The shadow is used in the visual arts to give the illusion of three-dimensionality of bodies represented on a bidimensional surface. But the shadow,
in addition to being used in mimetic function, as the profile of a threedimensional and sensible reality, assumes an autonomous value, ie a kinematic
and ontic connotation. Through examples and comparisons in the domains of visual arts, literature and aesthetics, the article discusses the
meaning of the shadow conceived as a distinct, alive and moving being. Bringing back the shadow to its original mystery, it explores a different
tradition leading the philosophical reflection in the context of mysticism and magic, beyond the boundaries of the sensory perception.

painting, skiagraphia, identity, otherness, mirror, night.

The involvement of art, in particular the arts of drawing, with scientific thought is the core of a visio intellectualis of the Renaissance as an age of “crisis”. A special feature of this “Renaissance philosophy of crisis” consists in the attempt to build a symbolic conception of reality which no longer matches the visible world. Without losing contact with objective reality, science and art try to withdraw from the plane of perception as much as from the noesis, and stand apart. From Alberti to Leibniz, the aporias of the shadow accompany a cultural route towards the modern, which proceeds between hazards and hesitations.

Linear perspective, raggio ombroso, negative square roots, imaginary numbers, mirror, Leonardo da Vinci, Cardano, Desargues, Leibniz.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the nature of shadow in Dante’s masterpiece. The analysis opens with a survey of the very different meanings the said theme acquires throughout the work. Starting from this enquiry, it is possible to infer the presence of a symbolic form of shadow, which can be applied to different levels of the text. Shadow as a symbol enlightens the ambiguous and intermediary condition of the human creature, of language, of poetry and of the poem itself, opening a possible humanistic perspective
on Dante’s work. Dante’s Commedia seems to indicate a paradoxical enlightening nature of shadow.

Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, Humanism, symbolic form, intermediate entities.

Giordano Bruno’s theory of the “shadows of ideas” (De umbris idearum, Paris 1582) exposes a gnoseological paradigm founded on a new equilibrium among the three “worlds” or “degree” of Being: metaphysical, natural and logical. It envolves that human cognition, experience and thought proceed from nature, while the whole physical universe belongs straightly from divine essence. Then an unique and eternal substance projects itself from natural bodies on human mind through sensory experience and imagination: the fragmentation and scattering of thruth of an infinite variety of raw data of experience makes arise the need for a regulative method, capable
of composing them in an vision unified, as close as possible, how the complexity of natural cosmos is.

Art of memory, Giordano Bruno, Infinite universe, Renaissance natural philosophy, Renaissance theories of knowledge.

This paper deals with the notion of the shade, by synaesthesia, in the field of sonority, which includes the words and the musical sound. It touches the notion of «musica humana», shade of the the music sonorous, the music of interiority that is not audible. It analyses the various figures of shade in the musical tradition of neoplatonism, silence, listening, secret, dissonance, motionlessness, solitude, which reachs its higher point in the pure contemplation of the intellect.

Interiority, Music, Dissonance, Silence, Motionlessness, Contemplation.

From the projective space of the painting in the italian renaissance to the most complex models of contemporary mathematical physics, the idea of a priori construction of the space of all possible dynamics is incompatible with the unpredictability of the biological and social evolutions. This paper hints first to the joint birth of the early mathematical representations of actual infinity and of space, to be found in the italian renaissance painting. We then explore how this framed the mathematical approach to physics by the understanding of space and time as conditions of possibility for all physical dynamics.We finally challenge the construction of an a priori framing of the systems of life in pre-given spaces of possibilities and hint
to a critical knowledge that combines science and philosophy in facing this challenge.

perspective, symmetries, mathematical infinity, evolution.

The distinction established by Spinoza between philosophy and prophecy poses the question of the authority of the Scriptures. The notion of authority can be interpreted in two ways: either as an instrument used to encourage obedience, as is the case with the Old Testament, in which prophecy reveals the law (Moses), or as belief in the truth of the Scriptures. In both cases, Spinoza’s aim in the Tractatus theologico-politicus is to separate the norm of truth (the true idea) from authority. The first pertains to philosophy, the second to theology and morals. There is also a third candidate between true knowledge and religion: the teaching of the apostles, not mediated by any exterior law but by the pure Spirit of Christ, which promotes a universal ethics that is compatible with reason. However, the rift created by Christianity between authority and truth will lead to doctrinal controversies, schisms and,
ultimately, the rise of theology, with which the original distinction between prophecy and Christ’s message becomes vain.

Spinoza, sign, prophecy, apostolic teaching, Scripture.

