Wittgenstein on dispositions as abilities. A de-naturalized perspective.

This paper focuses on Wittgenstein’s use of the notion of disposition. In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein characterizes understanding as a mastery of a technique. This is a dispositional notion and many scholars have rightly presented dispositional readings of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy in virtue of his remarks on meaning and understanding. Wittgenstein seems to suggest that understanding the meaning of a word is best characterized as having the disposition to correctly use that word, that is, as knowing how to employ the word. However, scholars think that the notion of disposition as an ability– even if it is correctly ‘applicable’ – is not endorsed by Wittgenstein, because they think that he had in mind a narrow and materialistic conception of disposition as a state of a physical apparatus. This paper argues that Wittgenstein does not endorse a materialistic and narrow conception of disposition. By contrast, Wittgenstein criticizes one particular misleading use of the concept and he actively employs a de-naturalised notion of disposition as acquired ability, or embodied practice

Experience and Grammar: Wittgenstein and James on the experience of meaning.

This paper focuses on Wittgenstein’s philosophical engagement with James’ thought on the experiential account of meaning and understanding. According to this account, meaning is characterized as a state of mind of the subject, while understanding is conceived as a kind of experience of the subject. This paper argues that, although Wittgenstein criticizes the experiential model as a tempting but deceptive philosophical view, James’s account has a pervasive positive influence on Wittgenstein’s thought. It will be shown that, even though Wittgenstein argues against the idea that meanings are experiences, the Jamesian principle of the absence of the will act informs Wittgenstein’s alternative conceptions of meaning as use and understanding as mastery of a technique. Moreover, Wittgenstein’s discussion of aspect-seeing in the second part of the Philosophical Investigations follows the discussion of the experiential account. Wittgenstein’s discussion is presented as an instance of the distinction between experience and grammar and as an example of a broader engagement with James’s philosophy on the concept of experience

Between Ethics and Aesthetics. Against the Myth of Reductive Therapeutism.

My paper is about Andronico’s work on the connection between Ethics and Aesthetics in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy. In particular, I will focus on the role that her ideas play against the therapeutic reading of Wittgenstein’s philosophy. I will argue that, contrary to such a reading, the ethical tone of Wittgenstein’s philosophy should be understood as a consequence of aesthetical e-ducation, that is, the sharpening of the eye in order to see differently. I will show that (1) philosophy is a specific kind of theory and that (2) Cavell’s notion of the rediscovery of the ordinary does not properly grasp the ethical force of Wittgenstein’s remarks

Laws, Exceptions, and Dispositions

Can laws of nature be universal regularities and nevertheless have exceptions? Several answers to this question, in particular the thesis that there are no laws outside of fundamental physics, are examined and rejected. It is suggested that one can account for exceptions by conceiving of laws as strictly universal determination relations between (instances of) properties. When a natural property is instantiated, laws of nature give rise to other, typically dispositional properties. In exceptional situations, such properties manifest themselves either in an unusual way or not at all

Measuring spike train synchrony

Estimating the degree of synchrony or reliability between two or more spike trains is a frequent task in both experimental and computational neuroscience. In recent years, many different methods have been proposed that typically compare the timing of spikes on a certain time scale to be fixed beforehand. Here, we propose the ISI-distance, a simple complementary approach that extracts information from the interspike intervals by evaluating the ratio of the instantaneous frequencies. The method is parameter free, time scale independent and easy to visualize as illustrated by an application to real neuronal spike trains obtained in vitro from rat slices. In a comparison with existing approaches on spike trains extracted from a simulated Hindemarsh-Rose network, the ISI-distance performs as well as the best time-scale-optimized measure based on spike timing.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures; v2: minor modifications; v3: minor modifications, added link to webpage that includes the Matlab Source Code for the method (http://inls.ucsd.edu/~kreuz/Source-Code/Spike-Sync.html

Le varietà del naturalismo. Incontri Ca' Foscari- Paris 1.

