Interpreting the graph ren 仁 has been the subject of much philological and philosophical study and speculation over the centuries among scholars both Chinese and Western, perhaps more than any other single graph. One major reason for the attention paid to the term is the general agreement that Confucius gave ren—a little-known term at the time—an ethical orientation in the Analects that it did not have earlier, an understanding of which seems to be a prerequisite for understanding his entire philosophy (...) as reflected in that venerable little book. In this essay we want to suggest a reading for ren in the Analects unlike others proffered by Western translators, who, in keeping with the dominant... (shrink)

In A Philosophy of Luxury Lambert Wiesing offre una trattazione originale del concetto di lusso in una prospettiva meramente estetica. Avendo escluso ogni relazione con concetti sociali, quali prestigio, ostentazione, status, Wiesing dichiara che per lusso si deve intendere un’esperienza estetica di tipo particolare. Poiché solo l’uomo indulge nel lusso, ciò che va analizzato è la relazione che intercorre tra un soggetto e un dato oggetto, prescindendo dalle qualità estetiche proprie di quest...

Il tema sviluppato nel presente intervento è il rapporto tra narrazione e costruzione storica. Si prenderà in esame l’accezione di narrativa correntemente utilizzata nel mondo storiografico facendola dialogare con il paradigma dei _global middle ages_, espressione coniata nel 2018 dalle storiche Catherine Holmes e Naomi Standen. Per meglio mettere in risalto tali dinamiche un caso di studio sarà offerto dalla vicenda di Federico II, con particolare enfasi alla costruzione biografica e dei miti nel rapporto con le culture altre. Il fine (...) sarà di superare le due tradizionali macro interpretazioni dell’idea di Medioevo, analizzate da Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri e David Matthews: Medioevo arretrato regno di oscurità e Medioevo vagheggiato come luce del mattino, all’origine di molte identità politiche contemporanee – non ultima quella dell’Unione Europea. _The topic we intend to develop in this essay is the relationship between narration and historical construction. We will examine the meaning behind the current concept of narrative in historiography, with a dialectical approach towards the paradigm of _global Middle Ages_, an expression firstly used by historians Catherine Holmes and Naomi Standen in 2018. To perform an in depth analysis of the abovementioned relationship, we will use as a case study the figure of Frederick II. A significant emphasis will be put on the biographical construction and myths, especially in the relationship with other cultures. The aim of our essay is to provide a framework within it would be easier to overcome the two traditional macro interpretations of Middle Ages, studied by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri and David Matthews: Middle Ages as a backward reign of darkness and Middle Ages as the morning light, at the origin of many contemporary political identities – not least that of the European Union_. (shrink)

Countable homogeneous relational structures have been studied by many people. One area of focus is the Ramsey theory of such structures. After a review of background material, a partition theorem of Laflamme, Sauer, and Vuksanovic for countable homogeneous binary relational structures is discussed with a focus on the size of the set of unavoidable colors.

The Filter Dichotomy says that every uniform nonmeager filter on the integers is mapped by a finite-to-one function to an ultrafilter. The consistency of this principle was proved by Blass and Laflamme. A medial limit is a universally measurable function from [Formula: see text] to the unit interval [0, 1] which is finitely additive for disjoint sets, and maps singletons to 0 and ω to 1. Christensen and Mokobodzki independently showed that the Continuum Hypothesis implies the existence of medial limits. (...) We show that the Filter Dichotomy implies that there are no medial limits. (shrink)

The forcing construction Pmax, invented by W. Hugh Woodin, produces a model whose collection of subsets of ω₁ is in some sense maximal. In this paper we study the Boolean algebra induced by the nonstationary ideal on ω₁ in this model. Among other things we show that the induced quotient does not have a simply definable form. We also prove several results about saturation properties of the ideal in this extension.

To the best of my knowledge, no one in recent decades has written a book of this magnitude about the semantics of natural language. Certainly, nothing available today matches this volume in depth, precision, and coherence. The authors present classical and recent results of linguistic semantics within the framework of interpretative T-theories and defend the philosophical foundations of their approach by showing how it fits into the larger enterprise of cognitive linguistics. The book also includes an array of excellent exercises (...) and a good list of references. (shrink)

