Orthotes, Napoli-Salerno 2019, 331 pp. ISBN: 978-88-9314-226-7
The book it's a an introduction to Nicoali Hartmann's 'Philosophie der Natur', with some insights... more The book it's a an introduction to Nicoali Hartmann's 'Philosophie der Natur', with some insights on critical points: processual ontology of nature, emergence of living beings, the issues of causality and determination, ontological analysis of the personal identity (as a natural phenomenon).
The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von U... more The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. After a first introductory chapter by Morten Tønnessen and a second chapter on Uexküll's life and philosophical background, it contains four chapters devoted to the analysis of his main works. They are followed by a vast eighth chapter which deals with the influence Uexküll had on other philosophers and scientists. Finally, the author discloses his conclusions, focused on the possibility of updating Uexküll’s work. As far as the key issue is concerned, the Uexküllian Umwelt is the perceptive and operative world which surrounds animal species; it is a subjective species-specific construction which provides living organisms with great security and behaviour stability. The relationship that the animal carries out with its environment is a complex system of semiotic interactions: its behaviour is not a set of mechanical reactions, but a spontaneous attribution of meaning to the outside world.
This volume wants to explore the core of the philosophical anthropology of Susanne Langer: the bi... more This volume wants to explore the core of the philosophical anthropology of Susanne Langer: the birth of the symbolic consciousness in the phylogeny of the human species (as exposed primarily in the three volumes of "Mind. An Essay on Human Feeling"). With symbolic consciousness Langer means a cognitive organization based on language and symbolic representations. This organization discloses to man new opportunities of experience, that are qualitatively different from those of non-human animals. The symbolic consciousness is, therefore, an evolutionary innovation that, although genealogically connected to the animals' perceptive and operative configuration, is not reducible to it. It is not by chance that Langer's use of traditional evolutionary categories is accompanied by a deep need to reformulate them in order to make them more appropriate to the specific nature of man. If the anthropological approach of Langer is primarily cognitive, it should be emphasized that her enquiry cannot but lead to a frequent trespassing in fileds such as psychoanalysis, psychology and ethics. In this regard, the author pays special attention to the reconstruction proposed by Langer for the cultural development of man and to her concern about the excessive and ruthless desenchantment that is typical of the modern worldview.
Epidemics and Pandemics Philosophical Perspectives, 2024
This contribution has two main objectives. The
first is to isolate and define a particular trait ... more This contribution has two main objectives. The first is to isolate and define a particular trait of the CO VID-19 pandemic, namely its zoonotic character, in order to evaluate its importance in relation to other characteristics of this global health crisis. The second is to consider how the widespread awareness of the zoonotic character of the pandemic can change the view that the human species has of itself — its ‘perceived identity’, so to speak. Finally, we will try to understand whether the relationships, both practical and axiological, that the human species has with non-human animals can be influenced by this identity transformation
The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas o... more The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas of Formal Sciences, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. We are especially focused on the research involving the integration of two of more academic fields offering an innovative view, which is one of the main focuses of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), science without borders. Integrated Science is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record and will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct and correcting the literature.
The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas o... more The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas of Formal Sciences, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. We are especially focused on the research involving the integration of two of more academic fields offering an innovative view, which is one of the main focuses of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), science without borders. Integrated Science is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record and will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct and correcting the literature.
Il presente lavoro si propone due intenti principali. Da un lato esso vuole essere un'esposiz... more Il presente lavoro si propone due intenti principali. Da un lato esso vuole essere un'esposizione critica dei principali contenuti della "Philosophie der Natur" di Nicolai Hartmann (1951), vale a dire delle categorie dell'ontologia naturale esposte dal filosofo; dall'altro lato, il presente lavoro intende proporre una precisa chiave interpretativa, che consiste nel rilevamento, accanto alla tematica ontologico-categoriale, di analisi e materiali antropologico- filosofico e morale. In questo secondo ambito rientrano osservazioni sull'identit\ue0 personale come forma di permanenza non sostanziale, sull'autopercezione dell'essere umano e sulla sua l'azione nel mondo, sui rapporti tra l'essere umano e il vivente. Nell'ambito del secondo intento si cercher\ue0 di fondare l'analogia tra l'opera hartmanniana studiata e la kantiana "Antropologia pragmatica".The present doctoral thesis focuses on two main aims. On the one side, ...
