Maria Russo

“Cosa sarebbe una società che obbedisse automaticamente a una parola d’ordine trasmessa meccanicamente, che regolasse su di essa la sua scienza e la sua coscienza, e che avesse perduto, con il senso della giustizia, la nozione di verità? Cosa sarebbe un’umanità in cui la forza brutale prendesse il posto della forza morale?” Sono trascorsi pochi mesi dallo scoppio del primo conflitto mondiale, quando Henri Bergson pone questi drammatici interrogativi. Incaricato dal governo francese, nel 1917 e nel 1918, di due missioni diplomatiche presso la presidenza degli Stati Uniti, svolgerà questo compito anche attraverso la parola, scritta e orale, da alcuni giudicata semplice propaganda patriottica, di scarso interesse filosofico. Invece, in questo volume i suoi testi del periodo bellico, confrontati con alcune lettere degli anni 1914- 1936, sono esaminati come una tappa fondamentale di un itinerario speculativo che dai temi metafisici lo condurrà a quelli più squisitamente morali. Aver sperimentato la fatale alleanza tra il progresso tecnico e la forza brutale, indurrà infatti Bergson a porre in termini nuovi l’interrogativo sulla guerra e sulla storia stessa, considerando la costruzione della pace inseparabile da un profondo rinnovamento morale e da personalità esemplari capaci di attivare le necessarie risorse spirituali.

We argue that, given that the act of eating is rational and relational, it should also be an educational issue dealing with society and environment, politics and health, tastes and trends, as well as genetic and epigenetic factors. This hypothesis arises from a particular theory of the human act and an anthropological approach based on the philosophical speculations of MacIntyre and Aristotle. We argue that eating choices are “hybrids of freedom,” rationality, and unconscious and environmental elements. Finally, we suggest that people have to change their habits in order to transform the human way of acting, since every human act can change the human essence and vice versa.

Reflecting on subjectivity is one of the fundamental questions of modern thinking. In the second half of the twentieth century this reflection is mainly focused on two keys: the knowledge of sex and the knowledge of gender. What symbolic and ethical importance does the sexual body have? How to consider the sexual difference? Which role does the perception of gender play in the establishment of the identity? Finally, which type of relation does exist between sexuality and political power? These are questions which are faced for the first time by philosophy in a large and systematic way, thanks also to the reflection of thinkers, men and women, who are more or less close to the area of diversified feminism. Among the many voices of this debate there are of particular interest the ones who, on the basis of a phenomenology of the sexual body, intend to refuse the neutral conception of identity and emphasize the insuppressible character of the difference between man and woman. Nevertheless, affirming that sexual difference is something ontologically original and absolute does evoke further questions which require a more solid metaphysical and anthropological perspective.

In this article, I intend to propose an ethical model for digital solidarity. On the one hand, it emphasises the importance of adopting a solidarity model to escape the logic of surveillance capitalism and the race for profits typical of the digital giants’ business model. On the other, it is intended to point out that a model of solidarity embodied in the digital network may instead offer a more universalistic alternative to the types of solidarity that have often imposed themselves in our contemporary political landscape, namely solidarity limited to groups in opposition to others. In order to show what economic and political characteristics this model should respect, two case studies will be examined, namely Wikipedia and Occupy Wall Street.

The discourse on the body today appears problematic because the uncertain and changing characteristics of our culture, whose postmodern title is by now insufficient and controversial, place it at the crossroads of ethical, political and biomedical issues. In this paper, the theme is articulated around the dissociation between body and freedom, indicated by several parties as one of the characteristics of the modern subject. This dissociation is at the root of the fundamental ambivalence with which one looks at the body: on the one hand it is exalted as an image of one’s own identity, on the other one attempts to control it in its dynamisms, in the name of individual self-determination. This ambivalence also concerns the progress of biomedical techniques: these are acclaimed if considered a resource for the management of one’s body or, on the contrary, rejected if considered an obstacle to self-affirmation. The positive proposal presupposes an integral anthropology, which overcomes both a naturalistic vision of the body and a purely symbolic vision.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyse nurses’ professional dignity in their everyday working lives. We explored the factors that affect nursing professional dignity in practice that emerge in relationships with health professionals, among clinical nurses working in hospitals and in community settings in central Italy. The main themes identified were: (i) nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement; (ii) recognition of dignity beyond professional roles. These two concepts are interconnected. This study provides insights into professional dignity in nursing being perceived as an achievement linked to the intrinsic dignity of every human being. The ‘nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement’ was perceived as having declined in different social factors. Some factors of nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement were attained more easily in community settings. ‘Recognition of dignity beyond professional roles’ underpins the intrinsic dignity as an expression of humanity, embedded in persons regardless of any profession, and values, such as: respect, moral integrity, humility, working conscientiously and kindness

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyse nurses’ professional dignity in their everyday working lives. We explored the factors that affect nursing professional dignity in practice that emerge in relationships with health professionals, among clinical nurses working in hospitals and in community settings in central Italy. The main themes identified were: (i) nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement; (ii) recognition of dignity beyond professional roles. These two concepts are interconnected. This study provides insights into professional dignity in nursing being perceived as an achievement linked to the intrinsic dignity of every human being. The ‘nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement’ was perceived as having declined in different social factors. Some factors of nursing professional dignity perceived as an achievement were attained more easily in community settings. ‘Recognition of dignity beyond professional roles’ underpins the intrinsic dignity as an expression of humanity, embedded in persons regardless of any profession, and values, such as: respect, moral integrity, humility, working conscientiously and kindness.

