Emotions in the Listener: A Criterion of Artistic Relevance

Philosophers of music and psychologists have examined the various ways in which music is capable of arousing emotions in a listener. Among philosophers, opinions diverge as to the different types of music-induced emotions and as to their relevance to music listening. A somewhat neglected question concerns the possibility of developing a general criterion for the artistic relevance of music-induced emotions. In this paper, I will try to formulate such a criterion. In whatever way music may induce emotions and regardless of the sorts of emotion music is taken to arouse, a given emotion will qualify as artistically relevant if and only if it is caused by appropriate listening, it is dependent on features of the piece of music as a work of art and is capable of further directing our attention to such features

On the Destruction of Musical Instruments

In this article, I aim to provide an account of the peculiar reasons that motivate our negative reaction whenever we see musical instruments being mistreated and destroyed. Stephen Davies has suggested that this happens because we seem to treat musical instruments as we treat human beings, at least in some relevant respects. I argue in favour of a different explanation, one that is based on the nature of music as an art form. The main idea behind my account is that musical instruments are not mere tools for the production of art; rather, they are involved in an essential way in artistic appreciation of music. This fact not only grounds our negative reaction to their mistreatment and destruction but also has a normative force that is lacked by the account proposed by Davies

Stephen Davies on the Issue of Literalism

In this paper I discuss Stephen Davies’s defence of literalism about emotional descriptions of music. According to literalism, a piece of music literally possesses the expressive properties we attribute to it when we describe it as ‘sad’, ‘happy’, etc. Davies’s literalist strategy exploits the concept of polysemy: the meaning of emotion words in descriptions of expressive music is related to the meaning of those words when used in their primary psychological sense. The relation between the two meanings is identified by Davies in music’s presentation of emotion-characteristics-in-appearance. I will contend that there is a class of polysemous uses of emotion terms in descriptions of music that is not included in Davies’s characterization of the link between emotions in music and emotions as psychological states. I conclude by indicating the consequences of my claim for the phenomenology of expressive music

On Evolutionary Explanations of Musical Expressiveness

In this paper, I will examine an evolutionary hypothesis about musical expressiveness first proposed by Peter Kivy. I will first present the hypothesis and explain why I take it to be different from ordinary evolutionary explanations of musical expressiveness. I will then argue that Kivy’s hypothesis is of crucial importance for most available resemblancebased accounts of musical expressiveness. For this reason, it is particularly important to assess its plausibility. After having reviewed the existing literature on the topic, I will list five challenges the hypothesis is supposed to meet. Although my list of challenges does not aim at exhaustiveness, I believe that the hypothesis must meet all of the challenges I suggest if it is to work as a cornerstone for a theory of musical expressiveness

Replicating Paintings

In this paper, I discuss cases of replication in the visual arts, with particular focus on paintings. In the first part, I focus on painted copies, that is, manual reproductions of paintings created by artists. Painted copies are sometimes used for the purpose of aesthetic education on the original. I explore the relation between the creation of painted copies and their use as aesthetic surrogates of the original artwork and draw a positive conclusion on the aesthetic benefits of replica production by artists. A skeptical conclusion follows regarding the use of such replicas as surrogates for the original painting. The second part of the paper concerns mechanically produced replicas, such as photographs and 3-D prints. On the basis of some of the claims made in the first part, I set conditions that mechanically produced replicas need to meet in order to function as aesthetic surrogates of an original. I argue that perfect aesthetic surrogates are either already available or at least possible. I conclude by considering two possible objections

Cost-Consequence Analysis of Three Different Diagnostic Strategies in the First- and Second-Line Treatment of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND: Unlike the tissue one, liquid biopsy is a less invasive diagnostic method for the assessment of possible mutations of the tumor, based on the analysis of circulating free DNA (cfDNA) present in the plasma component of the blood. Because blood samples are easily obtainable, plasma biopsy is a non-invasive method, supplementing the more traditional biopsy techniques.AIM: A cost-consequence analysis was conducted to compare the adoption of three different diagnostic strategies in the first- and second-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC: i) tissue strategy (only tissue biopsy for first and second line), ii) combined strategy (first line: tissue biopsy. If unknown, liquid biopsy; second line: liquid biopsy. If negative, tissue biopsy) and iii) potential strategy (first line: tissue biopsy. If unknown or tissue ineligible, liquid biopsy; secondline: liquid biopsy. If negative, tissue biopsy).METHODS: A decision-analytic model was developed considering the Italian NHS’s perspective. We only evaluated direct medical costs (tissue biopsy, management of complications associated with tissue and liquid biopsies) borne by the NHS. The CCA was conducted over a time horizon of 1 year, assuming that for each patient with mNSCLC the diagnosticpathway (first- and second-line treatment) ended within such period. Key variables were tested in the sensitivity analysis.RESULTS: Considering both the first and the second line of treatment, the potential strategy constitutes the cost-effective alternative, characterized by an average cost per correctly identified case (€ 685) lower than that estimated for the combined strategy (€ 732) or for the tissue strategy (€ 1,004). The potential strategy remains cost-effective, also considering the results referred to the first- or second-line treatment only.CONCLUSION: The choice of a correct diagnostic strategy is crucial in order to optimize cancer therapies in the first- and second-line treatment of locally advanced or metastasized NSCLC. The addition to the diagnostic pathway of the liquid biopsy would correctly identify a greater number of cases, supporting the prescription of the best oncological therapy

Morphological and Genetic Characterization of Local Maize Accessions from Emilia Romagna Region, Italy

Italian maize germplasm is particularly rich in local materials and each region is characterized by the presence of peculiar local varieties deriving from centuries of adaptation, selection and cultivation. While the introduction of hybrids, during the 1950s, led to the disappearing of many of these varieties, some have been maintained in cultivation by farmers, frequently in marginal areas, as a kind of family heritage. Local varieties were identified throughout field surveys carried out in recent years. The discovery of a traditional popcorn variety over the most common flint and semi-flint materials used for production of polenta was interesting. Since these varieties have never been adequately described and reported in scientific literature, this study was aimed to solve this lack of knowledge on recently discovered local maize populations. Characterization represents the first step of a process focused on the preservation and possible exploitation of important genetic resources. Traditional materials are a useful reservoir of genes for adaptation to local conditions and climate changes. Adequate breeding programs can use such germplasm for developing new and more resilient varieties. These local materials have been characterized at the morphological level highlighting plant, ear and kernel differences. Genetic characterization, carried out on 455 individuals by the use of 10 SSR markers, revealed 62 different alleles ranging from four for markers phi127, phi076 and phi084 to nine for marker p-bnlg176. The landraces are well distinguishable at genetic level since 40% of genetic variability is present among accessions. Five landraces are characterized by the presence of private alleles and heterozygosity levels are generally good. These findings support the possibility to correctly preserve local materials through in situ conservation. Phylogenetic analysis evidenced the presence of varietal clusters, the clearest one formed by three red-pigmented accessions. STRUCTURE analysis revealed that five landraces have a well-defined genetic attribution while the remaining two (EMR04-Mais Rosso di Rasora and EMR10-Mais del Principe di Scavolino) are both constituted by two different backgrounds

A. Bertinetto, Eseguire l’inatteso. Ontologia della musica e improvvisazione, il Glifo E-books, Roma 2016

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