Luca Magni

A man stands barefoot on the sand, his back to us, his shoes in his hand, his shadow gathered close against his feet. Within seconds we have decided what the scene means, long before we have found a word for it. How does that happen? What Art Keeps Out of Sight answers with the Theory of the Learnable, a framework born in the study of language and leadership. At the heart of the book is the Umbra Cone, the region that every representation shelters from view so that something else can come forward. The authors show that what a work keeps out of sight is part of what it means, that the shape of that shadow can be described, and that whoever shapes a configuration for others is answerable for it. Their distinction between earned closure, which passes through a real rupture and keeps its alternatives alive, and sealed closure, the closure of kitsch and propaganda, speaks directly to an age of feeds, generated images and messages built to leave no room for doubt. From Leonardo, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Holbein, Rothko and Richter to contemporary painters such as Gonzho, Pippo, Cristian Mesa Velázquez and Samantha French, the book follows a single method of seven steps, clear enough to be taught and open enough to be disputed. It offers critics, curators, and art historians a new way of reading works; painters a vocabulary for reflecting on their own practice; and leaders a precise account of what it means to shape how others see. Luca Magni, Giorgio Marchetti, and Ahlam Alharbi, the co-developers of the Theory of the Learnable, bring together philosophy, organizational psychology, the science of mind, and critical discourse analysis in a book that asks us to look again at every image we are shown and at what it is keeping from us.

Derek Parfit affirmed that personal identity is not a deep further fact, and he described the discovery as liberating: the walls of the glass tunnel in which he had seemed to live disappeared. This article asks what kind of relation is left once the further fact is gone. Parfit's answer, Relation R, is a relation of preservation: it measures how much of the past is carried forward, and its stronger component, connectedness, weakens with distance. I argue that this leaves out a second relation, reinterpretive depth: the extent to which later mental life has reworked earlier experience by successive inversions of its reading. The argument draws on the Systems of Reinterpretation, in which self, ego, and identity are functional systems for the recursive reinterpretation of a finite stock of experience. Variants of Parfit's own teletransportation cases show that depth is reductionist and can hold with any cause, but that it varies independently of R and of a person's narrative; this distinguishes it from narrative self-constitution. Three boundary conditions (fidelity to the record, derivation from an earlier reading, integrability into a trajectory) separate depth from fabrication, imposition, and drift. The main consequence concerns Parfit's argument that it is not irrational to care less about one's further future: the argument holds only if preservation is all that matters. Once depth is admitted, the distant future self is not a fading copy of the present one, but its reader, and what licenses a discount is the expected fate of the capacity to reinterpret, not distance. Identity is not what matters, but it is what makes what matters possible.

This introduction to Learnable Theory and Analysis leverages several contributions that Italian researchers and research centers have provided in Philosophy, Linguistics and Neurosciences. Contributions which appear particularly relevant in the construction of a solid link between Philosophy and Business Studies. A link which has the ambition to guide both Academics and Practitioners of Management across the tumultuous waters of Philosophy, Linguistics and Neurosciences, whose investigations the authors here present and develop in view of new opportunities of deeper understanding and broader interventions. Contributions of scholars such as Giacomo Rizzolatti and Silvio Ceccato, as well as the work of others who have been following their tracks and, in some cases, even drastically reconsidered their propositions, are here highly leveraged and celebrated together with Roy Bhaskar’s revolutionary ontological framework and George Lakoff’s and Mark Johnson’s enlightening studies on metaphors.

Learnable Linguistics for Business Leaders offers an in-depth examination of the significant influence language exerts on decision-making and behavior within the business sphere. The book delves into the intricate interplay between linguistic structures and human cognitive processes, presenting a novel perspective on how language shapes our perceptions and actions. Structured into five chapters, this book analyses various aspects of language function within a business environment. Chapter 1, "What it is in language that engages listeners", investigates the attention-based mechanisms inherent in grammatical classes that captivate audiences. Chapter 2, "How language enchains speakers", discusses the empowering effect of language on speakers and their ability to influence audiences effectively. Chapter 3, "Why more is less and why less is more", explores the impact of verbosity and conciseness in communication, advocating the effectiveness of a minimalist approach. Chapter 4, "Where the talking paves the way to new walking", examines the use of paradoxical adjectives and grammatical discrepancies in shaping public opinion and forging new realities. Chapter 5, "When the walking paves the way to new talking", utilises the experiences of the Italian novelist Alberto Moravia, in the Sahara, as a case study to illustrate how language aids in understanding and articulating new concepts by relating them to our pre-existing knowledge. The concluding remarks, Learnable Linguistics in a nutshell, encapsulate the book's core themes, emphasizing the strategic use of language for business leaders to communicate in an inclusive and adaptable manner. Throughout the book, the authors introduce a series of analytical tools and concepts, such as the Umbra Cone and Linguistic Exorcisms, to aid readers in comprehending and applying the principles of Learnable Linguistics in managerial contexts. The book concludes with a call to action for business leaders to embrace linguistic precision, embrace paradoxes, develop narratives, and engage in continuous learning to effectively navigate the complexities of business communication and negotiation.