Mostri, giganti ed eroi. I fossili e le storie della storia del mondo

Ancient Greece was the first civilisation that discovered fossils and perceived and explained them with its creative think. The present essay is an investigation on the way in which Hellenes read the documentation of the past of Nature and Heart with the instrument of Myth. Frazer (on the basis of the studies by Lyell) guessed that fossils had a function in Greek cults and identified in Typhon myth a telluric matrix, but also the consequence of the discovery of extinct mammals bones. In the same way, we can establish that legends regarding Titans, Cyclops, Gryphon, Cadmus, Jason and sea-monsters awaked by Poseidon and Apollo, were born in connection with the astonishment of Greek man in front of the relics of Mammuthus meridionalis, Protoceratops and Samotherium. Similarly, the myths of Satyrs, Sphinxes and the Marsyas’s skin were produced by a mental and cultural process inspired by the figures and remains of apes and monkeys. Such Greek poetical and philosophical creativity (“corpolentissima”, as said by Vico), was involved with the unconscious recognition of structural homology. Structural homology will become a fundamental instrument for Darwinian evolutionism. Later, it will be Freud’s duty to arrange the evolution (of psyche) with mythological representations

Dream and Representation

The article analyses the relationship between dreams and stories and the underlying existential significance of both. Man is not the only animal who dreams, but he is the only living being who can communicate to his fellow creatures what he dreams and invents, through words and images

Freud e Conan Doyle. Vite parallele

FREUD AND CONAN DOYLE. PARALLEL LIVES The investigative methods of Freudian psychoanalysis have long been debated, compared with the investigative methods of Sherlock Holmes. Although Freud was an avid reader of Conan Doyle's works, no one has never considered the existential and methodological concordances between the two authors. Both had medical degrees, were steeped in Darwinian science; moreover, they were the favored sons of brilliant mothers who nurtured their creative tendencies, and they had had as teachers clinicians who had become role models (Charcot and Bell). In the early days of the profession the empty days without patients had prompted each of them to imagine new conceptions; furthermore, certain dangerous friendships, accompanied by daring experiments on alkaloids, had been stimuli for knowledge of the human nature and limits. Freud and Doyle touched on each other on two occasions. Between the two, who was a writer masquerading as a doctor and vice versa

Bolgheri. Storia di una passione dickensiana

Genesi di un progetto di rivisitazione dickensiano. Considerazioni sulla filosofia della narrativa, e sulla critica del solipsismo, prendendo spunto da Italo Calvino, Carlo, Fruttero, Pietro Citati e dalla scultura di Fausto Melotti

Scienza, creativit\ue0 e genio ludico

This essay analyzes play as a genuine expression of the spirit of childhood, characterized by curiosity and ability of thinking and creating: it links the boy to the scientist and to the artist. The thinking of Huizinga, author of Homo ludens, and of Freud, exegete of Schliemann, the playful disposition of Darwin and Fabre, the Einstein's desire to remain children all life long, are in relation with the art of Klee and Herg\ue9 and the poetry of Saba and Fellini, and finally with the philosophy of Nietzsche

La Madame Bovary del Dipartimento di Allier

A proposito di una rivisitazione del capolavoro di Flaubert. I classici, amava ripetere Calvino, sono precisamente quei libri di cui a ogni rilettura si riscoprono nuovi significati, ed è questo che li rende intramontabili

Il mio primo libro: L'Isola del Tesoro

Stevenson racconta la genesi del suo capolavoro, con una minuziosità autoanalitica che gli viene dalla responsabilità didattica che ogni vero narratore dovrebbe avere. L’ispirazione per il romanzo gli era venuta durante un soggiorno sulle Highlands scozzesi, nello schizzare per puro diletto la mappa di un’immaginaria isola dei pirati, mentre era intento a far compagnia ad un dodicenne aspirante pittore. Questi era Lloyd Osbourne, il figliastro di Stevenson stesso, e suo futuro collaboratore. L’Isola del tesoro (il cui primo titolo fu Il cuoco di bordo) verrà completato sulle Alpi svizzere, a Davos, dove lo scrittore sarà costretto a trasferirsi nella speranza di guarire dalla malattia di petto che lo perseguitava

Luciana Ceri, "Etica ed evoluzione. La filosofia di Spencer e le origini dell'eugenetica"

Recensione al volume di Luciana Ceri sul pensiero di Spencer in rapporto all'eugenetica. L'autrice del volume chiarisce che Spencer, sebbene conoscesse personalmente Francis Galton, non condivise i principi dell'eugenetica. Anzi, concepì un'etica evoluzionistica che conteneva almeno un principio (la giustizia) che implicava un giudizio negativo su di essa

SCIENZA, CREATIVITÀ E GENIO LUDICO

SCIENCE, CREATIVITY AND PLAYFUL GENIUS This essay analyzes play as a genuine expression of the spirit of childhood, characterized by curiosity and ability of thinking and creating: it links the boy to the scientist and to the artist. The thinking of Huizinga, author of Homo ludens, and of Freud, exegete of Schliemann, the playful disposition of Darwin and Fabre, the Einstein’s desire to remain children all life long, are in relation with the art of Klee and Hergé and the poetry of Saba and Fellini, and finally with the philosophy of Nietzsche

Later school start time: the impact of sleep on academic performance and health in the adolescent population

The crucial role of sleep in physical and mental health is well known, especially during the developmental period. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in examining the relationship between sleep patterns and school performance in adolescents. At this stage of life, several environmental and biological factors may affect both circadian and homeostatic regulation of sleep. A large part of this population does not experience adequate sleep, leading to chronic sleep restriction and/or disrupted sleep–wake cycles. Studies investigating the effects of different sleep–wake schedules on academic achievement showed that impaired sleep quality and quantity are associated with decreased learning ability and compromised daytime functioning. This review focuses on the most recent studies that evaluated the effects of modified school start time on sleep patterns and related outcomes. Moreover, based on the available empirical evidence, we intend to propose a direction for future studies targeted to implement prevention or treatment programs by modifying sleep timing. View Full-Tex