The Austinian Conception of Illocution and its Implications for Value Judgments and Social ontology

This paper deals with J.L. Austin’s conception of illocution and some of its philosophical implications as to value judgments and social ontology. It is argued that according to Austin, illocutionary acts have conventional effects, and that conventional effects are defeasible and depend upon intersubjective agreement. In support of the claim that all illocutionary acts have conventional effects, it is explained how illocutionary effects can be described and this mode of description is applied to Austin’s classes of illocutionary acts. Then, the implications of Austin’s classification of illocutionary acts for value judgments are discussed and it is claimed that Austin challenges the fact-value dichotomy by assimilating statements of fact to value judgments. The Austinian conception of illocution is also relevant to social ontology. Many social realities can be described as sets of deontic states of the agents involved, and illocution is part of the picture because it involves the active production of deontic states of social agents by means of intersubjective agreement. In conclusion, a possible counterintuitive consequence of the conception of illocution presented is discussed and a solution is proposed

C’è del pragmatismo in J.L. Austin? Una rilettura delle proposte austiniane sul tema della verità

On the one hand, Austin appreciates truth as the aim not only of science, but also of philosophy. On the other hand, truth in his works is demythized, contextualized, or even relativized. I analyze this ambivalence by considering some aspects of Austin’s thought which may appear close to pragmatism: his claims that the bearer of truth is assertion as a speech act, that speech acts are to be assessed as felicitous and infelicitous before being assessed (if pertinent) as true or false, and that the truth/falsity judgment is concerned with assertions in their contexts, including the participants’ goals and knowledge. These claims are, however, argued for in full coherence with a corrispondentist conception of truth. At a closer examination, Austin’s conception of truth appears to be an independent, “heretic” development of that of Frege. In taking distance from Frege, albeit on a Fregean basis, Austin went some length in the direction in which pragmatists too had gone, without actually sharing any properly pragmatist assumption

Linguaggio ragione interazione. Per una pragmatica degli atti linguistici

Il volume propone un approccio alla teoria degli atti linguistici che si richiama alle intuizioni originarie di Austin e prende distanza dai principali autori successivi, come Searle o Bach e Harnish. Sottolinea la natura di azioni che gli atti linguistici possiedono e le potenzialità che il loro studio può manifestare nell’analisi di discorsi e conversazioni. L’illocuzione viene definita come produzione di un effetto sugli aspetti modali-deontici di una relazione interpersonale e si sostiene che tale effetto è ottenuto grazie allo stabilirsi di un accordo intersoggettivo fra i partecipanti. I tipi illocutori (derivati dalla classificazione di Austin) vengono applicati a esempi tratti da testi o conversazioni ordinarie, e per trattare le sequenze di atti linguistici si propone una metodologia ispirata alla semiotica narrativa. L’importanza usualmente data al ruolo del soggetto viene trattata nei termini dell’indispensabilità del suo riconoscimento.The approach to speech act theory proposed by this volume relies on J.L. Austin’s original insights and distances itself from the subsequent contributions due to Searle or Bach and Harnish. It emphasizes that speech acts are actions and attempts to show that their study can be of use in the analysis of texts and conversations. Illocution is defined as the production of an effect on the deontic-modal aspects of an interpersonal relation, to be achieved thanks to the participants’ intersubjective agreement. Illocutionary types (derived from Austin’s classification) are applied to examples from ordinary texts and conversations. In order to deal with speech act sequences, a methodology inspired by narrative semiotics is proposed. The central role that is usually granted to the speaking and acting subject is reconsidered in the light of the indispensability of its intersubjective recognitio

Identification of tumor-associated cassette exons in human cancer through EST-based computational prediction and experimental validation

Background: Many evidences report that alternative splicing, the mechanism which produces mRNAs and proteins with different structures and functions from the same gene, is altered in cancer cells. Thus, the identification and characterization of cancer-specific splice variants may give large impulse to the discovery of novel diagnostic and prognostic tumour biomarkers, as well as of new targets for more selective and effective therapies. Results: We present here a genome-wide analysis of the alternative splicing pattern of human genes through a computational analysis of normal and cancer-specific ESTs from seventeen anatomical groups, using data available in AspicDB, a database resource for the analysis of alternative splicing in human. By using a statistical methodology, normal and cancer-specific genes, splice sites and cassette exons were predicted in silico. The condition association of some of the novel normal/tumoral cassette exons was experimentally verified by RT-qPCR assays in the same anatomical system where they were predicted. Remarkably, the presence in vivo of the predicted alternative transcripts, specific for the nervous system, was confirmed in patients affected by glioblastoma. Conclusion: This study presents a novel computational methodology for the identification of tumor-associated transcript variants to be used as cancer molecular biomarkers, provides its experimental validation, and reports specific biomarkers for glioblastoma

