L'animalità in questione

In this paper I try to reply to the comments and objections raised from the target book of this symposium, Filosofia dell’animalità (FdA). In particular, I will try to make more clear and explicit FdA thesis and to better elucidate their theoretical consequences

“Me” as speech act: a performative based psychology

We propose to define a psychological hypothesis for the word “me” that designates, for each human being, his or her personal interior Ego. Every human being is naturally an Ego – it is a question of learning the particular linguistic sound (or the particular sign gesture in a sign language) in which it is named in one’s mother tongue. In fact, it is not important, for our analysis, that the Ego be innate or developed gradually through experience. The important point in the psychological hypothesis is that the Ego is an entity (psychological and internal, to be exact) of one kind, while the word “me” is an entity of a different kind. The second hypothesis, which we will call the externalist hypothesis, responds affirmatively to question a), and maintains that “me” indicates a certain individual body, that of the person who is using the word “me”. A possible advantage of this last hypothesis is that in it one is not obliged to admit the existence of presumed and invisible psychological states. In this case also, however, the word “me” is separated from that which is referred to

Odors, words and objects

The paper focuses on concepts and words referring to odors and to objects that have an odor. We argue that odors are an interesting object of study since they are evanescent, and since odor words do not refer to concrete and manipulable objects, but to scents evoked by objects. A second reason why odors are interesting is that some languages, as the Western ones, lack a specific odor lexicon, comparable in richness and variety to the color lexicon, and that performance on odors naming is typically worse than performance in color naming. In this work we discuss three main issues. First, we illustrate literature showing that, even if odor words do not have concrete referents, many languages encode them quite easily: the case of odors suggests that word meaning cannot be exhausted by the relationship with a referent, and highlights the importance of the social sharing of meaning. Second, we have discussed the peculiar status of odor concepts and words. Given their ambiguous status, their simple existence poses problems both to theories according to which concrete and abstract concepts do not differ, and to theories according to which they represent a dichotomy. Finally, we present an experiment in which we show that names of objects evoke their smell, and that these smells evoke approach and avoidance movements, in line with theories according to which words are grounded in both sensorial and motor systems

Wat (words as social tools). Una prospettiva socio-corporea sulla cognizione umana

In this work we present and critically discute the WAT (Words As social Tools) theory, according to which language and sociality concur in the representation of abstract concepts and words

The lure of nothingness. Art and crisis of "presence" in Ernesto De Martino

In this paper an aesthetics is proposed based on the De Martino concept of “crisis of presence”.  If one takes such a terrifying notion seriously a very different idea of art can be experienced, an art suited in the apocalyptic time of the “end of the world”. An art that can only begin when the fear for the non-human and materic in us is set aside

Il gesto assoluto. Duchamp, l’opera d’arte e il linguaggio

The Marcel Duchamp absolute gesture is such a gesture that inaugurates an escape movement from any Symbolic Order (another name of this movement is the Deleuzian «becoming-animal»); a gesture that, obviously, Duchamp does not stop play out, because each time he enacts it, this is a new gesture; there is no rule for the absolute gesture. In fact, if it existed it would not be absolute. Duchamp is such an ‘artist’  who is without work, then, because what matters is not art, but the making of one's existence something unique.  The absolute gesture consists in the making of art a form of life

Animalità e desiderio. Storie di gatte, e non solo

Nella categoria dell'animalità la filosofia e la psicoanalisi hanno incluso gli animali, ovviamente, ma anche le donne e i bambini. L’animale è quel vivente che sfugge al controllo, e per questo è pericoloso, e quindi da rinchiudere in uno spazio apposito, lo zoo (oppure la famiglia patriarcale, o la scuola). ma proprio perché l’animale non si controlla è profondamente invidiato. In questo lavoro si percorrono alcuni dei senti- menti che – in modo esplicito o nascosto – suscita l’animalità

La lingua c’è. Saussure, Chomsky e Lacan

Ferdinand de Saussure discovered that language does exist by itself. Language is not a means of communication, quite the contrary; communication can exist because previously there is language. In this paper, the subordinate position of the speaker is analyzed in respect to the autonomous language device. The possibility of a way out from such a condition is examined, using the Lacanian theorization about the concept of the “real”.Ferdinand de Saussure discovered that language does exist by itself. Language is not a means of communication, quite the contrary; communication can exist because previously there is language. In this paper, the subordinate position of the speaker is analyzed in respect to the autonomous language device. The possibility of a way out from such a condition is examined, using the Lacanian theorization about the concept of the “real”

Animalità e psicoanalisi. Dalla parola al corpo

Nella situazione analitica classica – un paziente sul lettino, alle sue spalle su una poltrona un analista – non ci sono altri animali a parte quelli umani. Freud teneva la sua amata Jofi vicino a sé durante le sedute. Ma Jofi non è un animale in carne e ossa, o almeno, non è solo quello. L’animalità compare in più riprese nei celebri casi affrontati da Freud e nelle indagini di Jung fino ad attraversare il lavoro di Deleuze e Guattari e rappresenta una vera e propria sfida alla psicoanalisi