The Compatibility of Downward Causation and Emergence

In this paper, I shall argue that both emergence and downward causation, which are strongly interconnected, presuppose the presence of levels of reality. However, emergence and downward causation pull in opposite directions with respect to my best reconstruction of what levels are. The upshot is that emergence stresses the autonomy among levels while downward causation puts the distinction between levels at risk of a reductio ad absurdum, with the further consequence of blurring the very notion of downward. Therefore, emergence and downward causation are not fit to each other vis-a-vis the concept of level

The virtue of running a marathon

Running a marathon is not solely a personal achievement; rather it sets an example. Because of the nature of this example, it constitutes an achievement that deserves our praise (contrary to what has recently been argued in this Journal)

Necessitarianism and Dispositions

In this paper, I argue in favor of necessitarianism, the view that dispositions, when stimulated, necessitate their manifestations. After introducing and clarifying what necessitarianism does and does not amount to, I provide reasons to support the view that dispositions once stimulated necessitate their manifestations according to the stimulating conditions and the relevant properties at stake. In this framework, I will propose a principle of causal relevance and some conditions for the possibility of interference that allow us to avoid the use of ceteris paribus clauses. I then defend necessitarianism from recent attacks raised by, among others, Mumford and Anjum, noting that the antecedent strengthening test is a test for causal relevance that raises no difficulties for necessitarianism

The Beliefs of Mute Animals

In this paper I argue that it is possible to attribute beliefs and other intentional states to mute animals. This kind of attribution is substantial, in that it does allow for some minimal form of co-referential failure

Type-identity conditions for phenomenal properties

In this essay I shall argue that the crucial assumptions of Kripke's argument, i.e. the collapse of the appearance/reality distinction in the case of phenomenal states and the idea of a qualitatively identical epistemic situation, imply an objective principle of identity for mental-state types. This principle, I shall argue, rather than being at odds with physicalism, is actually compatible with both the type-identity theory of the mind and Kripke's semantics and metaphysics. Finally, I shall sketch a version of the type-identity theory

Você Está Aqui: Dor e sua Localização

When we consider bodily pain, it seems we are uniquely in the realm of the first person only, with no space for a second person. In this paper, I shall argue that it is in the interplay between the first and second persons, the social dimension of language, that our use of locative spatial terms inherits its rules and constraints. This interplay, in a form of triangulation proposed by Davidson, could provide us with a viable solution to the problem of the location of bodily pain. The solution lies in adopting representationalism while recognizing the limits of the representational system.Quando consideramos a dor corporal, parece que estamos exclusivamente no reino da primeira pessoa, sem espaço para uma segunda pessoa. Neste artigo, argumentarei que é da interação entre a primeira e a segunda pessoas, a dimensão social da linguagem, que nosso uso de termos espaciais locativos herda suas regras e restrições. Essa interação, em uma forma de triangulação proposta por Davidson, poderia nos fornecer uma solução viável para o problema da localização da dor corporal. A solução está em adotar o representacionalismo enquanto se reconhece os limites do sistema representacional

Kim on Events

According to Kim, events are constituted by objects exemplifying property(ies) at a time. In this paper I wish to defend Kim's theory of events from one source of criticism, extending it by taking into account a number of ideas developed by Davidson. In particular, I shall try to avoid events proliferation – one of the most serious problems in Kim's theory – by using a suggestion Kim himself advances, that is, by taking adverbs and the like to be events' rather than properties' modifiers

Uomini illustri a Siviglia e a Saluzzo: modelli umanistici e rinascimentali nella Casa di Pilatos e Casa Cavassa

