We interviewed Galileo Morandi, a young Italian architect working in a research project on architecture and new technologies and author of several publications about the relation between city, territory and project. The discussion starts and finishes in a place where Morandi studied and worked, Dubai – example of a city in rapid growth and in its way iconic representation of the new globalized cities – passing through Milan and Los Angeles, the new Chinese town and a village (...) in the mountains. The role played by city plans allows to discuss the contemporary city between an architectural perspective and a political awareness. The result is a first partial experiment to connect different urban perspectives. (shrink)

To foster an adequate understanding of relational sociology, it is necessary to consider the theoretical grounds upon which it is based. The first aspect to highlight is the realist assumption of social relations as the causal force from which society originates. It is upon this decisive dimension that the difference between non-contingent and contingent aspects of the social is founded. Overlooking this difference issues in an inadequate understanding both of the autonomy of, and of the interaction between, actors and social (...) structures. Moving from these considerations, in the second part of this essay I will consider a third foundational aspect of social relations: social relations as ‘determination’ of reciprocity, and conclude my investigation by tackling the crucial theme of the social time of change and its connection to social relations. (shrink)

Departing from the considerations of Part 1, in the second and final Part of this essay I consider a third foundational aspect of the social relation: the social relation as ‘determination’ of reciprocity, and conclude my investigation by tackling the crucial theme of the social time of change and its connection to the social relation.

In this review, we discuss the functional equivalence of the avian and mammalian hippocampus, based mostly on our own research in domestic chicks, which provide an important developmental model. In birds, like in mammals, the hippocampus plays a central role in processing spatial information. However, the structure of this homolog area shows remarkable differences between birds and mammals. To understand the evolutionary origin of the neural mechanisms for spatial navigation, it is important to test how far theories developed for the (...) mammalian hippocampus can also be applied to the avian hippocampal formation. To address this issue, we present a brief overview of studies carried out in domestic chicks, investigating the direct involvement of chicks’ hippocampus homolog in spatial navigation. (shrink)

FIRST DAY INTERLOCUTORS: SALVIATI, SA- GREDO AND SIMPLICIO ALV. The constant activity which you Venetians display in your famous arsenal suggests to the ...

This classic work proves the truth of the Copernican system over the Ptolemaic one, that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

When we interpret modal ◊ as the limit point operator of a topological space, the Gödel-Löb modal system GL defines the class Scat of scattered spaces. We give a partition of Scat into α-slices S α , where α ranges over all ordinals. This provides topological completeness and definability results for extensions of GL. In particular, we axiomatize the modal logic of each ordinal α, thus obtaining a simple proof of the Abashidze–Blass theorem. On the other hand, when we interpret (...) ◊ as closure in a topological space, the Grzegorczyk modal system Grz defines the class HI of hereditarily irresolvable spaces. We also give a partition of HI into α-slices H α , where α ranges over all ordinals. For a subset A of a hereditarily irresolvable space X and an ordinal α, we introduce the α-representation of A, give an axiomatization of the α-representation of A, and characterize H α in terms of α-representations. We prove that ${X \in {\bf H}_{1}}$ iff X is submaximal. For a positive integer n, we generalize the notion of a submaximal space to that of an n-submaximal space, and prove that ${X \in {\bf H}_{n}}$ iff X is n-submaximal. This provides topological completeness and definability results for extensions of Grz. We show that the two partitions are related to each other as follows. For a successor ordinal α = β + n, with β a limit ordinal and n a positive integer, we have ${{\bf H}_{\alpha} \cap {\bf Scat} = {\bf S}_{\beta+2n-1} \cup {\bf S}_{\beta+2n}}$ , and for a limit ordinal α, we have ${{\bf H}_{\alpha} \cap {\bf Scat} = {\bf S}_{\alpha}}$ . As a result, we obtain full and faithful translations of ordinal complete extensions of Grz into ordinal complete extensions of GL, thus generalizing the Kuznetsov–Goldblatt–Boolos theorem. (shrink)