University of Trieste

Appare opportuno riproporre un itinerario ideale attraverso la vita universitaria triestina con un volume che ne descriva, in chiave aggiornata, le innovazioni, l’articolazione strutturale, le ricerche scientifiche e le principali offerte di studio. Conoscere la Trieste accademica, con un testo anche in versione inglese, è quindi un obiettivo che ci poniamo in un’ottica di ampia diffusione del nostro ruolo culturale in un territorio vasto, che travalica i consueti confini nazionali, per estendersi alle nazioni limitrofe, all’ampio bacino danubiano, all’Europa intera, alla dimensione più propriamente internazionale e globale. D’altra parte, è noto come l’Università di Trieste sappia attrarre, da decenni, una quota sempre rilevante di studenti stranieri, certamente in virtù della sua ottimale posizione geografica, ma non solo, perché giungono, nella nostra città, giovani e studiosi provenienti ormai da tutti continenti. La città mercantile, crocevia di traffici e commerci, si può ben dire riviva oggi nella sua università e nelle altre prestigiose istituzioni scientifiche del territorio, con l’ateneo strettamente connesse, rinverdendo così una tradizione che ha sempre visto Trieste qualificato polo di attrazione dei migliori talenti culturali. L’auspicio più vivo è quindi che il lettore possa cogliere, attraverso il percorso di questo volume, affidato al dispiegarsi di idonee immagini, dati e testi illustrativi, le peculiarità più caratterizzanti di un ateneo dalle solide tradizioni, che non a caso celebra quest’anno il suo 90° anno di storia, eppure proiettato con slancio, direi molto giovanile, verso traguardi futuri di forte innovazione e cambiamento

Moral Realism and Political Decisions. Practical Rationality in Contemporary Public Contexts

The challenge of realism is one of the common features of current philosophical debates, across different cultural traditions, and in many areas of investigation (epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, theory of action, etc.). The implications of realism for political philosophy and political practice, though, are just starting to become an object of systematic discussions. Such implications, however, are significant, since the area of politics is contiguous with that of ethics and action, for example. This volume intends to contribute to debates on the relevance of realism – especially moral realism – for politics. The essays included in the collection address a number of related issues, ranging from foundational problems of realism in ethics, action theory and politics, to questions about pragmatics, to difficulties in political theory, and to political hindrances related to economics and legal theory. The common focus of all essays is the relevance of realism for a conception of practical rationality in political contexts.Die Herausforderungen, vor die uns der Realismus stellt, sind in aktuellen philosophischen Debatten gegenwärtig und sie machen sich durch unterschiedliche kulturelle Traditionen und viele Untersuchungsbereiche (Erkenntnistheorie, Metaphysik, Ethik, Ästhetik, Handlungstheorie, etc.) hindurch bemerkbar. Die Auswirkungen des Realismus auf die Politische Philosophie und die politische Praxis sind jedoch erst seit kurzem Gegenstand systematischer Diskussionen, obwohl sie von Bedeutung sind, denn letztlich steht der Bereich der Politik immer in einem Zusammenhang mit Fragen der Ethik und der Handlung. Dieser Band möchte einen Beitrag zu den Debatten über die Relevanz des Realismus für die Politik leisten und hat dabei insbesondere den moralischen Realismus im Blick. Die hier versammelten Aufsätze enthalten eine Reihe von Auseinandersetzungen mit damit zusammenhängenden Problemstellungen, die von grundlegenden Problemen des Realismus in der Ethik, Handlungstheorie und Politik, Fragen zur Pragmatik, über die Schwierigkeiten der Politischen Theorie, bis hin zu politischen Hindernissen für Wirtschaft und Recht reichen. Der gemeinsame Fokus aller Aufsätze liegt dabei in der Betrachtung der Relevanz eines Realismus‘ für eine Konzeption einer praktischen Vernunft im politischen Kontext

Jennifer Mather Saul, ‘Lying, Misleading, & What is Said’, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. xi + 146

The text offers a Critical Review of "Lying, Misleading, & What is Said" by Jennifer Mather Saul. The author critically reflects on the book by considering its methodologies, its arguments, and its relation with other books of the same type and on the same subject.Il testo propone una Lettura Critica del libro "Lying, Misleading, & What is Said" di Jennifer Mather Saul. L'autrice riflette criticamente sul libro considerandone le metodologie, gli argomenti e il nesso con altri libri dello stesso tipo e sullo stesso argomento