La figura de Concepción Arenal es poliédrica: periodista, filósofa, pedagoga, abogada penalista, poeta y activista de los derechos civiles y sociales, se caracteriza por una decidida independencia política e ideológica. Su propuesta educativa y reformista dirigida a las categorías más vulnerables -el niño, el indigente, el preso, la mujer- es animada por una visión donde la cuestión social es entendida siempre como cuestión moral e incluso religiosa. Por esto, en sus escritos y en su acción, los ideales de justicia siempre se acompañan con el rechazo de toda forma de violencia, con la necesidad de promover la mejora económica junto con la elevación moral, y con la exigencia de humanizar cualquier forma de asistencia con el calor de la caridad.

Abstract“Patient-centred care” is the recent response to the malaise produced in the field of health care from the point of view both of a technical mentality and the paternalistic model. The interest in the story-telling approach shown by both the humanities and the social sciences has favoured a “narrative turn” in medicine too, where the new ethics of therapeutic relationship consider the hermeneutic method a means by which to integrate evidence and subjectivity, scientific data and patient experience. The aim of this paper is to show how Ricoeur’s theory of “threefold mimesis” makes a conceptual contribution to the use of narrative interviews in nursing and also be successfully transferred into and applied in the field of healthcare in general. First, the paper examines how this narrative approach might open up new possibilities for the acquisition of in-depth knowledge of patients’ life experiences, a condition indispensable for the improvement of the quality of care. Secondly, it highlights how this Ricoeurian method seems capable of provide an opportunity for healthcare professionals to review their own understanding of the caregiver-patient therapeutic relationship, beginning with their confrontation with the patient’s world as revealed by the narrative they provide.

This book offers a broad and timely perspective on research on olfaction and its current technological challenges. It specifically emphasizes the interdisciplinary context in which olfaction is investigated in contemporary research. From aesthetics to sociology, from bioengineering to anthropology, the different chapters discuss a wide variety of issues arising from olfaction research and its application in different contexts. By highlighting the overlaps between different areas of research, the book fosters a better communication between disciplines and leads towards a better understanding of the role of olfaction in human perception and cognition. This inspiring read is of interest to students, researchers and practitioners in psychology, philosophy, bioengineering, and cultural studies.

The great leap forward of medicine in the twentieth century contributed to the myth of the repression of vulnerability accompanied by the illusion of individual control and self-determination. However, epidemics, like major natural disasters, have continued to act as elements capable of upsetting scientific optimism. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its uncertain causes and unpredictable effects, has led to authentic demythologisation and caused a “return of the repressed”: a feeling of vulnerability along with dramatic awareness of our mortality. This phenomenon has been accompanied by a re-emerging demand for meaning, which has led to a more direct confrontation with the drama of suffering and the need for a personal relationship with the sacred, finally rediscovering the public dimension of prayer. Firstly, the article outlines in its essential features the ambiguity of the pre-pandemic cultural horizon. Secondly, it analyses the characteristics of the rise of a new sensibility, by referring also to the notion of prayer as a “political issue” coined by Jean Daniélou.

Julián Marías (1914-2005) è un pensatore ancora poco conosciuto al lettore italiano, spesso oscurato dall’ombra del suo celebre maestro, José Ortega y Gasset. Filosofo indipendente e coraggioso, offre una proposta più coerente rispetto a Ortega sul tema essenziale comune a entrambi: il poter “dare ragione” della vita evitando gli opposti scogli del razionalismo e del vitalismo. “Dare ragione” della vita significa comprenderla nella sua “condizione morale” che trova espressione nel desiderio di felicità, nell’esigenza di amore e di amicizia, nei differenti vissuti di ciascuna età. Significa riconoscerne la dimensione elettiva: vivere è preferire, saper fornire ragioni per l’opzione di qualcosa rispetto a qualcos’altro. Per questo motivo, più che alla categoria del bene, l’attenzione è rivolta a quella del meglio, fondamentale per comprendere il senso pieno delle proprie scelte e dell’intera trama della propria biografia.

This article analyses Sartre's conflicting interpretations of human relationality in Critique of Dialectical Reason and Hope Now in order to demostrate two things. First, that the social dynamics leading to the formation of what Sartre calls “fused groups” and “fraternity-terror” are still at play in current manifestations of exclusionary and antagonistic conceptions of identity politics, which we contend constitute a risk for contemporary democracy. Second, that an alternative conception of “fraternity-without-terror”, whose foundations can be found in Sartre's latest reflections upon the possibility of a normative ethics of reciprocity, can pave the ground to a fairer model of political solidarity.

This article examines Sartre’s works in which his attempt to find an existentialist ethics is evident. Most of the clues to this project are to be found in texts published posthumously since during his lifetime he never managed to fulfil the promise he made at the end of Being and Nothingness. It will be argued that this existentialist ethics owes a strong debt to Kantian philosophy, even if it confronts more directly the historical dynamics of violence and oppression. Despite the fact that this project is unfinished and only sketched out, it is possible to ask what Sartre’s direction of development would have been, pointing to the outline of a normative theory, Critical Existentialism, that could have its place in contemporary ethical debate.

In this paper, I will present how film, and especially science fiction, illustrates and considers the theme of genetic engineering in its ethical implications. Drawing from the work of Thomas Wartenberg, I suggest that movies can be read as philosophy, since they present philosophical argumentations in the form of narrative. I will discuss popular science fiction films that address this theme, showcasing some of the most recurrent reflections and representations of future scientific and technological developments in the field of genetic engineering. Finally, I will focus on the movie Gattaca in an analysis that presents its philosophical argument. Quoting Wartenberg’s categories, I will argue that Gattaca is both a thought experiment, illustrating a possible society where it is possible to decide the genetic code of one’s children, and a critique of genetic determinism.