Results for 'Massimo Vittorio'

219 found
Order:
  1. The symbol between ethics and communication in Alfred Schütz.Massimo Vittorio - 2018 - Journal of Philosophical Criticism 1 (1):71-88.
    This paper focuses on the concept of symbol and tries to outline its function as a means of communication. In order to describe the communicative qualities of symbol, it is necessary to show its ethical nature. The paper analyses the role symbols play in intersubjective relations, in the construction of the individual’s reality, and in the human ability to attribute meanings and assign functions.The conceptual frame- work for the understanding of what symbol is, how it works, and how it is (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  2. On the concept of biological race and its applicability to humans.Massimo Pigliucci & Jonathan Kaplan - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1161-1172.
    Biological research on race has often been seen as motivated by or lending credence to underlying racist attitudes; in part for this reason, recently philosophers and biologists have gone through great pains to essentially deny the existence of biological human races. We argue that human races, in the biological sense of local populations adapted to particular environments, do in fact exist; such races are best understood through the common ecological concept of ecotypes. However, human ecotypic races do not in general (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   51 citations  
  3. Sewall Wright’s adaptive landscapes: 1932 vs. 1988.Massimo Pigliucci - 2008 - Biology and Philosophy 23 (5):591-603.
    Sewall Wright introduced the metaphor of evolution on “adaptive landscapes” in a pair of papers published in 1931 and 1932. The metaphor has been one of the most influential in modern evolutionary biology, although recent theoretical advancements show that it is deeply flawed and may have actually created research questions that are not, in fact, fecund. In this paper I examine in detail what Wright actually said in the 1932 paper, as well as what he thought of the matter at (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   4 citations  
  4. Colonialism, Injustice, and Arbitrariness.Vittorio Bufacchi - 2017 - Journal of Social Philosophy 48 (2):197-211.
    The current debate on why colonialism is wrong overlooks what is arguably the most discernible aspect of this particular historical injustice: its exreme violence. Through a critical analysis of the recent contributions by Lea Ypi, Margaret Moore and Laura Valentini, this article argues that the violence inflicted on the victims and survivors of colonialism reveals far more about the nature of this historical injustice than generally assumed. It is the arbitrary nature of the power relations between colonizers and the colonized (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  5. La rivendicazione spinoziana della libertas philosophandi nella prospettiva del Trattato Teologico Politico.Massimo Ricchiari - 2013
    La libertà di pensiero è l'assunto principale della filosofia di Spinoza in età moderna. La posizione dei filosofi nei confronti dell'ortodossia religiosa è particolarmente delicata, dal momento che pone in questione l'autorità stessa delle Scritture e la verità della Torah e della Chiesa. In particolare Spinoza riflette nel Trattato Teologico Politico del nesso tra il libero pensiero e l'obbedienza del popolo Ebraico alla Legge Mosaica.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  6. Genetic variance–covariance matrices: A critique of the evolutionary quantitative genetics research program.Massimo Pigliucci - 2006 - Biology and Philosophy 21 (1):1-23.
    This paper outlines a critique of the use of the genetic variance–covariance matrix (G), one of the central concepts in the modern study of natural selection and evolution. Specifically, I argue that for both conceptual and empirical reasons, studies of G cannot be used to elucidate so-called constraints on natural selection, nor can they be employed to detect or to measure past selection in natural populations – contrary to what assumed by most practicing biologists. I suggest that the search for (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   8 citations  
  7. How to reject a counterfactual.Vittorio Morato - 2017 - Logique Et Analyse 239:317-335.
    Aaccording to D. K. lewis (1973), would-couterfactuals and might-counterfactuals are duals. from this, it follows that the negation of a would-counterfactual is equiv- alent to the corresponding “might-not”-counterfactual and that the negation of a might-counterfactual is equivalent to the corresponding “would-not”- counterfactual. there are cases, however, where we seem to be entitled to accept the would- counterfactual and we are also equally entitled to accept the corresponding might-not-counterfactual and cases where we seem to be entitled to accept the might-counterfactual without (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  8. State Legitimacy and Self-defence.Massimo Renzo - 2011 - Law and Philosophy 30 (5):575-601.
