This book brings together a number of contributions dealing with certain fundamental structures of practical rationality, as they are presented in the areas of the philosophy of action and normative ethics, namely: intentionality, normativity, and reflexivity. With the term “intentionality,” is meant a set of problems that are linked not only with the teleological structure of praxis-oriented rationality, but also with its temporal structure. “Normativity”, in turn, refers to a distinct set of problems, which cannot simply be reduced to those (...) entailed in the intentional nature of human action, even if this notion incorporates a reference to the good or value in its very structure. Finally, with the term “reflexivity” we point at the linkage between the normative dimension of reason with both the contingent circumstances of action and the moral receptivity of the agent, as it is experienced in moral judgment. (shrink)

The present collection brings together a number of studies interested in highlighting the role of reflexivity and sentiment in Kant's philosophy. If philosophy is by definition a reflective endeavor, Kant's writings document a particularly powerful philosophical enterprise; not only because he constitutes reflexivity itself into the cornerstone of philosophical method, but also because, in doing so, he unveils fundamental structures of human subjectivity. Authors in this volume have succeeded in highlighting how Kant's commitment to reflexivity represents a privileged gateway of (...) exploring the complexity and richness of human experience. Aesthetic and moral experiences are particularly eloquent in this regard: aesthetic and moral sentiments represent for Kant a particular site of human reflexivity, which bring to light a specifically human world, marked by different kinds of normativity, in the midst of which humans actually live. (shrink)

The Cerdanya valley in the eastern Pyrenees has a physical unity into which a political frontier has been imposed to divide it. The social and cultural repercussions of this Franco-Spanish border have created obstacles to marriage which are not due to topography. Choice of month of marriage is under cultural control and the study of seasonality in marriages recorded in the registers of all the Cerdan parishes on both sides of the border demonstrated differences over time and between French and (...) Spanish sectors. It is suggested that these changes demonstrate the process of distancing of the two populations. Cluster and correspondence analysis showed progressive differentiation of the seasonality patterns of the French and Spanish Cerdans despite the geographic unity of the valley. Sociocultural factors are presumed responsible. (shrink)

The non-adaptationist approach to evolutionary epistemology was born at the end of the 1970s as an alternative to traditional adaptationist EE. Despite the fact that non-adaptationist EE offers compelling interpretative models and its explanatory power is widely recognised, an organic overview of the broad non-adaptationist field is still lacking. In this paper, I propose to fill this gap. To this effect, after providing a systematisation of the perspectives that are commonly associated with non-adaptationist EE, I will discuss two recurring orders (...) of arguments that non-adaptationist scholars, often independently of one another, put forward against their adaptationist rivals. By offering a way to conceive non-adaptationist evolutionary epistemological approaches as part of a structured whole, the resulting systematic account is meant to provide a reading grid, a compass for orienting oneself in the uneven territories of non-adaptationist EE. Moreover, the consequent identification of two recurring argumentative bodies is intended to add to the explanatory power of non-adaptationist EE, which in finding new strength in numbers eventually acquires a greater critical efficacy against its adaptationist counterpart. (shrink)

This study sheds new light on why healthcare organisations are having difficulty responding to the growing pressure from stakeholders to proactively address their responsibility to deliver high-quality services without harming the environment. Basing our work on past research on stakeholder pressure and environmental barriers, we conceptualise and empirically test the effect of the interplay between stakeholder pressure and internal barriers on healthcare organisations’ adoption of proactive environmental strategies. To test the proposed hypotheses, a survey was carried out among medical directors (...) of Italian healthcare organisations in 2012. Our results show that the lack of commitment to environmental issues within the organisation represents the main barrier to healthcare organisations’ implementing PESs. Furthermore, the difficulties in evaluating the impacts of advanced environmental practices negatively moderate the influence of stakeholders on developing PESs. Our findings contribute to extending previous knowledge on PESs in two ways: focusing on the healthcare sector, our study investigates the phenomenon in a research context that has been largely overlooked in the sustainability literature; and cross-cutting previous research on stakeholder pressure and internal barriers, the study conceptualises and tests a more complete framework for understanding the adoption of PESs. (shrink)

This paper aims to discuss the coherence and consistency of the Stoic and the Nietzschean “art of dying at the right time”. Throughout this paper, we will use this expression to refer to the Stoics’ and Nietzsche’s treatment both of involuntary and voluntary death, inasmuch as both seem to be strongly connected to and grounded on the notion of timeliness. Taking this notion as a guiding thread, we will emphasize the several similarities that link their approach to suicide. Indeed, as (...) will be shown, it is plausible to assume that Nietzsche’s understanding of voluntary death is particularly influenced by the Stoic tradition. At the same time, we will point out the relevant differences that make these two approaches differ. In dealing with the Stoic and the Nietzschean attitude towards suicide, the underlying question will be whether the legitimization and defense of voluntary death is compatible—and if so, to which extent—with their teachings, in particular, with their notions of happiness and affirmation of life, on the one hand, and their ideals of living in accordance with nature and amor fati, on the other. (shrink)

