An erudite and witty collection of Umberto Eco's essays on mass culture from the 1960s through the 1980s, including major pieces which have not been translated into English before. The discussion is framed by opposing characterizations of current intellectuals as apocalyptic and opposed to all mass culture, or as integrated intellectuals, so much a part of mass culture as to be unaware of serving it. Organized in four main parts, "Mass Culture: Apocalypse Postponed," "Mass Media and the Limits of (...) Communication," "The Rise and Fall of Counter-Cultures," and "In Search of Italian Genius," Eco looks at a variety of topics and cultural productions, including the world of Charlie Brown, distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow, the future of literacy, Chinese comic strips, whether countercultures exist, Fellini's Ginger and Fred, and the Italian genius industry. (shrink)

In the course of the long debate on the nature and the classification of signs, from Boethius to Ockham, there are at least three lines of thought: the Stoic heritage, that influences Augustine, Abelard, Francis Bacon; the Aristotelian tradition, stemming from the commentaries on De Interpretatione; the discussion of the grammarians, from Priscian to the Modistae. Modern interpreters are frequently misled by the fact that the various authors regularly used the same terms. Such a homogeneous terminology, however, covers profound theoretical (...) differences. The aim of these essays is to show that the medieval theory of signs does not represent a unique body of semiotic notions: there are diverse and frequently alternative semiotic theories. This book thus represents an attempt to encourage further research on the still unrecognized variety of the semiotic approaches offered by the medieval philosophies of language. (shrink)

This is the second of a series of papers that investigate fragments of quasi-Nelson logic (QNL) from an algebraic logic standpoint. QNL, recently introduced as a common generalization of intuitionistic and Nelson’s constructive logic with strong negation, is the axiomatic extension of the substructural logic |$FL_{ew}$| (full Lambek calculus with exchange and weakening) by the Nelson axiom. The algebraic counterpart of QNL (quasi-Nelson algebras) is a class of commutative integral residuated lattices (a.k.a. |$FL_{ew}$|-algebras) that includes both Heyting and Nelson algebras (...) and can be characterized algebraically in several alternative ways. The present paper focuses on the algebraic counterpart (a class we dub quasi-Nelson implication algebras, QNI-algebras) of the implication–negation fragment of QNL, corresponding to the connectives that witness the algebraizability of QNL. We recall the main known results on QNI-algebras and establish a number of new ones. Among these, we show that QNI-algebras form a congruence-distributive variety (Cor. 3.15) that enjoys equationally definable principal congruences and the strong congruence extension property (Prop. 3.16); we also characterize the subdirectly irreducible QNI-algebras in terms of the underlying poset structure (Thm. 4.23). Most of these results are obtained thanks to twist representations for QNI-algebras, which generalize the known ones for Nelson and quasi-Nelson algebras; we further introduce a Hilbert-style calculus that is algebraizable and has the variety of QNI-algebras as its equivalent algebraic semantics. (shrink)

"Eco wittily and enchantingly develops themes often touched on in his previous works, but he delves deeper into their complex nature... this collection can be read with pleasure by those unversed in semiotic theory." —Times Literary Supplement.

Umberto Eco -- Stephen Jay Gould -- Jean-Claude Carrière -- Jean Delumeau.

A collection of essays discusses such topics as the nature of perception, the semiotic links between cognition and language, and iconism, with imaginative fables featuring animal heroes to illustrate the main points.

Umberto Eco oversat af Finn Frandsen, første gang bragt i Slagmark #5.

Antonio Rosmini is considered by many to be greatest Italian - or even European - thinker of the nineteenth century. But for christians he is also a saint. Here, marking ten years since his beatification in 2007, is an updated biography.

We introduce a modal expansion of paraconsistent Nelson logic that is also as a generalization of the Belnapian modal logic recently introduced by Odintsov and Wansing. We prove algebraic completeness theorems for both logics, defining and axiomatizing the corresponding algebraic semantics. We provide a representation for these algebras in terms of twiststructures, generalizing a known result on the representation of the algebraic counterpart of paraconsistent Nelson logic.

"... fascinating throughout.... the book is recreative in the highest sense." —Arthur C. Danto, The New Republic "A gem for Holmes fans and armchair detectives with a penchant for logical reflection, and Peirce scholars." —Library Journal.

