Elena Casetta

In 2009, starting from articles and books published in earlier years, Maurizio Ferraris proposed his "documentality": a social ontology that, unlike the received view based on collective intentionality, identified the foundation of social objects in inscribed acts. Considering two social objects typical of Turin (the capital of Piedmont is the philosopher’s birthplace) such as Fiat and the University of Turin, this short paper discusses some of the theories that characterize such a social ontology. Particular attention is given to the theory that the identity of a social object and its permanence through time depend on the underlying inscription rather than, as in Searle’s position, on the underlying physical object. This thesis, it is argued, gains particular significance in the era of the World Wide Web. To quote the philosopher’s words, the web is an accelerator of documentality that has the characteristic of showing the very structure of social reality and, in so doing, of becoming a tool for change. Highlighting the conceptual line that combines Documentalità (2009) with one of Ferraris’ most recent works, Mobilitazione totale (2015), I argue that the web has a dual function: on the one hand, it reveals the emergence of society from nature, reproducing in observable times and in a monitored environment what cannot be directly perceived. On the other, it renders obvious its ultimate structure: that is, indeed, a documental structure.

Benché le specie biologiche possano a prima vista esser incluse tra gli oggetti naturali paradigmatici, molte obiezioni possono venire, e sono state, sollevate contro la loro indipendenza dalle pratiche tassonomiche e dalle pratiche scientifiche e sociali in senso lato. D’altro canto, basti pensare che lo stesso Darwin, nel secondo capitolo dell’Origine delle specie, affermava di guardare al termine di specie come arbitrariamente attribuito, in maniera convenzionale, a un insieme di individui strettamente somiglianti l’un l’altro. In questo articolo si tracciano le linee principali della questione se le specie siano oggetti sociali o piuttosto oggetti naturali alla luce di due tra le principali teorie degli oggetti sociali attualmente sul mercato, sostenute rispettivamente da John Searle e da Maurizio Ferraris.

In this paper, the need of increasing transdisciplinarity research is advocated. After having set out some peculiarity of transdisciplinarity compared with related concepts such as multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, four evolutionary stages of scientific disciplines, based on a model recently proposed are presented. This model is then applied to the case of Plant Physiology in order to attempt an evaluation of the potential for transdisciplinary engagement of the discipline, and each of the four stages of the discipline is evaluated. In conclusion, some future perspectives of Plant Physiology are sketched with reference to its transdisciplinary potential.

Despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so? The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. A different perspective on the problem shall here be considered, by exploring the conceptual and practical challenges posed by conserving biodiversity.

In recent years, we have assisted to an impressive effort to identify and catalogue biodiversity at the microbial level across a wide range of environments, human bodies included (e.g., skin, oral cavity, intestines). This effort, fostered by the decreasing cost of DNA sequencing, highlighted not only the vast diversity at the microbial level but also the importance of cells’ social interactions, potentially leading to the emergence of novel diversity. In this contribution, we shall argue that entities other than species, and in particular multispecies biofilms, might play a crucial—and still underestimated—role in increasing biodiversity as well as in conserving it. In particular, after having discussed how microbial diversity impacts ecosystems (Sect. 9.1), we argue (Sect. 9.2) that multispecies biofilms may increase biodiversity at both the genetic and phenotypic level. In Sect. 9.3 we discuss the possibility that multispecies biofilms, both heterotrophic and autotrophic, are evolutionary individuals, i.e. units of selection. In the conclusion, we highlight a major limitation of the traditional species-based approach to biodiversity origination and conservation.