The present work looks at what we call “the multiverse of quantification”, where visible and invisible numbers permeate all aspects and venues of life. We review the contributions of different authors who focus on the roles of quantification in society, with the aim of capturing different and sometimes separate voices. Several scholars, including economists, jurists, philosophers, sociologists, communication and data scientists, express concerns or identify critical areas of our relationship with new technologies of ‘numericization’. While mindful of the important specificities (...) of the different families of quantification, we use our broad and holistic canvas to explore possible spaces for a more systematic investigation of incumbent and novel quantifications, as to increase communication among disciplinary communities, and among these and society, in the pursuit a democratic agency and self-defence. (shrink)

This article details the variety of critical strategies in Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, finding strong connections with her writing as a reviewer for the Analytical Review, the literary review published by the reformer and Dissenter Joseph Johnson. In Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft employed textual analyses and an evolving set of theoretical positions that had been introduced in the course of her career at the Analytical Review. By elucidating the importance of the reviews and the specificity (...) of Wollstonecraft’s procedures, this article contributes to a growing consensus that Rights of Woman initiated feminist literary criticism. (shrink)

A pandemia da Covid-19 transformou realidades e exigiu comportamentos sociais jamais experienciados que, na dimensão eclesial, vêm revelando compreensões e posturas inadequadas à mistagogia evangélica, mas que também podem provocar um discipulado missionário ad extra, na concepção de Igreja Povo de Deus. Portanto, o presente artigo objetivou, a partir de uma hermenêutica de Mc 4,35-41, refletir sobre o protagonismo laical em tempos de pandemia, sua autocompreensão eclesial e seu posicionamento diante da crise sanitária. Para tanto, estruturou-se em três pontos: teceu (...) uma compreensão da perícope marcana à luz da pandemia; refletiu sobre a postura do laicato em meio a crise sanitária e, por fim, teceu pistas para um agir missionário coerente ao discipulado, concluindo que mesmo em meio a posturas inadequadas o laicato é fortemente chamado ao protagonismo eclesial contribuindo para a superação da crise sanitária provocada pelo novo coronavírus. (shrink)

The volume will implement the research efforts of both Machiavelli scholars and those in related general and specific fields.

By stating that "only one died for all," "so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died and was raised for them" Paul precedes the following expression: " the love of Christ compels us ". As Christ left his example, Christians should love and assign themselves tasks on community service, be dedicated and taking responsibility for others. This article aims to reflect on the pastoral implications concerning the concept of "new creatures" with a (...) focus on self-giving and responsibility for others. Therefore, at first, it reflects on the concept of "new creatures", emphasizing the love of Christ as motivation for the practice on Christian life. Then presents discipleship in self-giving, a result of the new life in Christ, elements that allow us to present the concept of responsibility for others from the community service. It concludes that "living for Christ" implies a pastoral practice in which: a) the redeeming love of Christ compels a person to a new life and requires attitudes according to this love; b) Serving the community in self-giving is consequence of this new life; c) Community dimension leads to participation in building the Kingdom of God and takes to the responsibility for others. (shrink)

The Jesuit theologian, Francisco Suarez, is know as the «father of modern scientific Mariology» because of the innovations he brought to the Scholastic treatment of the Virgin Mary. Commenting on the third part of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas, at the Roman College in 1584-85, he developed 24 questions under the title De Deipara et Christo ut eius Filio, material which to this day has remained unpublished. In the present essay, the author discusses the role of Mary in the (...) life and works of Suarez, revealing his faith in the Immaculate Conception and at the same time the need to establish in the Virgin the human debt or necessary participation in Original Sin. Then he deals with Suarez's 24 questions, material conserved in the archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In these questions, he insists, we find the first systematic treatise on Mary, a work which demonstrates a logical and unitary division, clearly different from the chronological order of Thomas's Summa. Suárez divides his work into three parts: the dignity of the Mother of God, her perfection in body and soul, and the veneration due to her. (shrink)

O presente artigo vem refletir sobre a crise do sacramento da penitência. Nesse contexto, apresenta-a como originária no relativismo e na distorção da noção de pecado presentes na sociedade atual. Por fim, apresenta os desafios atuais provenientes dessa reflexão, abrindo possibilidades para futuras reflexões e maior aprofundamento sobre o tema.

