Mountain Landscape and the Aesthetic of the Sublime in Romantic Narration

Sublime concepts about mountain landscape in the Romantic literature: Rousseau, Goethe, Tieck, Mary Shelley, Foscolo

Wilhelm von Humboldt et l’anthropologie comparée

In Humboldt’s essays on anthropology the science of anatomy plays the role of a model. The direct connection is the comparatistic method, according to which cultures are compared to each other in the same way in which human and animal body can be compared. In an age in which many different scientific fields in Europe are inclined to work in a comparatistic way, Wilhelm von Humboldt benefits of several scientific influences and builds his own theory of anthropological difference, which can be considered as the foundation of the methodology of the great linguistic essays written in his last years. Dans les écrits anthropologiques de Wilhelm von Humboldt l’anatomie joue le rôle d’un modèle pour l’anthropologie. Le lien entre les deux est assuré par la méthode comparatiste. La différence entre corps humain et corps animal peut être envisagée comme un modèle pour la différence entre des données anthropologiques. Vers le tournant des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, à une époque où le monde scientifique européen tendait à travailler de manière comparatiste, Wilhelm von Humboldt intégra les nombreuses influences issues de différents domaines scientifiques en une théorie propre de la différence anthropologique, qui peut être considérée comme le fondement de la méthode développée dans les grands textes linguistiques de ses dernières années

Ardore. Quattro prospettive sull'ira da Achille agli Indignados

Four perspectives on anger from a philosophical point of view. The first perspective is conceptual: words and concepts of anger in the history of philosophy and literature. The second is ethical: for and against anger: Seneca and Lattanzio. The third is scientific: anger from Descartes to Darwin. The fourth perspective is psychological: contemporary theories on anger

Morphologie de la colère

In diesem Beitrag soll der Frage nachgegangen werden, ob Wut eine der Grundlagen der menschlichen Identität ist (wie es überwiegend in der Antike angenommen wurde), oder ob es sich um eine Form von Aggressivität handelt, die diese Identität deformiert. Ausgehend von der Auffassung von Wut in der Antike, wird die Moderne im Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung stehen, insbesondere die Interpretation der Leidenschaften in Descartes’ Werk Les passions de l’âme (1649). Obwohl der Wut in diesem Text nur eine geringe Bedeutung zugeschrieben wird, hat er nach haltig auf eine kleine, aber dennoch wichtige Schrift gewirkt, in der die Wut eine spezifische Rolle spielt: die Conférence sur l’expression des passions (1698) des französischen Malers Charles Le Brun. Le Brun verfolgt das Ziel, das Malen der Leidenschaften zu lehren. Durch Zeichnungen wird eine semiotisch interessante Typologie von Leidenschaften erstellt, zu denen auch die Wut zählt. Hierbei offenbart sich als zweite Quelle von Le Brun die medizinische Abhandlung von Marin Cureau de la Chambre Les charatères des passions (1640–1662). Dieser Text, der der Wut großen und positiven Wert beimisst, wird mit dem Werk von Descartes in Verbindung gesetzt, und beide werden eklektisch von Le Brun verwendet. Wut wird nie negativ beurteilt, aber ihre Verortung in der Seele ist mehrdeutig und ihre Rolle ambivalent. Auch wenn die positive Energie der Wut erkannt wird, zeigen die Bilder ihre deformierende Seite

Descartes’ Emotions: From the Body to the Body

Abstract: Emotions are currently at the center of a lively international and interdisciplinary debate. The first sections of this essay present a synthetic overview of its key features. The main sections provide a re-examination of one of the most historically significant developments in the field of affective studies. René Descartes’ approach to the study of emotions implies a positive assessment of the role of the body and a remarkable attenuation of his classical dualism that allows an innovative perspective on the subject. He inaugurated a new scientific style of research, which is one of the original sources of some key concepts of the current research.Keywords: Emotions; René Descartes; Embodied Cognition; Classification of Emotions; Philosophy of EmotionsLe emozioni di Descartes: dal corpo al corpoRiassunto: Le emozioni sono attualmente al centro di un dibattito internazionale e interdisciplinare molto vivace, di cui la prima sezione del saggio presenta una panoramica sintetica. La sezione principale propone un’analisi critica di uno dei passaggi storicamente più significativi nel campo dello studio dei fenomeni emotivi. L’approccio di Descartes al tema delle emozioni presuppone una considerazione positiva del ruolo del corpo e una notevole attenuazione del dualismo per cui è noto, consentendo così una prospettiva innovativa al tema. Descartes inaugura un nuovo stile di ricerca che è alle origini di alcuni concetti chiave della ricerca contemporanea.Parole chiave: Emozioni; René Descartes; Conoscenza incarnata; Classificazione delle emozioni; Filosofia delle emozion