It is a classic result in modal logic, often referred to as Jónsson-Tarski duality, that the category of modal algebras is dually equivalent to the category of descriptive frames. The latter are Kripke frames equipped with a Stone topology such that the binary relation is continuous. This duality generalizes the celebrated Stone duality for boolean algebras. Our goal is to generalize descriptive frames so that the topology is an arbitrary compact Hausdorff topology. For this, instead of working with the boolean (...) algebra of clopen subsets of a Stone space, we work with the ring of continuous real-valued functions on a compact Hausdorff space. The main novelty is to define a modal operator on such a ring utilizing a continuous relation on a compact Hausdorff space.Our starting point is the well-known Gelfand duality between the category ${\sf KHaus}$ of compact Hausdorff spaces and the category $\boldsymbol {\mathit {uba}\ell }$ of uniformly complete bounded archimedean $\ell $ -algebras. We endow a bounded archimedean $\ell $ -algebra with a modal operator, which results in the category $\boldsymbol {\mathit {mba}\ell }$ of modal bounded archimedean $\ell $ -algebras. Our main result establishes a dual adjunction between $\boldsymbol {\mathit {mba}\ell }$ and the category ${\sf KHF}$ of what we call compact Hausdorff frames; that is, Kripke frames equipped with a compact Hausdorff topology such that the binary relation is continuous. This dual adjunction restricts to a dual equivalence between ${\sf KHF}$ and the reflective subcategory $\boldsymbol {\mathit {muba}\ell }$ of $\boldsymbol {\mathit {mba}\ell }$ consisting of uniformly complete objects of $\boldsymbol {\mathit {mba}\ell }$. This generalizes both Gelfand duality and Jónsson-Tarski duality. (shrink)

V pričujočem sklopu so prevedena izbrana pisma Galilea Galileija ter njegovih korespondentov o problematiki razmerja med naravoslovnim oz. filozofskim raziskovanjem in Svetim pismom in s to problematiko povezani dokumenti iz Vatikanskega tajnega arhiva iz obdobja t. i. Galileijevega prvega procesa. Sklop zaključuje Galileijeva Razprava o morskem plimovanju, ki vsebinsko sicer ne zadeva omenjene problematike, je pa nastala kot posledica takratnega dogajanja. Vsa pisma so prevedena po kritični izdaji Galileijevih del, Le Opere di Galileo Galilei, ur. Antonio Favaro, Barbèra, Firence (...) 1890–1909. Dokumenti iz Vatikanskega tajnega arhiva so prevedeni po kritični izdaji I documenti vaticani del processo di Galileo Galilei. Nuova edizione accresciuta, rivista e annotata da Sergio Pagano, Archivio segreto vaticano, Mesto Vatikan 2009. Prevod Mojca Mihelič. Besedili Galileo Galilei poklican h kardinalu Bellarminu in Ukor kardinala Roberta Bellarmina Galileu Galileiju je prevedel Gašper Kvartič. Opombe in komentarji Matjaž Vesel in Mojca Mihelič. (shrink)

