"Come i secchi nel pozzo". Scienza ed etica negli scritti contro la vivisezione delle femministe britanniche (1870-1910)

Il saggio ripercorre le riflessioni teoriche delle femministe britanniche su scienza ed etica in relazione al dibattito sulla vivisezion

Self-love and sociability: the ‘rudiments of commerce’ in the state of nature

Istvan Hont’s classic work on the theoretical links between the seventeenth-century natural jurists Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf and the eighteenth-century Scottish political economists remains a popular trope among intellectual and economic historians of various stamps. Despite this, a common criticism levelled at Hont remains his relative lack of engagement with the relationship between religion and economics in the early modern period. This paper challenges this aspect of Hont’s narrative by drawing attention to an alternative, albeit complementary, assessment of the natural jurisprudential heritage of eighteenth-century British political economy. Specifically, the article attempts to map on to Hont’s thesis the Christian Stoic interpretation of Grotius and Pufendorf which has gained greater currency in recent years. In doing so, the paper argues that Grotius and Pufendorf’s contributions to the ‘unsocial sociability’ debate do not necessarily lead directly to the Scottish school of political economists, as is commonly assumed. Instead, it contends that a reconsideration of Grotius and Pufendorf as neo-Stoic theorists, particularly via scrutiny of their respective adaptations of the traditional Stoic theory of oikeiosis, steers us towards the heart of the early English ‘clerical’ Enlightenment

Sociability

How are individuals able to establish peaceful and enduring societies? Although the problem of sociability has been a recurrent concern for moral and political philosophers since antiquity, the early modern period marks an important shift in the conceptualization of human sociability. Moral skepticism, numerous ferocious wars, and the rise of sovereign states prompted the novel needed to study the normative and psychological underpinnings of social order. From the sixteenth century onward, sociability began to function as a bridge concept that was applied to theories of morality and moral psychology, political philosophy, history, international relations, and political economy (see, e.g., Piirimäe and Schmidt 2015; Sagar 2018; Ahnert and Manning 2011; Fiorillo and Grunert 2009; Vollhardt 2001). This entry introduces the early modern conceptions of sociability by focusing on the debate concerning the question how are men turned into social and political animals. Is sociability natural for human beings, or is it merely an artificial device that restrains and motivates the actions of naturally unsociable individuals? During the course of the early modern period, the notion of sociability as an innate inclination that could provide sufficient foundations for mutual sociability in large societies was questioned. As a result, the view of man as a naturally social and political being was gradually replaced by the idea of sociability as an artificial product of historically situated societies.Peer reviewe

The Effects of a Calcium-Rich Pre-Exercise Meal on Biomarkers of Calcium Homeostasis in Competitive Female Cyclists: A Randomised Crossover Trial

<div><p>Cycling is recognised as a sport in which there is a high incidence of poor bone health. Sweat calcium losses may contribute to this.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>To examine whether a calcium-rich pre-exercise meal attenuates exercise-induced perturbations of bone calcium homeostasis caused by maintenance of sweat calcium losses.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Using a randomized, counterbalanced crossover design, 32 well-trained female cyclists completed two 90 min cycling trials separated by 1 day. Exercise trials were preceded 2 hours by either a calcium-rich (1352 ± 53 mg calcium) dairy based meal (CAL) or a control meal (CON; 46 ± 7 mg calcium). Blood was sampled pre-trial; pre-exercise; and immediately, 40 min, 100 min and 190 min post-exercise. Blood was analysed for ionized calcium and biomarkers of bone resorption (Cross Linked C-Telopeptide of Type I Collagen (CTX-I), Cross Linked C-Telopeptide of Type II Collagen (CTX-II), Parathyroid Hormone (PTH), and bone formation (Procollagen I N-Terminal Propeptide (PINP)) using the established enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique.</p><p>Results</p><p>PTH and CTX-I increased from pre-exercise to post-exercise in both conditions but was attenuated in CAL (p < 0.001). PTH was 1.55 [1.20, 2.01] times lower in CAL immediately post-exercise and 1.45 [1.12, 1.88] times lower at 40 min post-exercise. CTX-I was 1.40 [1.15, 1.70] times lower in CAL at immediately post-exercise, 1.30 [1.07, 1.57] times lower at 40 min post-exercise and 1.22 [1.00, 1.48] times lower at 190 min post-exercise (p < 0.05). There was no significant interaction between pre-exercise meal condition and time point for CTX-II (p = 0.732) or PINP (p = 0.819).</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>This study showed that a calcium-rich pre-exercise breakfast meal containing ~1350 mg of calcium consumed ~90 min before a prolonged and high intensity bout of stationary cycling attenuates the exercise induced rise in markers of bone resorption – PTH and CTX-I.</p><p>Trial Registration</p><p>Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry <a href="https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=366558" target="_blank">ACTRN12614000675628</a></p></div