In the work of Lorenz we find an initial phase of great concordance with Uexkülls theory of anima... more In the work of Lorenz we find an initial phase of great concordance with Uexkülls theory of animals’ surrounding-world (Umweltlehre), followed by a progressive distance and by the occurrence of more and more critical statements. The moment of greater cohesion between Lorenz and Uexküll is represented by the work Der Kumpan, which is focused on the concept of companion, functional circles, social Umwelt. The great change in Lorenz’ evaluation of Uexküll is marked by the conference of 1948 Referat über Jakob von Uexküll, where Lorenz highlights the vitalist position of Uexküll. In the works of the years after World War II, the influence of the Estonian Biologist greatly diminishes, even though Lorenz continues to express his admiration for particular studies and concepts of Uexküll. References to Uexküll’s work are less and far in between, while the difference is highlighted between the uexküllian theoretical frame (vitalistic) and Lorenz’s one (Darwinian and evolutionist). The two ma...
This paper focuses on the role played by Philippe Pinel’s Traite medico-philosophique sur l’alien... more This paper focuses on the role played by Philippe Pinel’s Traite medico-philosophique sur l’alienation mentale (1800), a fundamental text in 19th century European psychiatry, in Antonio Rosmini’s discussion of mental alienation, as it is developed in Antropologia in servizio della scienza morale (1844). As a secondary objective, our analysis aims at understanding whether Rosmini’s use of the Traite can help modify the critics’ assessment of Pinel’s figure and work, with particular regard to Michel Foucault’s well-known thesis in Histoire de la folie a l’âge classique (1961).
l biologo e filosofo della biologia estone-tedesco Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) gioca un ruolo d... more l biologo e filosofo della biologia estone-tedesco Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) gioca un ruolo di primo piano nello sviluppo del pensiero etico e antropologico di Romano Guardini. Elementi della biologia teorica di Uexküll entrano in gioco, in particolare, nella determinazione guardiniana del concetto di persona. Se da un lato la persona viene letta da Guardini come una configurazione gestaltica (e qui Guardini si rifà invece all'approccio di Wolfgang Köhler), dall'altro lato essa è vista come istanza formatrice di una sfera individuale del senso e del valore, di un mondo-ambiente originale e irripetibile. In questo secondo aspetto, Guardini sfrutta pienamente le potenzialità del concetto uexkülliano di Umwelt, recependone anche un tratto (la variabilità intra-specifica) spesso ignorato dagli interpreti.
Contributeurs : Francesco Paolo Adorno, Carlo Brentari, Gabriel Dorthe, Jean-Yves Goffi, Gilbert ... more Contributeurs : Francesco Paolo Adorno, Carlo Brentari, Gabriel Dorthe, Jean-Yves Goffi, Gilbert Hottois, Edouard Kleinpeter, Marina Maestrutti, Benoit Olié, Bruno Pinchard, Massimo Reichlin
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introductory Chapter 1. The life and Education of Jakob von Ue... more Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introductory Chapter 1. The life and Education of Jakob von Uexkull 1.1 The First Studies in Philosophy and Science 1.2 Research Trips and Contributions to Physiology 1.3 Arising of Political and Philosophical Interests and the Transition to Theoretical Biology 1.4 The Institut fur Umweltforschung in Hamburg 1.5 Frictions with the Nazi Regime and Death 2. The Basis of the Environmental Theory 2.1 Uexkull's Position in the Mechanist-Vitalist Debate 2.2 Periodization of Uexkull's Production 2.3 For a Teleological Biology: the Concept of Bauplan 2.4 Towards the Umwelt: the Concept of Milieu 2.5 The Issue of Protoplasm 3. The Subjective World of the Umwelt 3.1 The Origin of the Concept 3.2 The Gegenwelt 3.3 The Re perceived Environment as a Species-specific Transcendental Construction 4. The Structure of the Umwelt 4.1 The Functional Circle 4.2 The Human Observer's Environment 4.3 The Foundation of Theoretical Biology 4.3.1 Signs in the Env...
Orthotes, Napoli-Salerno 2019, 331 pp. ISBN: 978-88-9314-226-7
The book it's a an introduction to Nicoali Hartmann's 'Philosophie der Natur', with some insights... more The book it's a an introduction to Nicoali Hartmann's 'Philosophie der Natur', with some insights on critical points: processual ontology of nature, emergence of living beings, the issues of causality and determination, ontological analysis of the personal identity (as a natural phenomenon).
