The paper outlines the semantic dynamics of the latin terms valor and aestimatio within several texts belonging to the main literary genres of the ethical-economic medieval textuality (XIII-XV c.): from the commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, through the Quaestiones quodlibetales up to the treatises De contractibus. The survey method consists in detecting the frequency within these texts of a motif drawn from Augustine’s De civitate Dei (XI, 16), used as an index of the rise and change of the ethical-economic language over time, from a dual perspective: of “quantification of quality” – through the reference to the semantic field of pretium and to the parameters for his exigentia – and of “qualification of
quantities” – through the reference to variability (latitudo) of the value of a commodity and to the necessary experiential proficiency (industria, experientia) of the mercatores who have to estimate it.

Middle Ages, Price, Just Price, Value, Estimation, Justice, Ethical-Economic Thought, Latitude, Experience

This paper tackles the problem of intentionality and knowledge of individuals in XIV century’s theology and in particular in Peter Auriol.. Starting from Franz Brentano’s classic definition of intentional in-existence, it begins by reviewing contemporary positions, especially analytical ones, that denies an intuitive (i.e. direct and externalist) cognition in the medieval ways of knowing. It then tries to explain that this is not tenable from an historical perspective. In the light of a mental theory of paronimy (denominative), that is indirect mental perception and ostensive individuation of things via demonstrative pronouns[,] it is possible [to] read a theory of direct mental reference, i.e. a theory of intentionality, which is both internalist and externalist. This direct and not mediate theory can answer the problems between abstracted and [non-temporal] God’s knowledge, and temporal cognition of individuals by human intellect and imagination (phantasia). The article argues that cognition is rather a feature of[intentionally placing things by phantasia, which means designating them in a mental space (res cognitae); and a temporal succession of events as we know them.

Peter Auriol, Medieval Philosohpy, Philosophy of religion, Intentionality, Externalism, Eternalism

«Appendice de mes Confessions», «informe journal […] de mes rêveries», «registre fidèle de mes promenades», Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire are the tale of a soul in search of the goodness of nature which observes itself in solitude. Traditionally interpreted with Les Confessions and the Dialogues in the relationship with the biography or the psychology of the author, Les Reveries acquire a broader theoretical significance when they are considered in the light of the general principles of the «triste et grand système» of man that Rousseau built in an original way and stated with a language «aussi nouveau que [son] projet»: it is the system of originary goodness of man, happy in nature and depraved in the society.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire, autobiography, System of Man, System of Nature

The present contribution will deal with the project of “decomposition of thought” that Maine de Biran (1766-1824) carries out starting from his masterpiece of 1804, the Mémoire sur la décomposition de la pensée. In order to understand its originality it has proved necessary to take into account the critical resumption of Condillac’s sensualism proposed by the author. As a matter of fact, Maine de Biran explicitly states his will to «rewrite from a new point of view the Traité des sensations»; and this critical rewriting is fundamentally based on the concept of effort – with the consequent passage from the passive objectivation, typical of Condillac’s analysis, to the first person experience of subjective activity – and on what could be defined in terms of “sensorial perspectivism”. Actually, the science of man emerging from the biranian writings refuses the primacy and the exclusivity of visual register in the name of a sensorial holism – revaluating therefore kinesthetic tactility as well as the close coupling between the ear and the voice or the act of breathing – which allows the integration, though not the confusion, of the different plans of human existence.

Maine de Biran, Condillac, statue, senses, decomposition of thought

My purpose is to show the reception in Italy of Hegel’s lectures on history of philosophy starting from 1844 till 2004. In comparison to other Hegel’s lectures (and especially if one’s considers published works), the lectures on history of philosophy have been less studied and spread, with the partial exception of the first Italian translation edited by Ernesto Codignola and Giovanni Sanna between 1930 and 1945. The lectures were in fact reputed to be too little metaphisical by philosophers and too metaphisical by historians. On the contrary, they are a perfect example of Hegel’s thinking which tries to find a balance between world and thought.

Hegelianism and its reception, Italian philosophy, history of philosophy, modern philosophy

Nietzsche went to Rome twice between 1882 and 1883. On the basis of the personal experiences he gained, mainly during his second stay in the city, Nietzsche devoids the great heritage of the Papal Court of the Renaissance of its religious meaning, understanding it instead as the expression of a political and wordly power. The ruins of the pagan Rome impend over it as a destiny. This explains Nietzsche’s disapproval of Luther’s Reformation. Owing to a coarseness ascribed broadly to the men of the North, Luther wasn’t able to understand the political dimension of the Roman Church. Nietzsche actually praises the Roman Church, however, he assigns it a clearly antichristian meaning.

Nietzsche, Rome, Christianity, Martin Luther, Protestantism

Tragic choices occur when essential goods lack. War, death of young soldiers, economic recession, and famine lead to separate useful people from uselessness ones. A way of thinking about human life marked by social-Darwinism, humanity purity and health leads to recognize illness and disable people as internal enemies. During the first postwar period, all of these conditions occurred in Germany and they established who had to live and who had to die. Jost’s right to die slowly became the question about who had the right to live in tragic times. The value of life depended on the account of its utility and the costs needed to support it. Binding and Hoche purpose aimed to value human life according to the safety of the State and of its population. Today, these points of view can surprise or scandalize, but they can also show us as the value of human life depends on cultural feature, economic conditions, and circumstances.

value, life, choice, safety, illness

Between Marcuse and Adorno there is not an explicit confrontation on Surrealism, but we rather find different interpretations within the discourse, respectively, of a positive utopia or a negative philosophy.
Starting from the object of reference, the discourses are arranged on separate levels: one considers Surrealism for its impact as a cultural movement, while the other is more concerned with the works produced by Surrealists. Therefore, Surrelism is considered either in terms of imagination, whose rights are ploclaimed, or in terms of reification, whose representation is provided.

Marcuse, Adorno, Surrealism, Imagination, Reification

One of the main elements of continuity in Foucault’s work is the problem of the relationship between a priori conditions and subjectivity. The theme of the a priori represents an essential tool through which Foucault criticizes the modern “anthropological illusion”, attributed for various reasons to the currents of the post-Kantian philosophy – notably idealism, positivism and phenomenology. This illusion consists in considering the impersonal conditions of the experience as some subjective features albeit objectively definable, or within the space – reachable or unattainable – of a pure and fundamental dimension. Foucault’s perspective is identified as a radically anti-transcendentalist conception of the a priori. This is reformulated, since the Fifties, through the concept of historical a priori, then expressed in the notions of episteme and dispositif, and specified in the description of the archaeological and genealogical method. Characterized as a dynamic, multiple, practical plot of constituted and constituent, the historical a priori is a set of “purely empirical” conditions in which the subjectivity emerges, within its limits and its possibilities.

Subjectivity, historical a priori, transcendental field, phenomenology, genealogy, power, apparatus

This article goes back to what characterizes torture as defined by the international Convention of the United Nations, distinguishing it from other "cruel, inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment". The debate stirred by the politics of "War on Terror" organized by the Bush administration after September 11th 2001 brought focus on the loopholes that can be used to prevent an act to be identified as a form of torture, especially the use of white torture (the no-touch torture). A systemic apprehension of torture – torture considered as the application of a malicious intention articulated in a context – allows to analyze the essence of the hostile act to determine clearly if it can be defined as torture.

Torturing System, White Torture, Music, Ticking Time bomb Scenario, Terrorism.