L’opera più importante per la filosofia dell’azione dopo l’Etica di Aristotele: così Donald Davidson ha definito il libro di Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe, Intention, che Elisa Grimi ci presenta oggi attraverso questa preziosa guida alla lettura, il primo testo di questo genere in lingua italiana. dalla Prefazione di Cyrille Michon. Che cosa sia un’intenzione, quale sia il ruolo che essa svolge all'interno di un’azione, se vi si possa trovare traccia della vera intenzione del soggetto guardando l’azione che compie: questi e (...) molti altri sono gli interrogativi ai quali Anscombe tenta di rispondere. Intention non è un’opera di etica o di politica ma si muove su uno sfondo etico o politico, uno sfondo da cui lo scritto trae la propria forza e il proprio spirito. L’intenzione infatti è capace di modellare l’azione e generare una storia. Come un mazzo di fiori scelto ad hoc è capace di suscitare emozioni e sentimenti e, allo stesso tempo, custodire la promessa di una storia a venire. (shrink)

Understanding how people comprehend visual narratives (including picture stories, comics, and film) requires the combination of traditionally separate theories that span the initial sensory and perceptual processing of complex visual scenes, the perception of events over time, and comprehension of narratives. Existing piecemeal approaches fail to capture the interplay between these levels of processing. Here, we propose the Scene Perception & Event Comprehension Theory (SPECT), as applied to visual narratives, which distinguishes between front-end and back-end cognitive processes. Front-end processes occur (...) during single eye fixations and are comprised of attentional selection and information extraction. Back-end processes occur across multiple fixations and support the construction of event models, which reflect understanding of what is happening now in a narrative (stored in working memory) and over the course of the entire narrative (stored in long-term episodic memory). We describe relationships between front- and back-end processes, and medium-specific differences that likely produce variation in front-end and back-end processes across media (e.g., picture stories vs. film). We describe several novel research questions derived from SPECT that we have explored. By addressing these questions, we provide greater insight into how attention, information extraction, and event model processes are dynamically coordinated to perceive and understand complex naturalistic visual events in narratives and the real world. (shrink)

A wealth of research suggests the importance of classroom discussion of controversial issues for adequately preparing students for participation in democratic life. Teachers, and the larger public, however, still shy away from such discussion. Much of the current research seeking to remedy this state of affairs focuses exclusively on developing knowledge and skills. While important, this ignores significant ways in which students? beliefs about the concept or nature of controversy itself might affect such discussions and potentially, the sort of citizen (...) that educators are fostering. We argue that examining the concept of ?controversy? is central to conducting such discussions and propose a framework of four crucial virtues or habits of mind that can be developed through such an examination. We illustrate how these four habits of mind are essential for establishing classroom ?counterpublics? that aim to develop more justice-oriented democratic citizens. (shrink)

The book covers scientific and philosophical topics by bringing them closer to literature. Some topics are scientific explanation, the concept of cause, rational argumentation, pseudoscience, language, ethics, philosophy of mind, posthumanism, and democracy. Summary Prefazione di Severino Saccardi. Introduzione. Capitolo 1: Le scrivanie di Eddington. 1.1. Il vecchio Qfwfq (I. Calvino. Le cosmicomiche). 1.2. L’assassino invisibile (L.F. Celine, Il dottor Semmelweis). 1.3. Gli gnommeri di Ingravallo (C.E. Gadda, Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana). 1.4. I sergenti di Napoleone (L. Tolstoj, (...) Guerra e pace). 1.5. Tex e il Coyote nero (G. Bonelli, Il Coyote nero). 1.6. “Elementare Watson!” (A.C. Doyle, Il segno dei quattro). Capitolo 2. Non saranno mai delusi. 2.1. L’albero di Natale. (V. Perrin, Cambiare l’acqua ai fiori). 2.2. Il dagherrotipo di Buendia. (G.G. Marquez, Cent’anni di solitudine). 2.3. Don Ferrante e la peste. (A. Manzoni, I promessi sposi). Capitolo 3. Capitolo puffo. 3.1. L’Accademia di Lagado. (J. Swift, I viaggi di Gulliver). 3.2. Bruto è uomo d’onore. (W. Shakespeare, Giulio Cesare). 3.3. Le oche mute. (G. Orwell, 1984). Capitolo 4. “Quarantadue!” 4.1. Lo zio N’Ba N’Ga. (I. Calvino, Le cosmicomiche). 4.2. La mosca cocchiera. (J. de La Fontaine, Favole). 4.3. Il fiore del dr. Dek. (E. Salgari, Le meraviglie del Duemila). Capitolo 5. L’ultimo uomo. 5.1. La pernice accusatrice. (Cyrano de Bergerac, Gli stati e gli imperi del Sole). 5.2. Pallino in via Mjasnickaja. (M.A. Bulgakov, Cuore di cane). Capitolo 6. Scenari perturbanti. 6.1. Dissipatio. (G. Morselli, Dissipatio H.G.). 6.2. Un mammifero meccanizzato. (S. Butler, Erewhon). 6.3. Mlle Olimpia. (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Racconti notturni). Capitolo 7. La gente perbene. 7.1. La balena bianca. (H. Melville, Moby Dick). 7.2. Betsabea Everdeene. (T. Hardy, Via dalla pazza folla). 7.3. Un’idea francese. (C. McCarthy, Cavalli selvaggi). 7.4. Le montagne del Montana. (D. Delillo, Rumore bianco). (shrink)