The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von U... more The book is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the Estonian-German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. After a first introductory chapter by Morten Tønnessen and a second chapter on Uexküll's life and philosophical background, it contains four chapters devoted to the analysis of his main works. They are followed by a vast eighth chapter which deals with the influence Uexküll had on other philosophers and scientists. Finally, the author discloses his conclusions, focused on the possibility of updating Uexküll’s work. As far as the key issue is concerned, the Uexküllian Umwelt is the perceptive and operative world which surrounds animal species; it is a subjective species-specific construction which provides living organisms with great security and behaviour stability. The relationship that the animal carries out with its environment is a complex system of semiotic interactions: its behaviour is not a set of mechanical reactions, but a spontaneous attribution of meaning to the outside world.
This volume wants to explore the core of the philosophical anthropology of Susanne Langer: the bi... more This volume wants to explore the core of the philosophical anthropology of Susanne Langer: the birth of the symbolic consciousness in the phylogeny of the human species (as exposed primarily in the three volumes of "Mind. An Essay on Human Feeling"). With symbolic consciousness Langer means a cognitive organization based on language and symbolic representations. This organization discloses to man new opportunities of experience, that are qualitatively different from those of non-human animals. The symbolic consciousness is, therefore, an evolutionary innovation that, although genealogically connected to the animals' perceptive and operative configuration, is not reducible to it. It is not by chance that Langer's use of traditional evolutionary categories is accompanied by a deep need to reformulate them in order to make them more appropriate to the specific nature of man. If the anthropological approach of Langer is primarily cognitive, it should be emphasized that her enquiry cannot but lead to a frequent trespassing in fileds such as psychoanalysis, psychology and ethics. In this regard, the author pays special attention to the reconstruction proposed by Langer for the cultural development of man and to her concern about the excessive and ruthless desenchantment that is typical of the modern worldview.
Epidemics and Pandemics Philosophical Perspectives, 2024
This contribution has two main objectives. The
first is to isolate and define a particular trait ... more This contribution has two main objectives. The first is to isolate and define a particular trait of the CO VID-19 pandemic, namely its zoonotic character, in order to evaluate its importance in relation to other characteristics of this global health crisis. The second is to consider how the widespread awareness of the zoonotic character of the pandemic can change the view that the human species has of itself — its ‘perceived identity’, so to speak. Finally, we will try to understand whether the relationships, both practical and axiological, that the human species has with non-human animals can be influenced by this identity transformation
The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas o... more The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas of Formal Sciences, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. We are especially focused on the research involving the integration of two of more academic fields offering an innovative view, which is one of the main focuses of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), science without borders. Integrated Science is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record and will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct and correcting the literature.
The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas o... more The Integrated Science Series aims to publish the most relevant and novel research in all areas of Formal Sciences, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Social Sciences. We are especially focused on the research involving the integration of two of more academic fields offering an innovative view, which is one of the main focuses of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), science without borders. Integrated Science is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record and will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct and correcting the literature.
Il presente lavoro si propone due intenti principali. Da un lato esso vuole essere un'esposiz... more Il presente lavoro si propone due intenti principali. Da un lato esso vuole essere un'esposizione critica dei principali contenuti della "Philosophie der Natur" di Nicolai Hartmann (1951), vale a dire delle categorie dell'ontologia naturale esposte dal filosofo; dall'altro lato, il presente lavoro intende proporre una precisa chiave interpretativa, che consiste nel rilevamento, accanto alla tematica ontologico-categoriale, di analisi e materiali antropologico- filosofico e morale. In questo secondo ambito rientrano osservazioni sull'identit\ue0 personale come forma di permanenza non sostanziale, sull'autopercezione dell'essere umano e sulla sua l'azione nel mondo, sui rapporti tra l'essere umano e il vivente. Nell'ambito del secondo intento si cercher\ue0 di fondare l'analogia tra l'opera hartmanniana studiata e la kantiana "Antropologia pragmatica".The present doctoral thesis focuses on two main aims. On the one side, ...
