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13Structures Mères: Semantics, Mathematics, and Cognitive Science (edited book)Springer. 2020.This book reports on cutting-edge concepts related to Bourbaki’s notion of structures mères. It merges perspectives from logic, philosophy, linguistics and cognitive science, suggesting how they can be combined with Bourbaki’s mathematical structuralism in order to solve foundational, ontological and epistemological problems using a novel category-theoretic approach. By offering a comprehensive account of Bourbaki’s structuralism and answers to several important questions that have arisen in con…Read more
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16Natural EpistemologyHumana Mente 16 (43). 2023.I now intend to return to Husserl’s argument against psychologism in logic, aiming to frame it within the broader antinaturalistic controversy and see how recent proposals of a natural (or naturalized) epistemology could affect it.
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E-Ora-te-lo-scrivo-questions about Preti, Giulio and his philosophyRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 50 (2): 437-450. 1995.
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Definire la verità, tutta la verità, nient'altro che la veritàRivista di Filosofia 86 (1): 3-54. 1995.
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9A Plea for Balance in Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Paolo Parrini (edited book)Edizioni ETS. 2013.
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Prolegomena to a Theory of KindsIn John Macnamara & Gonzalo E. Reyes (eds.), The Logical Foundations of Cognition, Oxford University Press Usa. pp. 177-211. 1994.
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19Explanation and Causality: a List of IssuesHumana Mente 8 (29). 2015.After a concise description of issues concerning the causal and the deductive-nomological models of explanation, the flaws in the alternative view centred on relevance-to-context are examined. The paper argues for the need of a wider spectrum of options which takes into account both the Local/Global and the Internal/External aspects in order to determine the sense and the adequacy of any explanation. As a test for this argument, some specific problems are considered about the range of causal bon…Read more
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28What’s behind meaning?Journal of Philosophical Investigations at University of Tabriz 11 (21): 119-145. 2017.The paper addresses the main questions to be dealt with by any semantic theory which is committed to provide an explanation of how meaning is possible. On one side the paper argues that the resources provided by the development of mathematical logic, theoretical computer science, cognitive psychology, and general linguistics in the 20th Century, however indispensable to investigate the structure of language, rely on the existence of end products in the morphogenesis of meaning. On the other, the…Read more
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25Beyond a division: Giulio Preti and the dispute between analytic and continental philosophyDiogenes 54 (4): 47-58. 2007.This paper discusses the positions of Italian philosopher Giulio Preti in relation to the quarrel between Analytic and Continental philosophy. Preti?s thought appears as a systematic thought permitting to overcome, through his logical, epistemological and linguistic reflection, the divide between these two approaches. The different features of his philosophy are analyzed here in detail and compared to the main theoretical assumptions of Analytic and Continental philosophy.
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20Cinquant'anni portati come? L'inizio di Praxis ed empirismoAnnali Del Dipartimento di Filosofia 17 179-209. 2011.Giulio Preti’s third book, Praxis ed empirismo, appeared in 1957. The present paper, written on the occasion of 50 years since its publication, deals with its first chapter, in which the extraction of basic ideas of logical empiricism, pragmatism and historical materialism leads to a Program for a democratic culture pivoting on the role of scientific education. The main tenets of this Program are listed and the resulting role of philosophy, as “philosophy of culture”, is analysed and discussed
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20Lo spirito positivo, ovvero le regole del "bon ton" epistemologicoIride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica 16 (1): 117-124. 2003.
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27Ilge interference patterns in semantics and epistemologyAxiomathes 13 (1): 39-64. 2002.The issue as to whether an atomistic or holistic viewof knowledge and meaning is correct relies on the way part/whole relationships is analysed,exactly as the issue as to whether a constructive or realistic view of knowledge and meaningis correct relies on the way internal/external relationships is analysed. Both theprinciple of compositionality and the context principle depend on how finely the constituents,the nature and the size of the context are identified; both the notion of meaning andthe…Read more
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31Au-delà d'un clivage : Giulio Preti et la querelle entre analytiques et continentauxDiogène 216 (4): 56-70. 2006.
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The sieve of isms in the work. Or rather as a student interpreting Que sera seraRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 61 (3): 637-651. 2006.
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33Naturalizzazione: vie e ostacoliAnnali Del Dipartimento di Filosofia 18 217-254. 2012.Can epistemology be naturalized? The question has more than one sense. There are many forms of both the naturalistic stance and its denial in relation to different topics and by means of different strategies. Only some of them are instantiated in the existing literature. After a taxonomy of the range of possible forms of naturalism and anti-naturalism, the paper suggests an emergentist view which shifts the issue from psychology to cosmology.
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32HolismGrazer Philosophische Studien 46 (1): 231-282. 1993.The paper deals with three sources of holistic arguments: confirmation of scientific theories, translation between languages, and the relationships of meaning with belief. Certain difficulties of each of the involved versions of holism are pointed out: such difficulties concern the lack of evidence in support of holistic theses, as well as the presence of slippery slope arguments, and finally inconsistencies, in holism. We argue that the dualism of atomism and holism is just a polarization of a …Read more
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21Compositionality up to ParametersProtoSociology 21 41-66. 2005.The principle of compositionality (PC) claims that the meaning of a compound expression is determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the way they compose. Is it true or false? Does it apply to both natural and formalised languages? In order to answer, we must examine various formal versions of PC, the notion of meaning and the patterns of composition. Moreover, further principles are called for to determine its import and, in particular, its relationships with the Context Pri…Read more
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26Il lifting categoriale dalla topologia alla logicaAnnali Del Dipartimento di Filosofia 11 51-78. 2005.The main motivation of the paper lies in an argument which shows the relevance of the topological notion of lifting for semantic theory. After a brief examination of aspects of knowledge which are described by means of concepts of algebraic geometry, the development of a functorial connection between topology and group theory is related to aspects of logical analysis. In categorical terms, lifting is, with extension, a form of division. As such it is investigated here, starting from simple examp…Read more
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26"E ora te lo scrivo"! Interrogativi su PretiRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 50 (2): 437. 1995.
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24L’ia E La SemanticaAnnali Del Dipartimento di Filosofia 8 191-227. 2002.The development of Artificial Intelligence has led to many controversies of philosophical interest involving issues of logic, computer science, software engeneering. The paper goes through the main steps of this development, deals with their philosophical relevance and sketches the unsolved problems, with special emphasis on the AI models of semantic competence. Some criticisms raised to such models in AI, either in its “classical” or “neural networks” format, are examined. On the ground of the …Read more