Place and meaning: the creation and signification of spaces in the global world “This will kill that. The book will kill the edifice”. These are the sober word that Victor Hugo makes the priest pronounce when, at the down of modern age, he looked on with prophetic dismay at the advent of printing with movable type, a revolution that would completely transform not only the face...
Heterotopias. The Space between power and knowledge in Michel Foucault's Genealogical project Throughout his long and articulate philosophical research, Michel Foucault devoted few essays and a few interviews to the theme of space as a specific object of analysis. However, we can observe how Foucault's works are studded with meticulous descriptions of spaces: from the asylum to...
Devices and the Possibility of Opening Habitable Spaces: A Reflection Inspired by Heidegger's "Things" This paper aims to thematize the redefinition of the dynamics of location implied in the use of digital devices. We will start from a particular conception of entities, understood as “things,” a reading that reconnects entities to their capacity to constitute places to be...
Philosophy, Ethics and Food Technologies: ethical and theoretical issues “Man is what he eats” So wrote Ludwig Feuerbach in an essay in 1862. Reflection on what we eat and the ethical issues raised by the consumption of food has constantly run through the history of Western thought, from Plato and Aristotle to the Old Testament, Luther’s exhortations, and Nietzsche with his...
For a Biosemiotics of Cultivated Meat: Cell-Based Food and Its Positioning Between Nature and Culture The production of cultivated meat, which allows companies to produce meat without raising or killing animals, may potentially solve many of today’s problems connected to meat production. However, cultivated meat is too often seen as “artificial”, “synthetic” and in the end...
Cultured Meat, Climate Mitigation, and Collective Narratives: The Italian Case The climate crisis has revealed the connections between some practices considered harmless or inconsequential on a global scale and the dramatic changes affecting the climate and environment. This paper explores the different impacts of certain dietary patterns (carnism, vegetarianism, and veganism...
ABSTRACT: PROBLEMATIC ONTOLOGIES: WHICH TYPES OF CULTIVATED MEAT WOULD BE MORALLY WRONG TO PRODUCE AND EAT? The technology of cultivating cells from a donor animal biopsy makes it possible to consume meat without any creature having been killed in the process. Assuming that there are no valid moral arguments against this type of food practice, in this paper I ask whether specific...
The philosophical foundations of the veg(etari)an diet. Food choices as ethical choices Although recent decades have seen a substantial increase in talking about the moral value of nature, the discussion has not yet undermined the belief according to which we can use nature without restraint, as long as we respects other human beings. The food issue is a classic example: our very...
ABSTRACT: FROM STRONG TO WEAK AGRARIANISM A CONSEQUENTIALIST APPROACH TO PROTECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT The paper critiques traditional agrarianism, particularly Wendell Berry’s version, proposing a new form of agrarianism called weak agrarianism. Strong agrarianism holds local communities as morally valuable entities because they produce good moral qualities in...
Rethinking our Relationship with the Earth. Ecosophy and Cosmotheandrism in Raimon Panikkar This paper analyses the perspective of Raimon Panikkar, an eminent 20th century philosopher and theologian known for his intercultural approach and his contribution to interreligious dialogue. Drawing on his experiences and training in different cultural contexts, the paper highlights how...
The Work Of Giovanni Battista Quadri As Missed Precursor Of Modern Neurophysiology The work of the physician Giovanni Battista Quadri as a pioneering figure in Italian ophthalmology is well-known and it has been already discussed in various works. The present essay, by utilizing letters preserved in the Autografoteca Campori at the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria di Modena...
Du temps et des circonstances. On the extent of Jean-Baptist de Lamarck's transformism Jean-Baptist Lamarck's transformist theory was able to coordinate decisive arguments to undermine a static and prejudiced view of nature. However, many of his rich insights have been underestimated, distorted or ignored altogether. Particularly important is his insistence on the complex...
Morality and technology. The case of human enhancement The purpose of this paper is to probe the moral implications of human enhancements. According to a generally accepted thesis, enhancements are not only morally neutral, but a number of characteristics (naturalness, efficacy, improvement, etc.) make them acceptable and exempt them from any criticism or differentiation. Some...
Can artificial agents act? Conceptual constellation for a de-humanised theory of action This paper embarks on an exploration of the concept of agency, traditionally ascribed to humans, in the context of artificial intelligence (AI). In the first two sections, it challenges the conventional dichotomy of human agency and non- human instrumentality, arguing that advancements in...
Introductive notes on "Ecology and Revolution" by Herbert Marcuse It is presented here the first Italian translation of Ecology and Revolution, a discourse held by Herbert Marcuse in Paris, in June 1972, during a round table with other important intellectuals. The critical theorist shows the anti-ecological logic of the capitalist development and reflects on the possibility of...
Deep or Social Ecology? A Debate from Herbert Marcuse Marcuse After comparing the different perspectives of ‘Deep Ecology’ and ‘Social Ecology,’ the essay proceeds to analyze the Andrew Light’s proposal. Particular attention is paid to the role that Light believes Marcusian theory of nature and society could play to recompose the different perspectives.
Re-thinking with care waste: navigating the indeterminacy through feminist new materialism The purpose of this article is to propose an onto-epistemological reflection on waste. Specifically, I examine the "indeterminate" nature of waste and the ethical-political implications of this indeterminacy. Through the lens of feminist new materialisms, I observe how indeterminacy is an...
State of the art in the search for extrasolar planets In the last three decades, the study of exoplanets has evolved from a marginal field into a vital area of research with significant implications for other sciences and philosophy. In this article, we review the recent discoveries in the study of Earth-like planets and the prospects of searching for life through astronomical...
Exploring an extension to Dick's "intelligence principle" Revisiting Dick’s “Intelligence Principle” in the light of recent technological developments, I present an argument for why one might consider a slight extension to the Principle and I explore some of the implications of the suggested modification.
Lessons from Antarctica. For an ecology of the Solar System It seems plausible that the near future will see an ever greater expansion of human presence in several environments of the Solar System, such as the Moon and the planet Mars. This expansion will have multiple goals, of a scientific, exploitative-commercial, and perhaps military nature. This raises a series of ethical...
Into the Others’ mind. Remarks on the philosophy of geometry from Kant onwards The post-Kantian debate on the philosophy of geometry prevalently revolved around the question whether axioms are synthetic or analytic. In my view, this suggests that even though Kant’s philosophy often appeared as a critical target, it nonetheless provided a general frame of discussion. In this paper...
Are the characteristics of life as we know it universal? This paper explores the universality of life characteristics as we know them on Earth and addresses the “N=1 problem” – the challenge of making inferences about extraterrestrial life based on a single sample of life. We discuss Carol Cleland's proposal of a “Shadow Biosphere”, a hypothetical second biosphere with different...
Applied ethics as singular or plural? Disciplinary Pluralism and the Centrality of Science in the new Horizons of Bioethics The accelerated scientific and technological advancements of the 20th and 21st centuries have, on the one hand, created a gap between Sapiens’ technical abilities and its moral psychology. On the other, it has offered our species unprecedented possibilities...
Bioethics and the Ethics of Extinction This article explores the idea of rethinking bioethics in terms of an Ethics of extinction. After showing the centrality to contemporary ethical debates of extinction, the article shows how bioethics was the first broad disciplinary reflection on the ethical consequences of human actions potentially bringing about extinction. In particular...
From Subjectivity to Objectivity: Bernard Lonergan’s philosophy as a grounding for value sensitive design This article explores the potential of Bernard Lonergan’s philosophy of subjectivity as objectivity as a grounding for value sensitive design (VSD) and the design turn in applied ethics. The rapid pace of scientific and technological advancement has created a gap between...