SummaryenPhilosophical debates concerning the existence of entities postulated in scientific explanations have always characterized the most significant revolutions in the history of physics.Scientific realism — meant here as the doctrine according to which (i) theoretical entities in a mature science typically refer and (ii) the laws of a theory in a mature science are approximately true — can be given a clearer, pragmatic interpretation by suggesting sufficient conditions for both (i) and (ii).(i) Following I. Hacking, (a) manipulability and (b) measurability (...) of a theoretical entity T are each considered sufficient conditions for believing in the existence of T.(ii) The problem of verisimilitude or ‘approximate truth’ is restated in terms of sufficient conditions for “a good approximation of a model”, a problem yet to be studied; with this regard, N. Cartwright's approach to models is briefly criticized.The relevance of the so called “survivability argument”, put forth against the realist's claim that only philosophical realism can explain the success of science, is evaluated in the conclusion. RésuméfrLes débats philosophiques concernant l'existence des entités postulées dans les explications scientifiques ont toujours caractérisé les revolutions les plus significatives dans l'histoire de la physique. On peut donner au réalisme scientifique — entendu ici comme la doctrine selon laquelle (i) les entités théoriques d'une science mature ont typiquement une référence et (ii) les lois d'une théorie appartenant à une science mature sont approximativement vraies — une interprétation plus claire, pragmatique en suggérant des conditions suffisantes pour (i) et (ii).(i) D'après I. Hacking, (a) manipulabilityé et (b) mesurabilité d'une entité théorique T sont considérées toutes deux comme des conditions suffisantes pour croire en l'existence de T.(ii) Le problème de la vérisimilitude ou de la ‘vérité approchée’ est reformulé en termes de conditions suffisantes pour une «bonne approximation d'un modèle», un problème qui est encore àétudier; dans cette perspective, la manière dont N. Cartwright aborde les modèles est brièvement critiqueée.En conclusion, est évaluée la pertinence de ce qui est appelé l'«argument de la capaciteé a survivre» avancé contre la prétention réaliste que seul le réalisme philosophique peut expliquer le succès de la science. ZusammenfassungdePhilosophische Auseinandersetzungen, die die Existenz von in den wissenschaftlichen Erklärungen postulierten Entitäten betreffen, haben immer die wichtigsten Revolutionen in der Geschichte der Physik charakterisiert. Unter wissenschaftlichem Realismus verstehe ich die Lehre, wonach (i) die theoretischen Entitäten einer reifen Wissenschaft typisch eine Referenz haben und (ii) die Gesetze einer zu einer reifen Wissenschaft gehörigen Theorie approximativ wahr sind. Man kann dem wissenschaftlichen Realismus eine klarere, pragmatische Interpretation geben, indem man hinreichende Bedingungen für (i) und (ii) angibt.(i) Nach I. Hacking sind (a) Manipulierbarkeit und (b) Messbarkeit einer theoretischen Entität T hinreichende Bedingungen, um an die Existenz von T zu glauben.(ii) Das Problem der Wahrheitsnähe oder der ‘approximativen Wahrheit’ wird umformuliert, indem wir nach den hinreichenden Bedingungen für eine «gute Approximation eines Modelles» fragen — ein Problem, das noch zu untersuchen bleibt. In dieser Hinsicht wird N. Cartwrights Art, Modelle anzugehen, kurz kritisiert.Zum Schluss wird die Relevanz des sog. «Überlebensargumentes» beurteilt, das gegen die Behauptung des Realisten, dass allein der philosophische Realismus den Erfolg der Wissenschaft zu erklären vermag, ins Feld geführt wird. (shrink)

For many years the intellectual activities of the Society of Jesus were dismissed as wholly conservative, as their Ratio studiorum clung to a Ptolemaic–Aristotelian world‐picture despite the rising...

How Galileo created the problem of consciousness -- Is there a ghost in the machine? -- Can physical science explain consciousness? -- How to solve the problem of consciousness -- Consciousness and the meaning of life.

This chapter focuses on one of the common fallacies in Western philosophy called 'Galileo gambit'. Perhaps the best way to describe the fallacy is as an association fallacy or a faulty analogy. The Galileo gambit fallacy is committed by those theories that contradict the mainstream scientific consensus. The Galileo gambit is often used to suggest that science is not open to criticism, but nothing could be further from the truth. No one is more open to criticism than (...) the scientist; that is how we make sure we are not wrong and get closer to the truth. Persons who are making the Galileo gambit in recent times are Rupert Sheldrake and his morphic resonance/fields, Bigfoot believers, UFO enthusiasts, creationists, conspiracy theorists of all stripes, and people who deny climate change. (shrink)