Intorno alla problematica del vuoto e alla sua dialettica col "pieno" si è giocata anche l'incerta, secolare partita tra libertà e senso. La questione riguarda non solo l'ambito filosofico, interessando la fisica innanzitutto, la psicoanalisi, le arte e l'estetica. Nel ricapitolare la storia culturale della questione, il volume vuol dar conto sinteticamente del tema del vuoto quindi nella tradizione kenotica cristiana, nell'attuale antropologia filosofica e in architettura, senza tralasciare la dimensione intrapsichica, sia nelle tradizioni della meditazione taoista e zen, sia (...) nella psicologia del profondo. (shrink)

We argue that, in the case of research biobanks, there is a need to replace the currently used informed consent with trusted consent. Accordingly, we introduce a proposal for the structure of the latter. Further, we discuss some of the issues that can be addressed effectively through our proposal. In particular, we illustrate: i) which research should be authorized by donors; ii) how to regulate access to information; iii) the fundamental role played by a Third Party Authority in assuring compliance (...) with the reciprocal expectations and obligations of donors and scientists. Finally, we briefly analyse two issues that might represent important elements of a ‘new alliance’ between researchers and donors to which the trusted consent could pave the way: i) the correlations between needs and rights of the two parties, and ii) possible economic transactions. (shrink)

We discuss the meaning of “being alive” and “being dead.” Our primary aim is to pave the way for a sound and accurate ethical debate concerning these two concepts. In particular, we analyze a metabolic approach and a genetic one and discuss the reasons for their failure to constitute a good starting point for successive debates. We argue that any ethical or social discussion of topics involving life and death must introduce cultural constructs such as, on the one hand, the (...) concept of clinical death and, on the other hand, the concept of existence. We argue that these two cultural constructs, although consistent with biomedical knowledge, cannot be ontologically grounded in it. To conclude, we apply our findings to the case of human embryos. (shrink)

Neste artigo, pretendo desafiar duas teses que compõem a interpretação padrão da teoria de justiça social de Hume. Primeiro, que esse entendimento não oferece recursos conceituais sufi cientes para se esboçar uma teoria de justiça distributiva e, segundo, que essa teoria é, em princípio, indiferente a ocasionais arranjos sociais fortemente desiguais. Contrariamente, proponho aqui um esboço para uma possível teoria de justiça distributiva em Hume. Argumento, com base em evidência textual, que Hume aborda sistematicamente questões como a distribuição inicial, mudanças (...) na ordem distributiva e, finalmente, ocasionais arranjos redistributivos à luz de princípios que combinam associações imaginativas, considerações de interesse público e intuições utilitaristas. (shrink)

The deliberative ethics guidelines elaborated and implemented by members of the IFOM-IEO Campus (Firc Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM) and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO)). These should serve the dual purpose of establishing a minimal set of standard rules for bioethical debate and any ensuing decision-making process, especially for the perspective of providing real instruments to foster public engagement and public awareness on the ethical issues involved in biomedical research. It is shown that these guidelines instantiate the scheme of (...) one of the correct ways of debating formalised by the western thought. (shrink)

We discuss the meaning of “being alive” and “being dead.” Our primary aim is to pave the way for a sound and accurate ethical debate concerning these two concepts. In particular, we analyze a metabolic approach and a genetic one and discuss the reasons for their failure to constitute a good starting point for successive debates. We argue that any ethical or social discussion of topics involving life and death must introduce cultural constructs such as, on the one hand, the (...) concept of clinical death and, on the other hand, the concept of existence. We argue that these two cultural constructs, although consistent with biomedical knowledge, cannot be ontologically grounded in it. To conclude, we apply our findings to the case of human embryos. (shrink)

Pierre Maquet1,2,6, Steven Laureys1,2, Philippe Peigneux1,2,3, Sonia Fuchs1, Christophe Petiau1, Christophe Phillips1,6, Joel Aerts1, Guy Del Fiore1, Christian Degueldre1, Thierry Meulemans3, André Luxen1, Georges Franck1,2, Martial Van Der Linden3, Carlyle Smith4 and Axel Cleeremans5.

Traditional Informed Consent is becoming increasingly inadequate, especially in the context of research biobanks. How much information is needed by patients for their consent to be truly informed? How does the quality of the information they receive match up to the quality of the information they ought to receive? How can information be conveyed fairly about future, non-predictable lines of research? To circumvent these difficulties, some scholars have proposed that current consent guidelines should be reassessed, with trust being used as (...) a guiding principle instead of information. Here, we analyse one of these proposals, based on a Participation Pact, which is already being offered to patients at the Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, a comprehensive cancer hospital in Milan, Italy. (shrink)

In this paper, we analyze the legal situation regarding physician-assisted suicide in the world. Our hypothesis is that the prohibitive stance on physician-assisted suicide in most societies in the world today seems to be related to our moral attitudes toward suicide. This brings us to a discussion about life itself. We claim that the total lack of legal protection for physician-assisted suicide from international organizations and most countries in the world lies in a philosophical assumption that supports much of our (...) common beliefs about what life really is. This assumption states that life must be thought of as not belonging exclusively to the individual. We argue that this assumption is a misconception that can be heard in the debate on suicide. Consequently we endorse a different conception of life which tends to favor a pro-choice stance towards suicide and assisted death in general. This position takes the patient’s decision about when to die more seriously. We conclude that there is no reason why physician-assisted suicide does not deserve legal protection as an individual right to die under international law. (shrink)

Using positron emission tomography (PET) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurements, we investigated the cerebral correlates of consciousness in a sequence learning task through a novel application of the Process Dissociation Procedure, a behavioral paradigm that makes it possible to separately assess conscious and unconscious contributions to performance. Results show that the metabolic response in the anterior cingulate / mesial prefrontal cortex (ACC / MPFC) is exclusively and specifically correlated with the explicit component of performance during recollection of a (...) learned sequence. This suggests a significant role for the ACC / MPFC in the explicit processing of sequential material.  2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. (shrink)

In cognitive neuroscience, dissociating the brain networks that ing—has thus become one of the best empirical situations subtend conscious and nonconscious memories constitutes a through which to study the mechanisms of implicit learning, very complex issue, both conceptually and methodologically.