In this paper we re-assess the philosophical foundation of Exactly True Logic ($$\mathcal {ET\!L}$$ ET L ), a competing variant of First Degree Entailment ($$\mathcal {FDE}$$ FDE ). In order to do this, we first rebut an argument against it. As the argument appears in an interview with Nuel Belnap himself, one of the fathers of $$\mathcal {FDE}$$ FDE, we believe its provenance to be such that it needs to be taken seriously. We submit, however, that the argument ultimately fails, (...) and that $$\mathcal {ET\!L}$$ ET L cannot easily be dismissed. We then proceed to give an overview of the research that was inspired by this logic over the last decade, thus providing further motivation for the study of $$\mathcal {ET\!L}$$ ET L and, more generally, of $$\mathcal {FDE}$$ FDE -related logics that result from semantical analyses alternative to Belnap’s canonical one. We focus, in particular, on philosophical questions that these developments raise. (shrink)

Neutrosophy has been introduced some years ago by Florentin Smarandache as a new branch of philosophy dealing with “the origin, nature and scope of neutralities, as well as their interactions with different ideational spectra”. A variety of new theories have been developed on the basic principles of neutrosophy: among them is neutrosophic logics, a family of many-valued systems that can be regarded as a generalization of fuzzy logics. In this paper we present a critical introduction to neutrosophic logics, focusing on (...) the problem of defining suitable neutrosophic propositional connectives and discussing the relationship between neutrosophic logics and other well-known frameworks for reasoning with uncertainty and vagueness, such as (intuitionistic and interval-valued) fuzzy systems and Belnap’s logic. (shrink)

In recent years, several Vygotskian computer-based learning activities (VCBLAs) were designed in the context of (mathematics) education and implemented on Moodle platform. However, Moodle does not allow users to visualize all chats on a single browser page, and they are forced to open multiple browser windows and switch among them very frequently. This paper describes the features of a plugin for Moodle, called “Quick Chat,” which allows to manage in a single browser window both the narrative flow of a VCBLA (...) and all chats. Some results of an experimentation with PhD students, engaged in solving two mathematical tasks, are shown. (shrink)

Why are we deeply moved by the misfortune of Anna Karenina if we are fully aware that she is simply a fictional character who does not exist in our world?But what does it mean that fictional characters do not exist? The present article is concerned with the ontology of fictional characters. The author concludes thatsuccessful fictional characters become paramount examples of the ‘real’ human condition because they live in an incomplete world what we have cognitive access to but cannot influence (...) in any way and where no deeds can be undone. Unlike all the other semiotic objects, which are culturally subject to revisions, and perhaps only similar to mathematical entities, the fictual characters will never change and will remain the actors of what they did once and forever. (shrink)

We introduce a new product bilattice con- struction that generalizes the well-known one for interlaced bilattices and others that were developed more recently, allowing to obtain a bilattice with two residuated pairs as a certain kind of power of an arbitrary residuated lattice. We prove that the class of bilattices thus obtained is a variety, give a finite axiomatization for it and characterize the congruences of its members in terms of those of their lat- tice factors. Finally, we show how (...) to employ our product construction to define first-order definable classes of bi- lattices corresponding to any first-order definable subclass of residuated lattices. (shrink)

We look at extensions (i.e., stronger logics in the same language) of the Belnap–Dunn four-valued logic. We prove the existence of a countable chain of logics that extend the Belnap–Dunn and do not coincide with any of the known extensions (Kleene’s logics, Priest’s logic of paradox). We characterise the reduced algebraic models of these new log- ics and prove a completeness result for the first and last element of the chain stating that both logics are determined by a single finite (...) logical matrix. We show that the last logic of the chain is not finitely axiomatisable. (shrink)

The paper contains some algebraic results on several varieties of algebras having an (interlaced) bilattice reduct. Some of these algebras have already been studied in the literature (for instance bilattices with conflation, introduced by M. Fit- ting), while others arose from the algebraic study of O. Arieli and A. Avron’s bilattice logics developed in the third author’s PhD dissertation. We extend the representation theorem for bounded interlaced bilattices (proved, among others, by A. Avron) to un- bounded bilattices and prove analogous (...) representation theorems for the other classes of bilattices considered. We use these results to establish categorical equivalences between these structures and well-known varieties of lattices. (shrink)

A recent paper by Jakl, Jung and Pultr succeeded for the first time in establishing a very natural link between bilattice logic and the duality theory of d-frames and bitopological spaces. In this paper we further exploit, extend and investigate this link from an algebraic and a logical point of view. In particular, we introduce classes of algebras that extend bilattices, d-frames and N4-lattices to a setting in which the negation is not necessarily involutive, and we study corresponding logics. We (...) provide product representation theorems for these algebras, as well as completeness, algebraizability results for the corresponding logics. (shrink)