Le idee che si vedono. Forma e percezione in Goethe e Paolo Bozzi

This article presents a comparative analysis of Paolo Bozzi’s experimental phenomenology and of J.W. Goethe’s morphological method, which is considered one of the Italian scholar’s sources of inspiration. Starting from Bozzi’s education within the Gestalt psychology tradition, under the guidance of Gaetano Kanizsa, and taking into account also the recent interest shown for Bozzi by several exponents of the analytic tradition, this work draws attention to the basic features of the methodology adopted by the perceptologist in his work. In this regard, what proves to be fundamental is the role played by the various techniques of inter-observation by means of an active and practical approach to the material, rather than a purely contemplative one. Bozzi’s interest in Goethe’s naturalistic writings, from the morphological ones to the Farbenlehre (Theory of colours), makes it possible to highlight significant analogies and conceptual continuities with Goethe’s epistemology. First of all, a link between these two styles of research is provided by the subject “form,” or Gestalt, and its direct, accurate observation, as well as its presence in non-conventional contexts and its non-metaphysical character. Furthermore, it is evident that both authors employ a conception of experiment that is repeatable, conducted almost always in conditions that are open and not of the laboratory. Not less relevant is their scientific style, in which the distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification plays no role. At the same time the extraordinary communication skills of both authors play a crucial role: their nonacademic way of writing accompanied by a sense of rigour and correctness makes the results outstanding and unique

Effects of NSAIDs on the Release of Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide and Prostaglandin E2 from Rat Trigeminal Ganglia

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are frequently used to treat migraine, but the mechanisms of their effects in this pathology are not fully elucidated. The trigeminal ganglia and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of migraine. The release of CGRP and prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ) from freshly isolated rat trigeminal ganglia was evaluated after oral administration of nimesulide, etoricoxib, and ketoprofen, NSAIDs with different pharmacological features. Thirty minutes after oral administration, nimesulide, 10 mg/Kg, decreased the GCRP release induced by an inflammatory soup, while the other NSAIDs were ineffective at this point in time. Two hours after oral nimesulide (5 and 10 mg/Kg) and ketoprofen (10 mg/Kg), but not of etoricoxib, a significant decrease in the CGRP release was observed. All drugs reduced PGE 2 , although with some differences in timing and doses, and the action on CGRP does not seem to be related to PGE 2 inhibition. The reduction of CGRP release from rat trigeminal ganglia after nimesulide and ketoprofen may help to explain the mechanism of action of NSAIDs in migraine. Since at 30 minutes only nimesulide was effective in reducing CGRP release, these results suggest that this NSAID may exert a particularly rapid effect in patients with migraine

Nimesulide inhibits protein kinase C epsilon and substance P in sensory neurons – comparison with paracetamol

In this paper we describe new actions of nimesulide and paracetamol in cultured peripheral neurons isolated from rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Both drugs were able to decrease in a dose-dependent fashion the number of cultured DRG neurons showing translocation of protein kinase C epsilon (PKCɛ) caused by exposure to 1 μM bradykinin or 100 nM thrombin. In addition, the level of substance P (SP) released by DRG neurons and the level of preprotachykinin mRNA expression were measured in basal conditions and after 70 minutes or 36 hours of stimulation with nerve growth factor (NGF) or with an inflammatory soup containing bradykinin, thrombin, endothelin-1, and KCl. Nimesulide (10 μM) significantly decreased the mRNA levels of the SP precursor preprotachykinin in basal and in stimulated conditions, and decreased the amount of SP released in the medium during stimulation of neurons with NGF or with the inflammatory soup. The effects of paracetamol (10 μM) on such response was lower. Nimesulide completely inhibited the release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) from DRG neurons, either basal or induced by NGF and by inflammatory soup, while paracetamol decreased PGE2 release only partially. Our data demonstrate, for the first time, a direct effect of two drugs largely used as analgesics on DRG neurons. The present results suggest that PKCɛ might be a target for the effect of nimesulide and paracetamol, while inhibition of SP synthesis and release is clearly more relevant for nimesulide than for paracetamol mechanism of action