Atrio: Revista de historia del arte nº 17 (2011), p. 69-76Un interesante testimonio del paralelismo de la floritura de la cultura humanística y renacentista italiana y española, lo constituyen la Casa Cavassa de Saluzzo, en el Piamonte suroccidental, y la Casa de Pilatos de Sevilla. En ambos casos hay dos promotores, don Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, marqués de Tarifa, y Francesco Cavassa, vicario general del marquesado de Saluzzo, quien patrocinó la compleja decoración de su palacio, claramente inspirada en los modelos de la cultura humanística y del arte renacentista italiano, concretamente la decoración escultórica de la Cartuja de Pavía, en Lombardía. También en los dos recintos se destaca la decoración pictórica, dedicada al tema humanístico de los Uomini illustri, de acuerdo a una iconografía muy similar. El estilo renaciente reflejado en los dos palacios contrasta con lo que en Sevilla es la tradición mudéjar, aún imperante, y con el gótico aún perviviente en Saluzzo. Como Vicente Lleó Cañal ha demostrado, el marqués de Tarifa encargó la deco­ración escultórica de su palacio a la vuelta del viaje a Tierra Santa, realizado entre 1518 y 1520, durante el cual tuvo la oportunidad de conocer la ciudad de Génova y la Cartuja de Pavía. Por lo que encargó a escultores genoveses los sepulcros de sus antepasados, en tanto que la decoración pictórica de la galería de su palacio fue realizada por pintores españoles, aunque el tema, los Uomini illustri (se pueden ver Cicerone, Creso, Tito Livio, Orazio, Cornelio Nepote y Quinto Curzio) está basado en el topos de la cultura humanística italiana. La composición de estas figuras está próxima a los Uomini illustri de la Casa Cavassa, con cada personaje sentado dentro de un nicho y con una inscripción, constituyendo un unicum iconográfico, aunque la decoración plástica encargada por Francesco Cavassa fue realizada por un artista, Matteo Sanmicheli, que muestra un estilo derivado de la Cartuja de Pavia. Ambos palacios, en los que sus respectivos comitentes tratan de ofrecer a las ciudades en que se encuentran un ejemplo de renovación cultural y artístico, inspi­rado en el clasicismo, a través de modelos actualizados del arte renacentista italiano.In the first mid of 16th century the Casa de Pilatos in Seville and the Casa Cavassa in Saluzzo, in north Italy, reveal a similar artistic and cultural patronage. In both cases, the commitments of the two buildings, don Fadrique Enriquez de Ribera, Marquis of Tarifa, and Francesco Cavassa, main functionary of the Marquisate of Saluzzo, promote a whole decoration of their palaces clearly inspired by models drawns from Humanistic culture and Italian Renaissance art, more precisely the sculpure decoration of the Certosa of Pavia in Lombardy. In particular, in both the palaces one of the most important painted decoration is devoted to the humanistic theme of the Uomini illustri (Wase or Famous Men), fol­lowing a very similar iconography. The renaissance style showed by the two palaces is dramatically in contrast, on one hand, with that of Seville still dominated by the Arabic culture and, on the other hand, that of Saluzzo at that time caracterized by the Gothic art. As Vicente Lleò Cañal has demonstrated, the Marquis of Tarifa committed the plastic and painted decoration of his palace after coming back of a journey in the Holy Land, made between 1518 and 1520, during which he visited many cities and was fascinated above all by the Certosa of Pavia and Genoa. There­fore he committed to Genoan sculptores the graves for his parents whereas the painted decoration of the Galleria of his palace was realized by Spanish painters but the subjct, the Uomini illustri ¿ Cicerone, Creso, Tito Livio, Orazio, Cornelio Nepote e Quinto Curzio are still visible ¿ is based on a topos of the Italian Humanistic culture. The composition of these figures reminds closely that of the Uomini illustri in Casa Cavassa, with each figure seating in a nich accompanied by an inscription drawn by his own work, which is a very unique solution (in Italy, where this subject was common, usually the inscription was by an author different from the personage represented). Also the plastic decoration com­mitted by Francesco Cavassa was made by an artist, Matteo Sanmicheli, who reveal a style derived from the Certosa of Pavia. Both the palaces, therefore, demonstrate the intention of the patrons to provide the city with an example of cultural and artistic renewer inspired to Classics, throw models uptodate with the Italian Re­naissance art.Versión del edito

Antología de los 'Poemas dispersos'

Guido Gozzano (Turin, 1883 - 1916) is considered one of the greatest exponents of the Italian twilight poetic movement. Due to his premature, he only published two collections of poems in life, both of vital importance in the context of early-century Italian poetry, La via del rifugio (1907) and I colloqui. Liriche (1911). The texts written after his trip to India stand out and published posthumously in 1912 with the title Verso la cuna del mondo. Lettere dal India. His work has to be understood in the context of the crisis that arose after the stagnation of the decadent aestheticist and classicist literature of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Giovanni Pascoli, to whom he oppose a poetry full of tender irony turned to the recreation of bourgeois interiors full of "buone cose di pessimo gusto" in the line of the intimate and impressionist French models