Recent research on algebraic models of _quasi-Nelson logic_ has brought new attention to a number of classes of algebras which result from enriching (subreducts of) Heyting algebras with a special modal operator, known in the literature as a _nucleus_. Among these various algebraic structures, for which we employ the umbrella term _intuitionistic modal algebras_, some have been studied since at least the 1970s, usually within the framework of topology and sheaf theory. Others may seem more exotic, for their primitive operations (...) arise from algebraic terms of the intuitionistic modal language which have not been previously considered. We shall for instance investigate the variety of _weak implicative semilattices_, whose members are (non-necessarily distributive) meet semilattices endowed with a nucleus and an implication operation which is not a relative pseudo-complement but satisfies the postulates of Celani and Jansana’s strict implication. For each of these new classes of algebras we establish a representation and a topological duality which generalize the known ones for Heyting algebras enriched with a nucleus. (shrink)

La crisi dello strutturalismo e i confini della semiotica in un volume importante della produzione di Eco. Un libro che trova la sua continuazione ideale in 'Lector in fabula'.

Recent work by Busaniche, Galatos and Marcos introduced a very general twist construction, based on the notion of _conucleus_, which subsumes most existing approaches. In the present paper we extend this framework one step further, so as to allow us to construct and represent algebras which possess a negation that is not necessarily involutive. Our aim is to capture the main properties of the largest class that admits such a representation, as well as to be able to recover the well-known (...) cases—such as _(quasi-)Nelson algebras_ and _(quasi-)N4-lattices_—as particular instances of the general construction. We pursue two approaches, one that directly generalizes the classical Rasiowa construction for Nelson algebras, and an alternative one that allows us to study twist-algebras within the theory of residuated lattices. (shrink)

La conoscenza che abbiamo del testo del Libellus ad Leonem X, noto anche come De Officio Pontificis ad Leonem X, redatto dai camaldolesi veneziani Tommaso Giustiniani e Vincenzo Querini , ruota intorno al codice che “extabat MS in Bibliotheca Monasterii S. Mariae Carcerum, nunc in Bibliotheca S. Michaelis Muriani”1 identificabile con il manoscritto Muraniano 1071, oggi conservato presso la Biblioteca del Monastero di Camaldoli.2 Si tratta del codice che è stato utilizzato, secondo quanto dichiarato dallo stesso Mittarelli,3 dai camaldolesi Giovanni (...) Benedetto Mittarelli e Anselmo Costadoni 4 per la loro edizione negli Annales Camaldulenses.5 Vi è una notazione .. (shrink)

In recent years a paradigm has emerged for which urban liveability coincides with the existence of conditions of order, rationality, predictability and safety. If we combine this with the enormous technological progress applied to the management of urban ecosystems and the strongly transitional nature of our age (digital transition, climate change, ecological transition...), we understand why in the last twenty years the concept of “Smart City” has been one of the most successful. But exactly what are we talking about when (...) we talk about Smart City? In reality, the process of smartification does not only concern the urban dimension but, in some way, seems to apply to so many aspects of life. What kind of rationality is hidden in the dynamics of smartification? Are there dark sides of the Smart Cities? Are there alternatives to the Order based on standardization, digital surveillance, massive use of increasingly invasive technologies? These are categories whose application is generally argued with the need to generate “sustainable” ways of life but to what extent are these categories sustainable themselves? Martin Heidegger warned that the fact that “everything works” is exactly the problem and not the solution. Is humanity generating an increasingly _irrational rationality_? The provocation launched by some Authors (above all Richard Sennett) is that there is the possibility of an antagonism to this process, designing cities as something open, never concluded, _dis-organized_. But what exactly does this disorder consist of? Is it a mere utopia or is it really possible to develop concrete categories and urban planning practices consistent with it? (shrink)

This article argues that the narrative of public participation in environmental governance that emerged from the Earth Summit in 1992 can be read as a direct challenge to the neoliberal approach to environmental governance. The challenge comes from constructing the concept of public participation as (i) the practice of providing decision makers with more and better information in order to help them design more equitable policies, and (ii) the practice of potentially influencing policy decisions by bringing new perspectives and values (...) into the decision-making process. The article shows how this counter-narrative has itself now become a contested terrain: among a variety of normative presuppositions justifying practices of public participation, one can also find a market friendly rationale. (shrink)