We analyze the axiomatic strength of the following theorem due to Rival and Sands [28] in the style of reverse mathematics. Every infinite partial order P of finite width contains an infinite chain C such that every element of P is either comparable with no element of C or with infinitely many elements of C. Our main results are the following. The Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders of arbitrary finite width is equivalent to $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2} + \mathsf {ADS}$ (...) over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. For each fixed $k \geq 3$, the Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders of width $\leq \!k$ is equivalent to $\mathsf {ADS}$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. The Rival–Sands theorem for infinite partial orders that are decomposable into the union of two chains is equivalent to $\mathsf {SADS}$ over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. Here $\mathsf {RCA}_0$ denotes the recursive comprehension axiomatic system, $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2}$ denotes the $\Sigma ^0_2$ induction scheme, $\mathsf {ADS}$ denotes the ascending/descending sequence principle, and $\mathsf {SADS}$ denotes the stable ascending/descending sequence principle. To the best of our knowledge, these versions of the Rival–Sands theorem for partial orders are the first examples of theorems from the general mathematics literature whose strength is exactly characterized by $\mathsf {I}\Sigma ^0_{2} + \mathsf {ADS}$, by $\mathsf {ADS}$, and by $\mathsf {SADS}$. Furthermore, we give a new purely combinatorial result by extending the Rival–Sands theorem to infinite partial orders that do not have infinite antichains, and we show that this extension is equivalent to arithmetical comprehension over $\mathsf {RCA}_0$. (shrink)

Dive et al. argue to limit the scope, scale, and quantity of results in genomic screening programs at the population level. Their analysis offers two interrelated reasons for this recommendation: f...

In the thesis some combinatorial statements are analysed from the reverse mathematics point of view. Reverse mathematics is a research program, which dates back to the Seventies, interested in finding the exact strength, measured in terms of set-existence axioms, of theorems from ordinary non set-theoretic mathematics. After a brief introduction to the subject, an on-line (incremental) algorithm to transitively reorient infinite pseudo-transitive oriented graphs is defined. This implies that a theorem of Ghouila-Houri is provable in RCA_0 and hence is computably (...) true. Interval graphs and interval orders are the common theme of the second part of the thesis. A chapter is devoted to analyse the relative strength of different characterisations of countable interval graphs and to study the interplay between countable interval graphs and countable interval orders. In this context the theme of unique orderability of interval graphs arises, which is studied in the following chapter. The last chapter about interval orders inspects the strength of some statements involving the dimension of countable interval orders. The third part is devoted to the analysis of two theorems proved by Rival and Sands in 1980. The first principle states that each infinite graph contains an infinite subgraph such that each vertex of the graph is adjacent either to none, or to one or to infinitely many vertices of the subgraph. This statement, restricted to countable graphs, is proved to be equivalent to ACA_0 and hence to be stronger than Ramsey's theorem for pairs, despite the similarity of partial order with finite width contains an infinite chain such that each point of the poset is comparable either to none or to infinitely many points of the chain. For each k less than or equal to 3, the latter principle restricted to countable poset of width k is proved to be equivalent to ADS. Some complementary results are presented in the thesis. (shrink)

This paper investigates the relationship that people with high functioning autism have with organizational temporality by considering this operationalization within the framework of humanistic management. To do so, it proposes an analysis based on seven propositions. Autism is a disorder that is still poorly understood and often linked to social depictions that are as unfounded as they are repulsive. It remains an unexplored area of study in the field of management sciences. Existing scholarship has established that people with autism have (...) great difficulty finding and retaining employment. While it is well known that they have weak social skills, their difficulties in relation to time have only been studied in medical research, even though organizational temporality substantially shapes the functioning of teams. The operationalization of autistic temporality as a particular temporality within humanistic management allows for the development of a new conceptual framework based on a consideration of neuro-atypia. This paper begins with a presentation of the theoretical background. It then develops the theoretical model. Implications, limitations and directions for further studies are discussed before concluding. (shrink)

