The illicit diffusion of intimate photographs or videos intended for private use is a troubling phenomenon known as the diffusion of Non-Consensual Intimate Images (NCII). Recently, it has been feared that the spread of deepfake technology, which allows users to fabricate fake intimate images or videos that are indistinguishable from genuine ones, may dramatically extend the scope of NCII. In the present essay, we counter this pessimistic view, arguing for qualified optimism instead. We hypothesize that the growing diffusion of deepfakes (...) will end up disrupting the status that makes our visual experience of photographic images and videos epistemically and affectively special; and that once divested of this status, NCII will lose much of their allure in the eye of the perpetrators, probably resulting in diminished diffusion. We conclude by offering some caveats and drawing some implications to better understand, and ultimately better counter, this phenomenon. (shrink)

Negli ultimi anni di vita Giovanni Gentile aveva in progetto una Storia della Filosofia che abbracciasse tutta la materia dalle origini ai giorni nostri. La morte tragica nel 1944 non gli permise di portare a compimento l'opera, che si ferma a Platone: ritrovata tra le sue carte, è stata ricostruita e pubblicata postuma. Pur incompleta, rappresenta un'accurata panoramica del pensiero greco antico, a partire dai filosofi naturalisti fino ai presocratici e ai capisaldi Socrate e Platone, tramite una scrittura appassionata, al (...) tempo stesso accessibile e ricca di dettagli. (shrink)

Perceiving and recognizing others via their faces is of pivotal importance. The ability to perceive others in the environment – to discern between friends and foes, selves and others – as well as to detect and seek to predict their possible moves, plans, and intentions, is a set of skills that has proved to be essential in the evolutionary history of humankind. The aim of this study is to explore the subject of face recognition as a semiotic phenomenon. The scope (...) of this inquiry is limited to face perception by the human species. The human face is analysed on the threshold between biological processes and cultural processes. We argue that the recognition of likenesses has a socio-cultural dimension that should not be overlooked. By drawing on Georg Lichtenberg’s remarks on physiognomy, we discuss the critique of the semiotic bias, the association of ideas, and the mechanism of typification involved in face recognition. Face typification is discussed against the background of face recognition and face identification. We take them as three gradients of meaning that map out a network of relationships concerning different cognitive operations that are at stake when dealing with the recognition of faces. (shrink)

By questioning the attribution of a primary role to the eyes as bearers of identity within traditional Western culture, this paper will problematize the agentivity performed by the lower mereology of the face, identified with the mouth-nose assemblage. In particular, the study will focus on the manipulation of such facial spatiality through the intervention of three “lower face” artifacts: the grill, the ball gag and the gas mask. This piece of work will examine their plastic and figurative dimensions in the (...) technological interaction with the facial organs. Furthermore, we will take into consideration the sociocultural context of wearability performed by the different bearers with the aim of grasping the identity shift that the artifacts trigger. The study, therefore, will organize the corpus as a sequence that starts inside the oral cavity where the grill is worn; then moves to a progressive exteriority with the ball gag that emerges from the mouth through the straps fastened around the head; eventually dealing with the exterior projection operated by the gas mask which by means of its filters portends beyond the anatomical face. Ultimately the three artifacts are presented as a threefold articulation of a liminal agency towards an expanded form of humanity including animality embedded within and without the space of meaning represented by the face. (shrink)

"Soy un ciudadano ejemplar. Voto siempre cada cuatro años... veo diariamente los programas del corazón en la tele y los sábados el fútbol... pago todos mis impuestos... tengo una cuenta en Facebook con muchos amigos que no conozco; hago mis compras en una gran superficie de consumo con mi tarjeta de crédito... no me meto con nadie... aunque esto de los inmigrantes no sé, no sé... opino en todo lo que opina la mayoría... que puede que venga a quitarnos (...) nuestro trabajo... este año cambiaré de coche... no doy problemas a las autoridades y en el trabajo procuro no tener problemas: obedezco y punto... En definitiva, cuando me miro al espejo por las mañanas me digo a mí mismo: soy un ciudadano ejemplar". "... se enfrascó tanto en las procelosas aguas de Internet que se le pasaban las noches conectado de claro en claro, y los días de turbio en turbio delante de su televisor; y así, del poco dormir y del mucho ver, se le secó el cerebro de manera que vino a perder el juicio. Llenósele la fantasía de todo aquello que veía en las pantallas, así de promesas falsas de la publicidad, como de zafiedades, pendencias, promesas falsas de los políticos, amoríos, mentiras, temores y disparates imposibles; y asentósele de tal modo en la imaginación que era verdad toda aquella maquinaria de soñadas invenciones que veía que para él no había otra historia más cierta en el mundo". "... Y Circe alimentó las mentes de todas aquellas criaturas y sus mentes quedaron en blanco, sin sustancia y sin sentido. A partir de entonces, el control del pensamiento fue el arte de la democracia porque, antes, en las dictaduras, se domesticaban los cuerpos a base de latigazos, y desde entonces se domesticaron las almas a base de imágenes". (shrink)

