Philosophy Kitchen - Rivista di filosofia contemporanea

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Philsophy Kitchen — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

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Philosophy Kitchen — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Never in history has so much been written. Novels, short stories, even poetry, are experiencing an unsuspected and perhaps unhoped-for flowering: but it is also and perhaps above all in the field of knowledge that the growth is incredible. In all the variegated and increasingly fragmented fields of knowledge, be it the so-called STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine) or HASS (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences), the most evident feature of academic production is in fact now its constant, exponential, unstoppable quantitative increase. Research production has transformed, becoming increasingly atomised, measurable, neo-liberal, surfable and iterative: but also original?

Il crepuscolo dei raminghi. Fenomenologia della ricerca contemporanea

Carlo Deregibus — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Never in history there have been so many papers, articles and books. But just as they increase, they seem to be less and less relevant. The paper inquiries into the deeply changed world of research, describing it as pulverised, measurable, neoliberal, surfable, iterative and, possibly, original. But in a growing tension between the increasing number of writings and their decreasing efficacy, what emerges from a broad survey among worldwide references is a whole system only aimed at evolving the already-known, and that severely discourages originality. This is why OFF TOPIC was born: to be the possible (last?) place where a wandering researcher could, always again, take refuge.

L’extraterrestre: l’alterità aliena negli esperimenti mentali in filosofia

Filippo Batisti, Francesco Montesi — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this essay, we will focus on the intersection between the history of a specific instance of mental experiments in philosophical argumentation – i.e. the extraterrestrial – and, on the other hand, the defining characteristics of the mental experiment as an argumentative tool. We argue that the second aspect can shed light on the first one. Through the analysis of different cases in which aliens have been evoked in philosophical mental experiments, we will assess their strengths and weaknesses at the level of argumentation, but not solely on technical grounds. We will show that the opposite is true as well, namely, that the case of aliens is relevant to the metaphilosophical debate on mental experiments: our analysis of this particular content will corroborate criticism regarding how effective mental experiments in philosophy are in general. Since the character of the extraterrestrial is strongly dependent on contextual and cultural factors, it is more difficult to understand by readers of mental experiments. The latter are, in turn, most effective when the antecedent of the counterfactual is readily and firmly grasped by readers. Thus, this makes aliens not as much effective characters in such fictional situations as one could expect, given their extreme narrative plasticity.

La questione della tecnica in Stiegler. Un confronto con Husserl e con la postfenomenologia

Federica Buongiorno — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this paper, I aim to elucidate the points of convergence and divergence between Stiegler’s interpretation of “technology” and the phenomenological perspective, specifically drawing upon the philosophies of Husserl, Heidegger, and postphenomenology (originally proposed by Don Ihde). The focal point of this exploration resides in the distinctive nature that Stiegler attributes to technology – an inherent and originary facet of human beings characterized as the prosthetic dimension. Intricately woven into the tapestry of human anthropology and epistemology, this dimension assumes a pivotal role in the progression of human evolution according to Stiegler.

Un’analisi semantica di alcune traduzioni di “democrazia” in Africa e Asia

Fiammetta Maria Campana — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Not all languages have a term for “democracy”. For this reason, they resort to translations (Min Zhu in China, Eddembe ery’obuntu in Uganda) or transliterations (Demokaraasi in Senegal, Demokrasya in Philippines). The analysis of linguistic transpositions shows that the meanings attributed to the word “democracy” vary greatly between cultures and, within the same society, between different groups. In this way it is possible to reveal which elements or values have prominence into the community considered. The differences in the way of thinking about democracy are so great that they make it impossible to attribute univocal meaning to the word “democracy”. The aim of this article is to show some cultural reasons for an open conception of democracy, which cannot coincide only with the liberal democratic model - which is a cultural product itself.

Classifiers. Doing Philosophy with Chinese Grammar

Caterina Del Sordo — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The approaches to the study of classifiers in the Chinese language developed within traditional and cognitive grammar imply a dualistic framework for the theory of knowledge. This article shows that the theses derived from such a framework within Chinese linguistics, particularly the thesis of the sharp distinction between unit and measure classifiers and that of a certain kind of reduction of sortals to mass terms, are empirically unreliable and poorly explicative. The paper outlines a non-dualistic philosophical framework helpful to address issues in which grammatical and philosophical aspects appear inextricably intertwined, as in the case of classifiers.

Zukunftswechsel. Überlegungen zu den Krisenbegriffen Reinhart Kosellecks und Giovanni Arrighis

Felix Leonhart Esch — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Theories of crisis generally follow one of two conceptual paths: crisis is either conceived of as a repetitive pattern or it is eschatologically regarded as the ultimate crisis. This paper discusses Reinhart Koselleck’s and Giovanni Arrighi’s struggles with this bifurcation in relation to their concepts of modern history. On different levels of abstraction, both authors grapple with the fact that the concepts and formations of modernity do not allow for neither of these options, but rather evoke a different solution that paradoxically makes the opposites collapse. In this regard, their theories resemble fragmentary reflections by Walter Benjamin and Karl Marx. In light of such theories and contemporary developments, these critical reflections may be fruitful points of departure for coming to terms with our surroundings.

