The Catholic concept of “sanctity” can be thought of as a “cultural unit” (Eco) composed of a wide variety of “grounds” (Peirce) or distinctive features. The figures of individual saints, i.e., tokens of sanctity, are characterized by a particular set of grounds, organized and represented in texts of different genres. This paper presents a semiotic study of texts seeking to offer an encompassing view of “sanctity” by listing all the saints and supplementing their names with a short description of their (...) lives emphasizing the grounds characterizing each of them. The analysis focuses on a seminal liturgical text, the Martyrologium Romanun (1584–2004), and the first official encyclopedia of saints, the Bibliotheca Sanctorum (1961–2013), as well as a sample of digital texts and media such as websites and mobile apps. While the first text offers a dogmatic perspective on sanctity and saintly figures and the second offers a historical and culturological one, websites succeed in reconciling the two paradigms into a single syncretic form of interactive fruition in which the more up-to-date encyclopedic model subsumes the traditional calendar one and, in the case of apps, adds a glocal dimension, enhancing situated cognition. The analysis shows that the introduction of the encyclopedic genre and subsequent proliferation of digital repertoires is connected to a shift in the Catholic “episteme” (Foucault) of sanctity and a growing tendency to consider saints as not (only) religious characters and objects of cult, but (also) as historical individuals and components of a culture and, consequently, as suitable objects of critical discourse. (shrink)

This paper considers the cause for canonization of Gianna Beretta Molla, a pediatrician who died in 1962 because during her pregnancy she refused medical treatment that would have caused her to abort. The acts of Gianna’s cause contribute to the creation of a specific example mirroring and sustaining the position adopted by the Church in the 1960s and 1970s in matters of abortion, motherhood, family, and right to life. These issues were particularly delicate in those years, when the Catholic Church (...) was facing the rise of liberal and radical positions that contrasted with its doctrine; in particular, law n. 194 of 22 May 1978 constituted the first act of abortion legalization in Italy. In this context, the sanctification of Gianna had strategic importance for the Church as a way of presenting the faithful with the Catholic ideal of motherhood through a concrete example to follow. In this paper, I argue that the way in which the figure of Gianna is represented in the acts of her cause for canonization can be read as the figurativization of the axiology laid out in more abstract terms in Church texts with a normative value, such as the constitutions it issued during the Second Vatican Council and other official documents expressing the pontifical magisterium. (shrink)

Catholic legal and doctrinal tradition defined two main cases for the canonization of saints: until very recently, sainthood was related either to martyrdom or to the heroic practice of virtues, ascertained through a well-defined judicial procedure. In 2017, Pope Francis renewed this ancient tradition by introducing a third case, consisting in the “offering of life”, namely the sacrifice of one’s life in the name of charity, intended as Christian love for the others. The “offering of life” is placed at the (...) center of an ongoing process of mediation between papal authority, the judicial praxis of the causes for canonization, and ecclesiastic law. The introduction of this new type of sainthood can be explained in light of the growing difficulty to apply the two traditional grids of behavior established by the Church in the evaluation of the life of new kinds of persons who enjoy a widespread fame of sanctity, but are not conform to the strict jurisprudential criteria of martrydrom and heroicity. Therefore, the debate surrounding the “offering of life” entails a dialectics between the necessity of a rationalized set of models, providing precise—and thus evaluable—“narrative programs” and defining a circumscribed number of canonizable human types, and the unprecedented multiplication of instances of sanctity in the contemporary world. (shrink)

Many cultures relate fragrances to the spiritual sphere. In Western culture, Christian tradition tends to present olfaction as a ‘spiritual’ and incorporeal sense. Moreover, Catholic religion traditionally attributes to some saints the capacity to emanate celestial fragrances that operate as indexical signs of their exceptional spiritual quality. This particular spiritual gift is known as osmogenesis. Although psychoanalysis and a part of contemporary scholarship and culture tend to place odors and olfaction at the core of bodily life, the parallel and antithetic (...) trend of connecting odors to the sphere of sacredness, spirituality and immateriality remains widespread: traces of this imagery can be found not only in figurative art and literature, but also in the communication strategies adopted by numerous brands to present their perfumes. By reconstructing and discussing some of the main features of the imaginary involving odors and spirituality, both inside and outside the circumscribed sphere of religion, this paper shows that the connection between fragrances and spirit unquestionably remains a relevant esthetic value in relation to olfactory perception in contemporary culture. (shrink)

Alain Badiou ha culminado recientemente lo que él mismo ha dado en llamar su “obra capital”. Se trata de los tres tomos de El ser y el acontecimiento. Allí despliega rigurosamente su ontología matemática, su lógica del aparecer y un tratamiento exhaustivo de las verdades desde un punto de vista inmanente. A lo largo de todo este eje vertebrante, con excepción de algunos pasajes del primer tomo, la cuestión de la ideología está ausente. Deberemos atender a los textos tempranos y (...) a algunos de coyuntura más recientes para rastrearla y escrutar su sentido. En el presente trabajo intentamos desarrollar una explicación genética para esta ausencia a la vez que pretendemos vincularla con un desplazamiento entre dos puntos de vista en la producción de ciencia. Entendemos, además, que el mentado desplazamiento es pasible de ser reconducido a los diferentes contextos de producción –especialmente políticos– que ha atravesado el conjunto de la obra badiouana. (shrink)

In this article we consider certain elements of the normative theory of Jürgen Habermas in the light of the proposals of Bruce Ackerman, with a view to strengthening a concept of deliberative democracy applied to the legitimation of juridical rules. We do not construct a hierarchy of the two positions, but seek to bring together certain elements to achieve a common project. As the starting point for examining the work of the two authors, we take the scheme proposed by Habermas (...) in Faktizität und Geltung. In this connection, through the work of Ackerman, we intend to fill in some of the gaps that Habermas appears to have left in the theory of radical democracy applied to the law. The work of Ackerman can make a significant contribution to deliberative democracy, to the discourse principle that Habermas defines, and to the contractualist theories from a liberal perspective. The study of these contributions makes possible a critical judgment that enables the legitimation of juridical rules carried out by Habermas to acquire greater practicity. In examining the epistemological status of juridical science and law, we attempt to determine the weight and the performance of normative democracy. In Tarr's view, it is a matter for philosophers to examine direct democracy and its desirability. (shrink)

Книга предназначена для социологов, политологов, философов, а также преподавателей и студентов социальных и политических специальностей.

Modern philosophy; philosophical terms; scienctific terms; Turkish language; Turkey; history.

Banks play a unique role in society. They not only maximize profits but also consider the interests of stakeholders. We investigate whether banks consider firms’ pollution records in their lending decisions. The evidence shows that banks offer significantly higher loan spreads, higher total borrowing costs, shorter loan maturities, and greater collateral to firms with higher levels of chemical pollution. The costly effects are stronger for borrowers with greater risk and weaker corporate governance. Further, the results show that banks with higher (...) social responsibility account for their borrowers’ environmental performance and charge higher loan spreads to those with poor performance. These results support the idea that banks with higher social responsibility can promote the practice of business ethics in firms. (shrink)