This article uses recent changes within the Austrian university system to illustrate some general features and dilemmas of organizational design and reform. We focus upon two recent layers of the sediments left by previous and current system reforms: that left by the events of 1968 on continental university systems, and Austria's late conversion to the path taken by the Anglo-American university system since the late 1970s/early 1980s; namely, towards what Marginson and Considine (2000) have called the "enterprise university". These two (...) reform waves are, we argue, neatly reflected in two university laws - UOG 1975 and UG 2002 - which capture with great clarity the spirit of these two policy moments. The Austrian case is thus of interest for two types of reason: first, because of the co-existence of deeply engrained traditions with more recent experiments in organizational democracy (co-determination); secondly, because of the rapidity with which current reforms seek to catch up with what are taken to be international developments in university management. Drawing on arguments advanced by Christopher Hood, Luc Boltanski and Ève Chiapello, and by Albert Hirschman, we seek to draw general conclusions concerning the implications of organizational reform for the management of organizations generally, and of universities in particular. (shrink)

v. 1. Scritti di Sciacca -- v. 2. Scritti su Sciacca.

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)

Norberto Bobbio è stato, più di ogni altro, “il teorico del secolo socialdemocratico e del riconoscimento dei diritti sociali accanto a quelli politici e di libertà. In questo ha avuto un ruolo centrale la sua formazione giuridica che lo ha portato a dispiegare tutte le potenzialità di trasformazione sociale inerenti al diritto. Con i suoi contributi teorici ha rivisitato integralmente la storia della filosofia politica e definito una mappa straordinariamente nitida dei suoi problemi”. Pier Paolo Portinaro ripercorre il prezioso magistero (...) del maggiore intellettuale italiano della seconda metà del Novecento, il più autentico interprete del secolo appena trascorso e dell''altra Italia', quella dell'impegno civile, patria di Cattaneo, Salvemini e Gobetti. (shrink)

Written in 1949, La Scoperta di Marx was first published in 1958 in Pier Paolo Pasolini, L'usignolo della Chiesa Cattolica (Editore Longanesi). It is published here, along the first English translation of the poem, with the permission of Garzanti Libri.

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)

El autor describe la línea de renovación de la filosofía italiana, que inaugura con Vico y Rosmini, "dos pensadores de envergadura", a pesar del hecho contrastado de que Vico no es uno de los autores más usados por Rosmini. Tal renovación da origen a una metaffsica antropológica integral que nutre el "pensar en grande" y que, por tanto, debería traspasar las fronteras de la Italia de ambos pensadores y contribuir a la regeneración de la civilización contemporánea.The author describes the Italian (...) philosophy’s renewing line, which begins with both Vico and Rosmini, "wo well-established thinkers", though Vico might not be one of Rosmini’s most mentioned authors. Such a renovated current gives rise to an anthropological all-out metaphysics, which nourishes the so called "big-deep thinking" and is expected to cross the Italian borders and make a significant contribution to the renewal of civilization. (shrink)