmas de quinto anos, no município de Macaé/RJ e aplicação de questionários semiestruturados junto aos professores. A elaboração de uma questão discursiva serviu como objeto de análise para (...) o estudo aqui apresentado. A partir da identificação dos problemas relativos à formação continuada realizou-se reflexão acerca de soluções e alternativas, apresentadas em uma matriz de avaliação. O modelo de formação tido como recomendação de solução ao problema diagnosticado passa por algumas etapas. Acredita-se que a aplicação dessa metodologia de análise pode vir a ser um gerador de política de formação continuada, possibilitando maior interação dos professores em sua formação. (shrink)

1. Il contributo di Giovanni Maria Cornoldi per la rinascita del tomismo -- [2] Testi e documenti per un bilancio del neotomismo, gli scritti inediti di Giovanni Maria Cornoldi (autobiografia la controversia con Angelo Secchi).

Rather than ask if expertise is under threat, this paper uses case studies to show how expertise is enabled. Its appearance can be traced to how the already known evokes sensibility, judging, thinking and languaging. As defined below, it draws on epistemic cycles. Using Secchi and Cowley’s (2021) 3M model, this posits a second cut between the micro and the macro. In the mesosphere, people create temporary domains or what William James (1991) calls ‘little worlds’. Within these corpora popularia, (...) the new is made possible – expertise sets off unimagined outcomes. Thus, many concerns cannot be solved by scientific correlates of a natural ontological attitude: indeed, the truism clarifies many social challenges. We lack social institutions that dedicate expertise to goals like ecosocial justice and life-sustaining relations. Once the necessary expertise is traced to epistemic cycles, we can demand of institutions that they create bodies that seek to bring a rich future to evolution. (shrink)

According to Bikas Chakrabarti (2005, p. 225), the term econophysics was neologized in 1995 at the second Statphys-Kolkata conference in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India by the physicist H. Eugene Stanley, who was also the first to use it in print (Stanley, 1996). Mantegna and Stanley (2000, pp. viii-ix) define “the multidisciplinary field of econophysics” as “a neologism that denotes the activities of physicists who are working on economics problems to test a variety of new conceptual approaches deriving from the physical (...) sciences.” The list of such problems has included distributions of returns in financial markets (Mantegna, 1991; Levy and Solomon, 1997; Bouchaud and Cont, 1998; Gopakrishnan, Plerou, Amaral, Meyer, and Stanley, 1999; Sornette and Johansen, 2001; Farmer and Joshi, 2004) the distribution of income and wealth (Drăgulescu and Yakovenko, 2001; Bouchaud and Mézard, 2000; Chatterjee, Yarlagadda, and Charkrabarti, 2005), the distribution of economic shocks and growth rate variations (Bak, Chen, Scheinkman, and Woodford, 1993; Canning, Amaral, Lee, Meyer, and Stanley, 1998), the distribution of firm sizes and growth rates (Stanley, Amaral, Buldyrev, Havlin, Leschhorn, Maass, Salinger, and Stanley, 1996; Takayasu and Okuyama, 1998; Botazzi and Secchi, 2003), the distribution of city sizes (Rosser, 1994; Gabaix, 1999), and the distribution of scientific discoveries (Plerou, Amaral, Gopakrishnan, Meyer, and Stanley, 1999; Sornette 1 and Zajdenweber, 1999), among other problems, all of which are seen at times not to follow normal or Gaussian patterns that can be described fully by mean and variance. The main sources of conceptual approaches from physics used by the econophysicists have been from models of statistical mechanics (Spitzer, 1971), geophysical models of earthquakes (Sornette, 2003), and “sandpile” models of avalanches, the latter involving self-organized criticality (Bak, 1996). An early physicist to assert the essential identity of statistical methods used in physics and the social sciences was Majorana (1942). A common theme among those who identify themselves as econophysicists is that standard economic theory has been inadequate or insufficient to explain the non-Gaussian distributions empirically observed for various of these phenomena, such as “excessive” skewness and leptokurtotic “fat tails” (McCauley, 2004).. (shrink)