    In this paper I outline a theory of legitimacy that grounds the state’s right to rule on a natural duty not to harm others. I argue that by refusing to enter the state, anarchists expose those living next to them to the dangers of the state of nature, thereby posing an unjust threat. Since we have a duty not to pose unjust threats to others, anarchists have a duty to leave the state of nature and enter the state. This duty (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   18 citations  
  9. Sherlock's Reasoning Toolbox.Massimo Pigliucci - 2012 - In Philip Tallon & David Baggett (eds.), The Philosophy of Sherlock Holmes. University Press of Kentucky.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  10. Political Authority and Unjust Wars.Massimo Renzo - 2018 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 99 (2):336-357.
    Just war theory is currently dominated by two positions. According to the orthodox view, provided that jus in bello principles are respected, combatants have an equal right to fight, regardless of the justice of the cause pursued by their state. According to “revisionists” whenever combatants lack reasons to believe that the war they are ordered to fight is just, their duty is to disobey. I argue that when members of a legitimate state acting in good faith are ordered to fight, (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  11. Hypotheses? Forget about it!Massimo Pigliucci - 2009 - Philosophy Now (Jul/Aug):47.
    On the status of hypotheses in science, and why scientists would be better off asking questions.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  12. The World of Appreciation as Lebenswelt: The Value of Pre-scientific Experience in the Philosophy of Josiah Royce and Edmund Husserl.Massimo Cisternino - 2023 - The Pluralist 18 (2):66-79.
    The paper investigates the role played by pre-scientific experience in the philosophy of Josiah Royce and Edmund Husserl. Such a notion, generally associated with Husserl’s conception of the life-world (Lebenswelt) in the Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (1936), finds an equivalent and historical antecedent in Royce’s distinction between a world of description and a world of appreciation. The final goal is to show how, despite their different philosophical frameworks, Royce and Husserl agree on the idea that, through the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  13. Nietzsche, l'Illuminismo e la felicità.Massimo Mori - 2009 - Rivista di Filosofia 100 (1):67-98.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  14. Embodying the Face: The Intersubjectivity of Portraits and Self-portraits.Vittorio Gallese - 2022 - Topoi 41 (4):731-740.
    The topic of the human face is addressed from a biocultural perspective, focusing on the empirical investigation of how the face is represented, perceived, and evaluated in artistic portraits and self-portraits from the XVth to the XVIIth century. To do so, the crucial role played by the human face in social cognition is introduced, starting from development, showing that neonatal facial imitation and face-to-face dyadic interactions provide the grounding elements for the construction of intersubjective bonds. The neuroscience of face perception (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  15. Rights Forfeiture and Liability to Harm.Massimo Renzo - 2017 - Journal of Political Philosophy 25 (3):324-342.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  16. The Value of Public Philosophy to Philosophers.Massimo Pigliucci & Leonard Finkelman - 2014 - Essays in Philosophy 15 (1):86-102.
    Philosophy has been a public endeavor since its origins in ancient Greece, India, and China. However, recent years have seen the development of a new type of public philosophy conducted by both academics and non- professionals. The new public philosophy manifests itself in a range of modalities, from the publication of magazines and books for the general public to a variety of initiatives that exploit the power and flexibility of social networks and new media. In this paper we examine the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  17. War crimes in Ukraine: is Putin responsible?Vittorio Bufacchi - 2022 - Journal of Political Power 16 (2022).