Questo articolo si inserisce nell’ambito dei più recenti studi baconiani che hanno determinato una revisione critica della fortuna di Francis Bacon , la pubblicazione di nuove opere o parti di opere inedite e uno studio attento del lessico e del vocabolario baconiano. Per quanto riguarda la seconda metà del ‘700 e l’‘800, la fortuna e l’incidenza del pensiero baconiano è quasi tutta da studiare, schiacciata com’è dal giudizio moralistico sulla sua ‘caduta’ . In merito alla fortuna di Francis Bacon in (...) Italia nel XVIII e XIX secolo ho analizzato due dei possibili autori che alle opere del filosofo inglese diedero attenzione: Cesare Beccaria e Vincenzo Gioberti. (shrink)

La diffusione, la presenza, la lettura di Francis Bacon negli ambienti libertini francesi della prima metà del secolo XVII è molto più ampia di quanto non sia stato finora sottolineato: in particolare, negli ambienti libertini, oltre al Novum Organum e al De augmentis scientiarum, venivano letti e ricercati i Saggi e capitoli non secondari del De sapientia veterum e della Historia vita et mortis. La Mothe La Vayer, i fratelli Dupuy, Gassend, tra gli altri, ma anche Mersenne, Descartes, Pascal conoscono (...) e usano gli scritti del Lord Cancelliere, come dimostra la loro circolazione sia pubblica che clandestina. La critica al principio di autorità, al consensum gentium, l’importanza della storia, la riapproprazione della filosofia antica di tradizione atomistica, spesso usata in funzione antiaristotelica, l’uso delle favole antiche come ratio docendi, l’uso costante e maturo di Machiavelli e soprattutto la critica incessante alla superstizione sono tutti temi che spiegano non solo la diffusione del filosofo inglese in Franciam ma anche le molteplici e precoci traduzioni in francese delle sue opere. (shrink)

Preview: /Commentary: Richard Shusterman, Ars Erotica: Sex and Somaesthetics in the Classical Arts of Love, 436 pages./ Richard Shusterman’s Ars Erotica: Sex and Somaesthetics in the Classical Arts of Love is a masterpiece in a number of respects. With its focus on erotic love and the aesthetics of lovemaking, the book is to be admired for having the audacity to broach a topic that tends to be neglected – if not repressed – in contemporary academic scholarship. But Ars Erotica is (...) far from being “simply” about sex and different arts of love. In exploring classical erotic theories and ideals in Western, Chinese, Indian, Islamic and Japanese cultures, it reveals an impressive amount of knowledge and erudition when analyzing, documenting, and contextualizing the various ars erotica in their different social, cultural, political, philosophical, and religious milieus. Moreover, although Shusterman’s guiding thread is the aesthetic dimension of classic ars erotica, the book also has an important ethical and spiritual dimension, as it compellingly demonstrates how the cultivation of physical beauty and sensual pleasures was – at least in classical ancient traditions – indissociable from a wider concern with the cultivation of one’s character and virtue, that is, with an art of living in which sexual practices and attitudes were strongly embedded and from which they ultimately derived their deep symbolic meaning and relevance. (shrink)

Nas últimas décadas do século passado Pierre Hadot e Michel Foucaultrevolucionaram a história da filosofia ao, nos seus Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique e L’herméneutique du sujet, respectivamente, colocarem um imperativo ético nas origens do pensamento filosófico ocidental e firmarem que, nessa altura, a filosofia era essencialmente uma “escolha de vida” ou “modo de vida”, no caso do primeiro, e um “cuidado de si”, na expressão do último. Uma vez que ambos os autores contrastam a orientação e função originais da (...) filosofia com a sua forma contemporânea, as suas análises têm, para além da sua clara relevância históricofilosófica, um forte potencial de crítica contra a prática académica e institucionalizada da filosofia actual. Tomando a ideia da filosofia como modo de vida como forma de dissidência contra a filosofia universitária contemporânea, e como forma de experimentação com uma compreensão e prática alternativas da filosofia, este ensaio delineia as principais características do modelo da filosofia como modo de vida no seu contraste com a prática académica conteporânea e defende a relevância do modelo para uma eventual restruturação da filosofia profissionalizada perante a actual crise nas humanidades e desafios sociais, culturais e ambientais inéditos. (shrink)

The idea underlying Nietzsche, Foucault und die Medizin is laudable in at least two respects. First, it brings together Nietzsche and Foucault—a connection so multifaceted and fruitful that, despite the many recent volumes and essays devoted to it, it is still far from exhausted. Second, it focuses on the ethics of medicine, which, given the extraordinary development of medicine in the past two centuries and its related ethical challenges, is a field that increasingly demands philosophical reflection, finding in Nietzsche and (...) Foucault extremely rich and fertile ground. As the editors point out in their introduction, the depth and breadth of Nietzsche's and Foucault's insights into the philosophy of... (shrink)

(1986). The method of analysis‐synthesis and the structure of causal explanation in Newton. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 60-84.