‘Naturalism’ is a category that applies to different philosophical perspectives sharing the idea that nature is the primary object of philosophical enquiry. However, the philosophical debate of the second half of the twentieth century, mainly within analytical philosophy, has led towards an identification of naturalism with the sole scientific naturalism. The volume contains the proceedings of a doctoral workshop, in which PhD students and professors of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne critically discussed this tendency. The contributions present some versions of naturalism, from ancient to contemporary philosophy, with the aim of showing how a naturalistic approach, together with some notions it implies (i.e. nature, habits, disposition, behaviour), may constitute valid categories of interpretation of reality out of a scientist paradig

Lignans and gut microbiota: An interplay revealing potential health implications

Plant polyphenols are a broad group of bioactive compounds characterized by different chemical and structural properties, low bioavailability, and several in vitro biological activities. Among these compounds, lignans (a non-flavonoid polyphenolic class found in plant foods for human nutrition) have been recently studied as potential modulators of the gut–brain axis. In particular, gut bacterial metabolism is able to convert dietary lignans into therapeutically relevant polyphenols (i.e., enterolignans), such as enterolactone and enterodiol. Enterolignans are characterized by various biologic activities, including tissue-specific estrogen receptor activation, together with anti-inflammatory and apoptotic effects. However, variation in enterolignans production by the gut microbiota is strictly related to both bioaccessibility and bioavailability of lignans through the entire gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, in this review, we summarized the most important dietary source of lignans, exploring the interesting interplay between gut metabolites, gut microbiota, and the so-called gut–brain axis.Fil: Senizza, Alice. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza, ; ItaliaFil: Rocchetti, Gabriele. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza, ; ItaliaFil: Mosse, Juana Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad Medicina. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Patrone, Vania. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza; ItaliaFil: Callegari, Maria Luisa. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza, ; ItaliaFil: Morelli, Lorenzo. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza, ; ItaliaFil: Lucini, Luigi. Catholic University Of The Sacred Heart, Piacenza, ; Itali

Zebrafish Patient-Derived Xenograft Model to Predict Treatment Outcomes of Colorectal Cancer Patients

The use of zebrafish embryos for personalized medicine has become increasingly popular. We present a co-clinical trial aiming to evaluate the use of zPDX (zebrafish Patient-Derived Xenografts) in predicting the response to chemotherapy regimens used for colorectal cancer patients. zPDXs are generated by xenografting tumor tissues in two days post-fertilization zebrafish embryos. zPDXs were exposed to chemotherapy regimens (5-FU, FOLFIRI, FOLFOX, FOLFOXIRI) for 48 h. We used a linear mixed effect model to evaluate the zPDX-specific response to treatments showing for 4/36 zPDXs (11%), a statistically significant reduction of tumor size compared to controls. We used the RECIST criteria to compare the outcome of each patient after chemotherapy with the objective response of its own zPDX model. Of the 36 patients enrolled, 8 metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), response rate after first-line therapy, and the zPDX chemosensitivity profile were available. Of eight mCRC patients, five achieved a partial response and three had a stable disease. In 6/8 (75%) we registered a concordance between the response of the patient and the outcomes reported in the corresponding zPDX. Our results provide evidence that the zPDX model can reflect the outcome in mCRC patients, opening a new frontier to personalized medicine

Prevalence and risk factors associated with cat parasites in Italy: a multicenter study

Background: Parasites that infect cats include protozoa, helminths and arthropods, many of which are transmissible to humans. Effective control relies on a good knowledge of parasite distribution and the risk factors for infection. The present study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of major feline parasites in Italy and the risk factors associated with their occurrence. Methods: Over a 12-month study period, feces, hair and ectoparasites from naturally infected cats from feral colonies, shelters and private households were analyzed at 13 study centers across Italy. Samples from these cats (n = 987) were analyzed at all centers using the same diagnostic methods. Prevalence values and risk factors were evaluated statistically for the identification of predictors of risk. Results: The overall prevalence of gastro-intestinal and broncho-pulmonary (BP) nematodes was 35.9% (354/987). Toxocara cati was the most prevalent species (253/987; 25.6%), followed by Ancylostomatidae (98/987; 9.9%). Among BP nematodes, Aelurostrongylus abstrusus was the most common (76/987; 7.7%). Approximately 35.7% (352/987) of the study population was infested by ectoparasites, of which the most common were fleas (29.4%, 290/987), followed by ear mites Otodectes cynotis (9.8%, 97/987). Predictors of risk for parasite infection included age, a predominantly or exclusively outdoor lifestyle, geographic area and lack of antiparasitic treatment. Conclusions: Both ecto- and endoparasites are still common in cats throughout Italy, many of them being of zoonotic concern and vectors of pathogens to humans. Given the presence of parasites throughout the entire study period, year-round treatment should be considered. Furthermore, data confirm the need to protect the human–animal bond using proper endo- and ectoparasiticides to reduce the risk of human infection, in application of the One-Health concept