This is a critical analysis of the debate on the relationship between political economy and ethics developed among Nineteenth century scholars. The survey focuses on the German-speaking context, without omitting the decisive influence of English economists. It also aims at showing that such topic had been largely tackled already in the very first phases of the scientific discussion over political economy, even though it is often trivially attributed to a more recent debate, namely the one inspired by Amartya Sen’s writings during the 1970s and the 1980s.

self-interest, individualism, collectivism, German School, Carl Menger.

Marx’s mathematical manuscripts have remained for a very long time a mysterious object. From Marx’s death (1883), to their printing 85 years after his death, only Engels and few scholars were really certain of their great importance. Even the new Soviet authorities were very undecided whether to publish Marx’s mathematical manuscripts. Today we know that these Marx writings, are very important with regard to the criticism of the foundations of infinitesimal calculus, and because they highlight the dialectical nature of the differential calculus. I have recreated the story, and added some statements, which provides important details of what we know about the history of these Marx’s writings. One of the key players for the Marx’s mathematical manuscripts publication, was the mathematician and philosopher Ernest (Arnost) Kolman.Marx’s mathematical manuscripts, in Mao’s China brought forth to a mass passionate debate about the importance of the dialectical nature of differential calculus for the development and teaching of mathematics. In Professor Joseph Dauben’s essay (2004), which I translated into Italian, he tells this extraordinary story, largely unknown in the West, and he does it reconstructing in detail the historical reasons and the cultural, social and political dynamics of a mass debate that, for the currentWest, and especially for Italy. It appears like a mirage.

Marx, Engels, Mathematics, Mathematical Manuscripts, Differential Calculus, Analisys Foundation, Ernest Kolman, Sofya Aleksandrovna Yanovskaya, Joseph Dauben, China, Mao, Soviet Union, Institute Marx-Engels-Lenin.

The Mathematical Manuscripts of Karl Marx were translated into Chinese in 1975, at the end of the Cultural Revolution, by two teams of scholars working in China, one in Beijing, the other in Shanghai. The response to these translations by mathematicians, philosophers, and even the public at large, is discussed here, including the role nonstandard analysis played in the reception of Marx’s ideas in China. Marx’s understanding of the calculus, which he based on the concept of infinitesimal, was given new currency thanks to Abraham Robinson’s theory of nonstandard analysis. How nonstandard analysis was a subject of growing interest among mathematicians, philosopher and logicians in China is also considered, including
the first Chinese symposium for nonstandard analysis held in 1978.

Mathematics, Nonstandard Analysis, China, XIX Century, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Cultural Revolution, Science and ideology.

The paper aims to provide an analysis regarding the importance of the Philosopher Tran-Duc-Thao in the French philosophical scene between the Forties and Fifties. In particular the reading of Thao’s main work, “Phenomenology and dialectical materialism” (1951), is taken into consideration. The paper tackles different issues in Thao’s work, through the analysis of his critique to existentialism, his attempt to apply the phenomenological method to the colonial situation of Vietnam, his original reformulation of the marxist critique of ideology within the notion of “lifeworld” and his relationship with Philosophers like Cavaillès andMerleau-Ponty. In particular, the paper focuses on Thao’s proposal to take the achievements and limitations of the husserlian “genetic constitution” for a radical refoundation of the “dialectical materialism”. In Thao’s thought, highly problematic but still charming, comes to light a “new naturalism”, in which subjectivity and materiality don’t cease to communicate at different levels of the “sense” and in which any reductionism could be avoided, allowing a continuous and dynamic articulation between “real world” and “true world.”

Nature, Dialectical Materialism, Genetic Constitution, Living Present, Husserl, Marxism, Vietnam.

In honour of the century of the birth of one of the most important historians of philosophy, professor and civil servant of the Italian democracy against any fascism and dogmatism, the aim of this paper is to investigate Mario Dal Pra’s first strategies of research in the medieval philosophy. The paper will show the role and the theoretical reasons that moved Dal Pra to study and revaluate some “non orthodox” authors like, for instance, John of Salibury and Nicola of Autrecourt. Dal Pra reads these authors as historical exemple of antidogmatic and independent use of the reason, against any form of metaphysics. Dal Pra’s criticism of the deterministic and arid philological use of the historical reconstruction, shows the limits of any purely academic conception of the history of philosophy. On the contrary, his strict and rigorous analysis of the texts and the accuracy of the reconstruction of the historical context, is always linked to the ethical and civil example of his teaching.

Mario Dal Pra, History of historiography, Philosphy of History, Medieval Philosophy, Criticism.

The contemporary debate about free will consists of a multidimensional reflection: it involves at least the logical and conceptual level, the empirical one, the ethical and the juridical ones. The aim of this paper is to illustrate and distinguish all these aspects, trying to detect some of the fallacies due to misinterpretations of neuroscientific research. We will try to understand the kind of contribution that each side of the argument can give to the other, enforcing the idea of a constructive cooperation.

free will, determinism, moral responsibility, neurophilosophy, neurolaw.