Background. Since the nineties, policymakers and theorists working across several disciplines started to entertain the notion of directly engaging the public in matters of public concern. Accompanying this was the attempt to resort to deliberative democracy in order to make such an involvement effective. Seizing on its intrinsic dialogic nature, some scholars proposed the application of public deliberation to the realm of public bioethics. Drawing upon the theory and practice of deliberative public bioethics, the purpose of this paper is to (...) shed light onto the figure of the bioethical expert and its role in public bioethics, and relatedly, to investigate how deliberation may be implemented in a public bioethics context. Methods. We set up a large-scale experiment to investigate whether, and to what extent, different moderation styles impact on participants’ moral preferences. The study combines a survey of a representative sample of the general population with a laboratory experiment based on a random sample of students that ex-ante has identical attitudes to the general population.Results. Findings show that: i) different moderation styles can significantly influence deliberative outcomes; iii) the effects of deliberation are not necessarily immediate, but may be revealed after the end of deliberative session; iii) participants tend to better appreciate a bioethical expert acting as “passive moderator”, namely as someone who acts in order to ensure non-domination and non-interference, thus allowing the creation of basic conditions for equality within the deliberative setting.Conclusions. Our experiment represents an example of how deliberation can be employed in public bioethics. (shrink)

Joachim of Fiore accused Peter Lombard of the "quaternary" heresy only to be later himself condemned for tritheism at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215 A.D.). The Abbot's error was to affirm the trinitary unity by means of the collective. The historiography still sustains the hypothesis that this error originated in the heretical doctrine of Gilbert de la Porée. However it is difficult to keep such hypothesis when we relate the Abbot of Fiore and the Abbot of Clairvaux. Also (...) difficult will be to persevere accepting as equivocated the affirmation of such Trinitarian unity. What is more, even if part of the problem can be solved by relating both abbots, it is necessary to understand that the mystical way proposed by each of them is quite different. One follows the way of knowledge and of the collective spiritual ascension while the other follows the way of the will and of individual ecstasy. (shrink)

Dos corrientes principales dividen el debate sobre la relación entre Joaquín de Fiore, Pedro Alfonso de Huesca y la cábala judaica. Gershon Scholem firma la hipótesis de que el abad de Fiore y los cabalistas españoles del siglo XII, a la vez y sin conocerse, han producido trabajos similares. Esta hipótesis será parcialmente rechazada por una segunda que pone en evidencia algunos aspectos de la obra joaquinita derivados del filósofo judío-aragonés, converso al cristianismo, Pedro Alfonso de Huesca. Esta (...) segunda hipótesis permite afirmar que la explicación de la Trinidad asumida por Pedro Alfonso de acuerdo con el Tetragrama YHWH tomado del Secretum secretorum de los judíos fue incorporada por Joaquín de Fiore, y que utilizará especialmente en la composición de la Figura XIII – el Salterio de diez cuerdas, y de la Figura XI – los Tres círculos trinitarios del Liber Figurarum. Desde esta perspectiva, añadimos una tercera hipótesis: que la relación entre Joaquín de Fiore y la cábala, además de tener como punto de apoyo la explicación trinitaria de Pedro Alfonso, se refleja directamente en la confección de sus principales figurae. Y de forma complementaria, entendemos que la fuente que nutre Pedro Alfonso, e indirectamente la de Joaquín de Fiore –el llamado Secretum secretorum de los judíos– es una compilación de tres textos cabalistas principales: el Sefer Yetsirah, el Sefer al-Raziel y el Libro de Salomón. (shrink)

La riflessione di Dante sul denaro è un aspetto rilevante della sua filosofia morale e politica e motivo centrale nel suo immaginario poetico. La Firenze del tempo aveva una potente classe borghese e una moneta tra le più prestigiose d’Europa e Dante, da fiorentino, fu testimone dell’insorgere di un’economia di profitto i cui rischi morali non mancò di rilevare. Questo saggio propone una riflessione su come l’atteggiamento di Dante in merito al denaro si rapporti ad alcuni aspetti del pensiero di (...) Emmanuel Levinas e Michel Henry, due filosofi che criticano le economie capitaliste occidentali e sostengono con convinzione l’importanza della prospettiva umanistica nell’analisi delle realtà economiche. (shrink)