Cette serie est destinee a regrouper des etudes thematiques faisant le point sur differents aspects de l'histoire ou de la culture syriaques, celles des communautes chretiennes dont la langue de culture est le syriaque (maronites, syriaques catholiques et orthodoxes, assyro-chaldeens, communautes du Proche-Orient et de l'Inde...). Cible de jugements malveillants pendant un siecle, la philosophie en syriaque a recemment ete l'objet d'un renouveau d'interet qui en a fait l'un des sujets les plus debattus dans les etudes syriaques. Les Syriaques ont (...) ete regardes dans le meilleur des cas comme de simples transmetteurs aux musulmans de la philosophie grecque, incapables d'une pensee philosophique originale. Si leur role crucial de vecteurs culturels n'est pas en question, ce volume se propose pourtant de montrer aussi la specificite des formes que la philosophie grecque a revetues en monde syriaque au long d'un millenaire, du iie au xiiie siecle. Des le debut, la selection des themes et textes philosophiques par les Syriaques temoigne d'une continuite avec les courants contemporains de l'Empire romain et d'une participation active aux debats qui y avaient cours. Un auteur syriaque comme Bardesane pouvait s'inserer avec originalite dans les controverses du monde imperial sur le determinisme et la providence. La traduction de textes grecs d'ethique et l'utilisation de textes de sagesse attribues aux philosophes grecs attestent un interet pour la philosophie comme " exercice spirituel ", partage par les auteurs chretiens de langue grecque et de langue syriaque, qui dans les memes annees s'interrogeaient sur la valeur de la paideia hellenique pour l'education du chretien. On pourrait donc parler pour ces premiers siecles d'une philosophie chretienne greco-syriaque. A partir du vie siecle, surtout par l'intermediaire des miaphysites, la logique aristotelicienne penetre en monde syriaque. La figure cle pour ce passage est Sergius de Res'ayna (m. 536), et encore une fois la continuite avec le monde grec marque cette entreprise : les commentaires aux uvres logiques d'Aristote ecrits par Sergius et ses successeurs, en particulier au monastere de Qennere, reprennent la structure des commentaires grecs produits a Alexandrie dans l'Antiquite tardive. Des le viiie siecle on assiste aussi au developpement de la logique parmi les elites ecclesiastiques syro-orientales. L'essor de la falsafa, la philosophie d'empreinte grecque en monde musulman, produit une rupture de cette continuite greco-syriaque. Les Syriaques, decisifs dans la transmission de la philosophie a l'Islam, ressentent de plus en plus l'influence de la falsafa. A la fin du premier millenaire, des auteurs chretiens de culture syriaque ecrivent des ouvrages philosophiques en arabe et participent a la phase formative de la falsafa ; au debut du deuxieme millenaire paraissent des ouvrages philosophiques qui, ecrits en syriaque, refletent les structures conceptuelles de la falsafa. C'est la naissance d'une philosophie syro-arabe, qui culmine dans l'uvre de Barhebraeus (xiiie siecle). Le volume s'enrichit de deux contributions bibliographiques qui fourniront au lecteur un panorama exhaustif des sources et des etudes qui ont ete consacrees a la philosophie en syriaque. (shrink)

BackgroundDefinition and concept of the ‘beginning of human life’ are weakened by co-existing contrasting hypotheses based on humanistic or religious beliefs rather than scientific foundations. This plethora of conceptually distant views have important common concerns in different fields of science and shape, in turn, several societal aspects including laws related, for instance, to inheritance eligibility or abortion, end-of-life care and euthanasia, and reproductive technology. Also, they are fundamental to evaluate opportunity for resuscitation vs. palliative care in extremely preterm infants. In (...) this article, we address one of the most common tenets in medicine: the acceptance that human life starts with first breath, even though several events are well-documented to take place before its occurrence.Main textSeveral studies show how pivotal physiological events take place before first breath. Evidence of a number of neurological events occurring before first breath opens the way to the primacy of the Central Nervous System, given its immediate extra-uterine activation at birth. This activation eventually sets specific physiological conditions that allow the complex sequence of events determining the muscle activity associated with the influx of air in the lung and the settling of a continuous and successful extra-uterine respiration. We would like to invite the scientific community to endorse a clear-cut position against the paradigm of ‘first breath’ as the beginning of life. Herein, we also assume how, a still undefined, yet possibly specific quid in the external environment triggers further physiological response in newborns. Better understanding of the critical events that occur at the beginning of human life is likely to cause great concern and expectations in scientists, researchers and physicians working in the domain of brain, and its physiology, and mental health.ConclusionsThe comparison between beliefs and evidence-based observations generates confusion, misperceptions and false expectations in society, hence, in the scientific and medical community. Different and more solid alternatives about the carachterization of the ‘beginning of human life’ are indeed available and require to be explored and defined. (shrink)