L’interferenza. Culture, alterità, traduzioni

Marcello Ghilardi — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

In this era everything or almost everything is considered a “cultural” phenomenon. But the definition of culture has become increasingly elusive, complex, subject to peculiar interpretative practices. In order to think about the complexity of this phenomenon, it can be fruitful to develop new concepts as theoretical tools. One can be the notion of interference, understood as a movement, dynamism, or a “game” that convenes and relates distinct, but not separate elements and produces plural forms of subjectivity. Each particular form of interference is a “process of processes”, not of substances. It is structural to every human dimension: it is a sort of transcendental condition - every culture or subject is determined by dynamics of interference - but it declines empirically, historically, taking on specific traits and nuances. Cultures can therefore be understood as spaces for the manifestation of interference. By observing and highlighting some political, philosophical, literary, aesthetic phenomena of cultural interference - one can grasp cultures precisely as places of identity, projections, desires, struggles and never neutral negotiations in which we live, think, or change. We can therefore highlight the active, dynamic character of every cultural reality, without hypostatizing it into an immutable fact. The practices of exchange, clash, thought and shaping of experience, the interferences that are continually renewed do not respond to any specific need for linear progress, but favor oblique movements, variety and multiplicity over uniqueness or monodirectionality – as in the “game of the world” which was indicated by Heraclitus or Nietzsche and in the Indian context was called līlā.

Suzanne La Follette (1893-1983). Tra femminismo e pensiero libertarian

Alessandra Antonella Rita Maglie — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Suzanne La Follette is among the pioneers of feminism: in her works, libertarian feminism interacts with some key themes of US political thought. La Follette, journalist, editor and a collaborator of Albert Jay Nock, is the author of Concerning Women (1926). Here she puts forward the idea that there is a parallelism between the right of property and the submission of women, institutionalized by means of marriage. For this reason, gender equality is, for La Follette, an essentially “individualistic” question, to be sought outside the framework of the State: the author thus embraces the radical proposal for the abolition of marriage, as well as the idea of a minimal State. The aim of this essay is to understand La Follette’s thought in connection with some core-concepts from both liberalism and anarchism, through the lens of the feminist debate. My goal is to give a more nuanced account of her intellectual profile, as well as her radicalism. Studying the ideas of Concerning Women allows us to focus on the relationship between individual and authority in American libertarian thought: doing so through La Follette’s works means to deal not with an abstract individual, but – more effectively – with a “genderized” one.

Giochi mentali. Si può filosofare tramite i videogame? [Filosofia dei media (livelli 1 e 3 – game demo)]

Giacomo Pezzano — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

The paper discusses alternative forms of production and dissemination of philosophical knowledge, focusing specifically on video games. Firstly, §§ 1-2 introduce the question of the existence of a textual bias informing present academic practices and habits: § 1 discusses the cases of some new disciplines of the videoimages, while § 2 presents some examples taken from philosophy “of” image, “of” media, “of” video game, and pop-philosophy, insisting on the deep intertwining of philosophy with alphabetic writing. Then, §§ 3-5 address the question of whether it is actually possible to philosophize through video-images, considering the case of video games: § 3 highlights the existence of some gamephilosophers who produce and disseminate their research also through video games; § 4 distinguishes the different ways in which the connection between philosophy and video game can be conceived; § 5 states that it is possible to identify an analytic and a continental approach to philosophy made through video games. Finally, §§ 6-7 analyze the possible future evolution of philosophical discourse: § 6 points towards a mediologically more inclusive philosophical practice, and § 7 concludes by arguing the need to engage actively in the construction of a post-literate philosophy.

Thinking-with Physalias. Toward a Relational Account of Agency

Ilaria Santoemma — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

How do we evaluate our material assemblages today? Is it possible to account for the agency of matter while remaining within an anthropocentric and teleologically oriented frontier of thought? This paper uses a material-semiotic figuration, that of the marine creature Physalia physalis, to discuss the hypothesis of a relational account of agency. Through a reading of posthumanist and new materialist feminist thought, the paper aims to discuss how matter, a tangle of human and non-human, organic and inorganic agency, has been emptied of its agential potential. Taking up the witness of the Physalia, the arguments focus on the impactful capacity of materiality, disengaging it from a model of voluntarist, aprioristic agency or from any action informed by moral laws and intentionality. The aim is to ground preliminary reflections for a model of relational and distributed agency. The first section of the paper will therefore discuss the state of the art of posthumanities and the contributions of new materialism to an agential ontoepistemology of matter/nature. The second and third sections will develop the argument of material agency through the idea of sympoiesis. The Physalia figuration will be examined as representative of an innovative relational agential form. In conclusion, a hypothesis of multi-species agentivity conceived in the intra-agent relationality will be proposed through an example coming from cutting-edge bio-technoscientific advances, the one related to the CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

Marciano, il giurista dell’eruditio

Davide Sili — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Aelius Marcianus, Roman jurist active during the Severan age, is the author of the sixteen books of the Institutiones. Although little is known about his biography, he is characterized by a singular literary-philosophical education, capable of initiating a fruitful reflection regarding classical culture in general. His critical attitude reveals an extraordinary knowledge that involves multiple authors, jurists and non- jurists, varied doctrines and traditions. This eruditio allows him to be placed within the context of that Latin natural law theory which believes that general principles exist prior to human regulations. In this regard, the affirmation of Greek philosophy in Rome entails a profound revolution in jurisprudential dialectics: for the first time, alongside the three main foundations of Roman legal production, ius civile, ius honorarium, ius gentium, the ius naturale begins to be perceived autonomously, as an ordering system and manifestation of an infinite intelligence. This article aims to provide an unprecedented interpretation of this Severan jurist: the originality of the perspective adopted is expressed in overcoming the exegesis of Aelius Marcianus’s work limited to the understanding of the legislation and witnessed regulae, initiating a complex dialogue between multifaceted forms of knowledge.