    War crimes are being committed in Ukraine today, but who should be held responsible? By looking at the literature on responsibility and violence by Philippa Foot and John Harris, this article argues that there are grounds for holding Vladimir Putin responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, even if he did not give the command for these crimes and other atrocities to be carried out.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  18. Peircean realism - towards a scientific metaphysics.Vittorio Justin Serra - 2024 - Dissertation, University of Kent
    The problem of the status of metaphysics -- what it is and what it is for, what use it is - has been with us for millennia, at least since Plato took issue with the Sophists, and continues to the present day. Here I attempt an intervention in this perennial dispute, with the aim of providing some kind of rapprochement between the factions. This intervention is based on how Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) understood metaphysics and the position presented here is (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  19. GEORGE EDWARD MOORE, PRINCIPIA ETHICA. Testo inglese a fronte. A cura di Sergio Cremaschi e Massimo Reichlin.Sergio Volodia Cremaschi & Massimo Reichlin - 2023 - Firenze / Milano: Giunti Editore / Bompiani. Translated by Sergio Volodia Cremaschi & Massimo Reichlin.
    A New Italian translation of Principia Ethica coming almost 60 years after the 1964 translation by Gianni Vattimo with Nicola Abbagnano’s preface. The new edition makes room for the English text alongside the Italian translation; it includes the 1922 Preface, a bibliography of Moore’s ethical writings with critical literature, a chronology of Moore’s life and works, and an Index. The Introduction by Sergio Cremaschi reconstructs the background of ideas, concerns and intentions from which Moore’s Principia Ethica originated. It stresses the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  20. An Extended Synthesis for Evolutionary Biology.Massimo Pigliucci - 2009 - Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1168:218-228.
    Evolutionary theory is undergoing an intense period of discussion and reevaluation. This, contrary to the misleading claims of creationists and other pseudoscientists, is no harbinger of a crisis but rather the opposite: the field is expanding dramatically in terms of both empirical discoveries and new ideas. In this essay I briefly trace the conceptual history of evolutionary theory from Darwinism to neo-Darwinism, and from the Modern Synthesis to what I refer to as the Extended Synthesis, a more inclusive conceptual framework (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   60 citations  
  21. Do we need an extended evolutionary synthesis?Massimo Pigliucci - 2007 - Evolution 61 (12):2743-2749.
    The Modern Synthesis (MS) is the current paradigm in evolutionary biology. It was actually built by expanding on the conceptual foundations laid out by its predecessors, Darwinism and neo-Darwinism. For sometime now there has been talk of a new Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), and this article begins to outline why we may need such an extension, and how it may come about. As philosopher Karl Popper has noticed, the current evolutionary theory is a theory of genes, and we still lack (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   78 citations  
  22. Why Gaia?Massimo Pigliucci - 2014 - Ethics and the Environment 19 (2):117.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Why Gaia?Massimo Pigliucci (bio)The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet, Michael Ruse, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. 272 pages.“The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet tells a story that comes out of the 1960s, a story that reflects all of the beliefs and enthusiasms and tensions of that decade.” So begins Michael Ruse’s fascinating, if at times puzzling, exploration of James Lovelock’s famous idea that (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  23. The demarcation problem: a (belated) response to Laudan.Massimo Pigliucci - 2013 - In Massimo Pigliucci & Maarten Boudry (eds.), Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. University of Chicago Press. pp. 9.
    The “demarcation problem,” the issue of how to separate science from pseu- doscience, has been around since fall 1919—at least according to Karl Pop- per’s (1957) recollection of when he first started thinking about it. In Popper’s mind, the demarcation problem was intimately linked with one of the most vexing issues in philosophy of science, David Hume’s problem of induction (Vickers 2010) and, in particular, Hume’s contention that induction cannot be logically justified by appealing to the fact that “it works,” (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   27 citations  
  24. Is evolvability evolvable?Massimo Pigliucci - 2008 - Nature Reviews Genetics 9:75-82.
    In recent years, biologists have increasingly been asking whether the ability to evolve — the evolvability — of biological systems, itself evolves, and whether this phenomenon is the result of natural selection or a by-product of other evolutionary processes. The concept of evolvability, and the increasing theoretical and empirical literature that refers to it, may constitute one of several pillars on which an extended evolutionary synthesis will take shape during the next few years, although much work remains to be done (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   44 citations  
  25. Ereignis; the precondition for Being and Time – a premonition.Massimo Bini - manuscript
    The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of Heidegger's philosophy and reveal a possibility of an other beginning, of which we can have only a premonition for now. The paper is very much a preparation for work which is currently underway.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  26. Prove it! The Burden of Proof Game in Science vs. Pseudoscience Disputes.Massimo Pigliucci & Maarten Boudry - 2014 - Philosophia 42 (2):487-502.