La autonomía constituye uno de los pilares básicos de un sistema político como el democrático que se asocia a la capacidad de toma de decisiones de la ciudadanía como su núcleo moral principal. Los descubrimientos en el ámbito de las neurociencias y su aplicación al campo del marketing y a la comunicación política despiertan hoy en día las sospechas por la posible capacidad de activar el "botón del voto" de los electores. Este artículo tiene como objetivo adentrarse en el (...) estudio de los principales trabajos desarrollados sobre el neuromarketing político y la neuropolítica. La finalidad de esta propuesta consiste en presentar los debates éticos que irrumpen con el neuromarketing político. Autonomy is one of the basic pillars of a political system like democracy, which is associated with citizens’ decision-making capacity as its main moral core. Discoveries in the neurosciences domain and their application to the marketing and political communication field now arouse suspicions about the possible capacity of activating voter’s "voting button". The objective of this article is to examine the main works on political neuromarketing and neuropolitics. The purpose of this proposal consists in presenting the specific ethical debates that emerge around political neuromarketing. (shrink)

A tradição cristã, referindo-se a Jesus e aos apóstolos, desenvolveu um ponto de vista muito restrito quanto ao lucro advindo do dinheiro. Nos séculos XIlI e XIV, os religiosos que faziam votos de pobreza não só individual, mas também coletiva, defrontaram-se com teorias antigas em uma nova situação econômico-social e em seus tratados desenvolveram teses que diferiam do legado anterior.

Las democracias modernas no son perfectas. Por un lado, se ven afectados por problemas como la corrupción, el nepotismo y el populismo. Por otro lado, están moldeados por tecnologías, desde la impresión hasta la web. En los últimos años, académicos y tecnólogos han comenzado a explorar alternativas para aumentar, modificar, o mejorar la democracia. Estas incluyen propuestas teóricas y prácticas basadas en el uso de herramientas digitales, desde algoritmos que buscan maximizar la representatividad de foros deliberativos, a sistemas de datos (...) abiertos, recomendación de votos, y presupuestos participativos. Estas y otras propuestas tienen como objetivo mejorar la participación pública; reducir la vulnerabilidad de los sistemas democráticos representativos; aumentar la responsabilidad de los políticos; o simplemente ofrecer a los ciudadanos un mayor control y escrutinio de las acciones y decisiones políticas. (shrink)

In this article Jason Brennan’s arguments about the moral duties relating to our practice of voting are examined. These arguments provide an epistocratic approach of politics and present a conception of abstention at four levels: abstention as a personal choice, as a moral responsibility, as a duty legally enforceable and as an obligation decided by lot. The contrast with John Stuart Mill’s positions helps to highlight the postdemocratic ambivalences and the latent paternalism behind Brennan’s rejection of massive voting and electoral (...) democracy. A deliberative, Millian-inspired understanding of abstention also allows questioning the assumption in Brennan’s successive proposals that there is no significant loss in overlooking the political valence of qualified abstention. (shrink)

Questo inedito di Ágnes Heller costituisce un approfondimento di un par­ticolare aspetto della sua teoria della morale, la cosiddetta ‘estetica morale’ relativa all’analisi del nesso fra bontà del­l’individuo e manifestazione este­tica di tale bontà nell’azione e nel carattere della sua per­so­nalità. Il saggio of­fre, in primo luogo, una sintesi della teoria morale complessiva di Heller, pre­sentandone alcuni temi fondamentali – la scelta esistenziale della mo­rale, la sintesi tra for­malismo e teleologismo in etica – per poi introdurre il pro­blema dell’estetica morale, (...) e in par­ti­colare le condizioni del giudizio eti­co relativo alla bontà della persona, la rilevanza morale dei sentimenti, la differenza etica fra persona bella e persona sublime.This Heller’s essay, published here for the first time, concerns a specific part of her Theory of Morals: the moral aesthetics, i.e. the relation between individual goodness and its manifestation in the way of acting and in the character of the personality. First, the essay presents a summary of Heller’s ethics: the role of the existential choice of goodness, the link between formalism and teleologism. Then, it analyses some themes of the moral aesthetics like the conditions of ethical judgment on the whole person’s goodness, the moral aspect of feelings, the ethical difference between beautiful and sublime person. (shrink)

La relazione tra bellezza e utilità in architettura appare più complicata nel presente che nel passato. In particolare, nella cultura contemporanea si manifesta un antagonismo paradossale tra la prima e la seconda: più nascondiamo, e addirittura neghiamo, la dimensione dell’utilità di un oggetto architettonico più abbiamo la possibilità di aumentare la dimensione della sua bellezza. Ragionare sul significato della nozione di forma, articolata in morphe (la forma concreta, reale) ed eidos (la forma astratta, ideale), può portarci verso una (...) soluzione possibile, secondo la quale parlare di un eidos, che è eteronomo e referenziale e risponde ai bisogni e alle aspirazioni degli esseri umani, significa parlare di un eidos che include, e non esclude, l’idea che l’oggetto architettonico sia utile alle richieste umane – in particolare, a qualcosa che potremmo chiamare “misura umana ideale”. Allora, un oggetto architettonico può essere bello se la sua dimensione estetica afferma, e non nega, la sua utilità, perché affermare la sua utilità significa affermare una parte essenziale del suo statuto identitario. In ultimo, la relazione tra morphe ed eidos può essere istruttiva anche a proposito di altri due casi: il primo riguarda una morphe che sembra generare un eidos inedito; il secondo riguarda l’utilità di un elemento ornamentale. (shrink)

L’ouvrage propose une nouvelle traduction italienne du traité 31 (V, 8) de Plotin « Sur la beauté intelligible », assortie de nombreux éléments de commentaire. Le tout est précédé d’une longue introduction issue d’un cours donné par l’auteur, dont les quatre parties offrent une perspective historico-philosophique sur le texte, par là resitué dans le cadre du développement de la pensée antique en général et de l’œuvre plotinienne en particulier. Réalisée à partir de l’editio maior de Henry et...