In the work of Lorenz we find an initial phase of great concordance with Uexkülls theory of anima... more In the work of Lorenz we find an initial phase of great concordance with Uexkülls theory of animals’ surrounding-world (Umweltlehre), followed by a progressive distance and by the occurrence of more and more critical statements. The moment of greater cohesion between Lorenz and Uexküll is represented by the work Der Kumpan, which is focused on the concept of companion, functional circles, social Umwelt. The great change in Lorenz’ evaluation of Uexküll is marked by the conference of 1948 Referat über Jakob von Uexküll, where Lorenz highlights the vitalist position of Uexküll. In the works of the years after World War II, the influence of the Estonian Biologist greatly diminishes, even though Lorenz continues to express his admiration for particular studies and concepts of Uexküll. References to Uexküll’s work are less and far in between, while the difference is highlighted between the uexküllian theoretical frame (vitalistic) and Lorenz’s one (Darwinian and evolutionist). The two ma...
This paper focuses on the role played by Philippe Pinel’s Traite medico-philosophique sur l’alien... more This paper focuses on the role played by Philippe Pinel’s Traite medico-philosophique sur l’alienation mentale (1800), a fundamental text in 19th century European psychiatry, in Antonio Rosmini’s discussion of mental alienation, as it is developed in Antropologia in servizio della scienza morale (1844). As a secondary objective, our analysis aims at understanding whether Rosmini’s use of the Traite can help modify the critics’ assessment of Pinel’s figure and work, with particular regard to Michel Foucault’s well-known thesis in Histoire de la folie a l’âge classique (1961).
l biologo e filosofo della biologia estone-tedesco Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) gioca un ruolo d... more l biologo e filosofo della biologia estone-tedesco Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) gioca un ruolo di primo piano nello sviluppo del pensiero etico e antropologico di Romano Guardini. Elementi della biologia teorica di Uexküll entrano in gioco, in particolare, nella determinazione guardiniana del concetto di persona. Se da un lato la persona viene letta da Guardini come una configurazione gestaltica (e qui Guardini si rifà invece all'approccio di Wolfgang Köhler), dall'altro lato essa è vista come istanza formatrice di una sfera individuale del senso e del valore, di un mondo-ambiente originale e irripetibile. In questo secondo aspetto, Guardini sfrutta pienamente le potenzialità del concetto uexkülliano di Umwelt, recependone anche un tratto (la variabilità intra-specifica) spesso ignorato dagli interpreti.
Contributeurs : Francesco Paolo Adorno, Carlo Brentari, Gabriel Dorthe, Jean-Yves Goffi, Gilbert ... more Contributeurs : Francesco Paolo Adorno, Carlo Brentari, Gabriel Dorthe, Jean-Yves Goffi, Gilbert Hottois, Edouard Kleinpeter, Marina Maestrutti, Benoit Olié, Bruno Pinchard, Massimo Reichlin
Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introductory Chapter 1. The life and Education of Jakob von Ue... more Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introductory Chapter 1. The life and Education of Jakob von Uexkull 1.1 The First Studies in Philosophy and Science 1.2 Research Trips and Contributions to Physiology 1.3 Arising of Political and Philosophical Interests and the Transition to Theoretical Biology 1.4 The Institut fur Umweltforschung in Hamburg 1.5 Frictions with the Nazi Regime and Death 2. The Basis of the Environmental Theory 2.1 Uexkull's Position in the Mechanist-Vitalist Debate 2.2 Periodization of Uexkull's Production 2.3 For a Teleological Biology: the Concept of Bauplan 2.4 Towards the Umwelt: the Concept of Milieu 2.5 The Issue of Protoplasm 3. The Subjective World of the Umwelt 3.1 The Origin of the Concept 3.2 The Gegenwelt 3.3 The Re perceived Environment as a Species-specific Transcendental Construction 4. The Structure of the Umwelt 4.1 The Functional Circle 4.2 The Human Observer's Environment 4.3 The Foundation of Theoretical Biology 4.3.1 Signs in the Env...
In twentieth-century continental philosophy, German philosophical anthropology (Max Scheler, Helm... more In twentieth-century continental philosophy, German philosophical anthropology (Max Scheler, Helmuth Plessner, and Arnold Gehlen) can be seen as a sort of conceptual laboratory devoted to human/animal research, and, in particular, to the discontinuity between human and non-human animals. Its main notion-the idea of the special position of humans in nature-is one of the first philosophical attempts to think of the specificity of humans as a natural and qualitative difference from non-human animals. This school of thought correctly rejects both the metaphysical and/or religious characterisations of humans, and the positivistic gradualism, that sees the human being as an animal endowed with a greater degree of certain faculties (intelligence, etc.). At the same time, German philosophical anthropology still takes it for granted that such natural-qualitative novelty is unique in the realm of the living, that in correspondence with humans there is the hiatus, the discontinuity par excellence. The semiotic side of this view is the distinction between signs and symbols developed by Ernst Cassirer and Susanne Langer: animal signs would be mere proxies for perceptive elements or stimuli, whereas only human symbols could convey complex representation of objects and situations. The goal of this contribution is to criticise the alleged uniqueness of the hiatus and its semiotic implications through the opposite approach of the diffuse discontinuities. This approach that focuses on the semiotic traits of different species-specific environments (Umwelten) can be traced back to Jakob von Uexküll's biosemiotical phenomenology, which thinks of discontinuities as a normal phenomenon of animal life.
This paper offers an initial investigation of some philosophical-anthropological and phenomenolog... more This paper offers an initial investigation of some philosophical-anthropological and phenomenological aspects of Nicolai Hartmann's Philosophie der Natur. In this work, besides the critical analysis of the ontological articulation of the natural being, Hartmann shows great interest in the spontaneous, unmediated usage of some categories of natural ontology (space, time, causality, process, and so on). Our particular focus is Hartmann's analysis of the pre-critical spatial self-perception of the subject, that reveals wide-ranging links with the phenomenologically relevant issues of the living corporeity (Leiblichkeit) and the delimitation of a personal sphere of experience.
“Warfare is only an invention-not a biological necessity”: con queste celebri parole, l’antropolo... more “Warfare is only an invention-not a biological necessity”: con queste celebri parole, l’antropologa Margareth Mead sostenne con forza l’idea che la guerra non fosse la conseguenza inevitabile di una propensione innata alla violenza, ma un’invenzione culturale. Prendendo spunto da questa provocazione, il seminario propone una riflessione sulla predisposizione dell’essere umano alla violenza. L’essere umano è programmato per natura alla violenza e alla guerra? O violenza e guerra sono costruzioni culturali? Tali quesiti, che costituiranno il punto di partenza delle nostre riflessioni, sono stati affrontati anche dall’antropologia culturale, dall’etologia e dalla primatologia. Elena Franchi esporrà il dibattito condotto nell’ambito dell’antropologia culturale e dell'antropologia del mondo antico; Carlo Brentari presenterà alcune tesi emerse negli studi sul comportamento animale (a partire dal libro di Konrad Lorenz sull’aggressività) e nelle ricerche sulle scimmie antropomorfe. Seguirà una parte dialogica in cui gli studenti saranno stimolati a proporre le proprie riflessioni.
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Books by carlo brentari
If the anthropological approach of Langer is primarily cognitive, it should be emphasized that her enquiry cannot but lead to a frequent trespassing in fileds such as psychoanalysis, psychology and ethics. In this regard, the author pays special attention to the reconstruction proposed by Langer for the cultural development of man and to her concern about the excessive and ruthless desenchantment that is typical of the modern worldview.
Papers by carlo brentari
first is to isolate and define a particular trait of the CO VID-19
pandemic, namely its zoonotic character, in order to evaluate its
importance in relation to other characteristics of this global health
crisis. The second is to consider how the widespread awareness
of the zoonotic character of the pandemic can change the view
that the human species has of itself — its ‘perceived identity’, so to
speak. Finally, we will try to understand whether the relationships,
both practical and axiological, that the human species has with
non-human animals can be influenced by this identity transformation
If the anthropological approach of Langer is primarily cognitive, it should be emphasized that her enquiry cannot but lead to a frequent trespassing in fileds such as psychoanalysis, psychology and ethics. In this regard, the author pays special attention to the reconstruction proposed by Langer for the cultural development of man and to her concern about the excessive and ruthless desenchantment that is typical of the modern worldview.
first is to isolate and define a particular trait of the CO VID-19
pandemic, namely its zoonotic character, in order to evaluate its
importance in relation to other characteristics of this global health
crisis. The second is to consider how the widespread awareness
of the zoonotic character of the pandemic can change the view
that the human species has of itself — its ‘perceived identity’, so to
speak. Finally, we will try to understand whether the relationships,
both practical and axiological, that the human species has with
non-human animals can be influenced by this identity transformation