    The concept of burden of proof is used in a wide range of discourses, from philosophy to law, science, skepticism, and even in everyday reasoning. This paper provides an analysis of the proper deployment of burden of proof, focusing in particular on skeptical discussions of pseudoscience and the paranormal, where burden of proof assignments are most poignant and relatively clear-cut. We argue that burden of proof is often misapplied or used as a mere rhetorical gambit, with little appreciation of the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   16 citations  
  27. The Hierarchical Model and H. L. A. Hart's Concept of Law.Massimo La Torre - 2013 - Revus 21:141-161.
    Law is traditionally related to the practice of command and hierarchy. It seems that a legal rule should immediately establish a relation between a superior and an inferior. This hierarchical and authoritharian view might however be challenged once the phenomenology of the rule is considered from the internal point of view, that is, from the stance of those that can be said to “use” rather than to “suffer” the rules themselves. A practice oriented approach could in this way open up (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  28. Finding the way in phenotypic space: the origin and maintenance of constraints on organismal form.Massimo Pigliucci - 2007 - Annals of Botany 100:433-438.
    Background: One of the all-time questions in evolutionary biology regards the evolution of organismal shapes, and in particular why certain forms appear repeatedly in the history of life, others only seldom and still others not at all. Recent research in this field has deployed the conceptual framework of constraints and natural selection as measured by quantitative genetic methods. Scope: In this paper I argue that quantitative genetics can by necessity only provide us with useful statistical sum- maries that may lead (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  29. What are we to make of the concept of race?Massimo Pigliucci - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (3):272-277.
    Discussions about the biological bases (or lack thereof) of the concept of race in the human species seem to be never ending. One of the latest rounds is represented by a paper by Neven Sesardic, which attempts to build a strong scientific case for the existence of human races, based on genetic, morphometric and behavioral characteristics, as well as on a thorough critique of opposing positions. In this paper I show that Sesardic’s critique falls far short of the goal, and (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   16 citations  
  30. Validity and actuality.Vittorio Morato - 2014 - Logique Et Analyse 227:379-405.
    The notion of validity for modal languages could be defined in two slightly different ways. The first is the original definition given by S. Kripke, for which a formula φ of a modal language L is valid if and only if it is true in every actual world of every interpretation of L. The second is the definition that has become standard in most textbook presentations of modal logic, for which a formula φ of L is valid if and only (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  31. On death: Thoughts of an optimistic atheist.Massimo Pigliucci - 2002 - In P. Schoenewaldt:, S. R. Harris & M. Kallet (eds.), Faith & Reason Look at Death. University of Tennessee Libraries.
    When I was fifteen, I was having serious doubts about the existence of a supernatural entity benevolently looking over me, and—perhaps even more disturbingly—about the possibility of an afterlife in which I would again see my friends and relatives and exist happily ever after. It was at that point that I started reading the writings of Bertrand Russell,1,2 one of the most controversial philosophers and political activists of the Twentieth century.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  32. New Atheism and the Scientistic Turn in the Atheism Movement.Massimo Pigliucci - 2013 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 37 (1):142-153.
    The so-called “New Atheism” is a relatively well-defined, very recent, still unfold- ing cultural phenomenon with import for public understanding of both science and philosophy. Arguably, the opening salvo of the New Atheists was The End of Faith by Sam Harris, published in 2004, followed in rapid succession by a number of other titles penned by Harris himself, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Victor Stenger, and Christopher Hitchens.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   10 citations  
  33. Phenotypic plasticity.Massimo Pigliucci - 2001 - In C. W. Fox D. A. Roff (ed.), Evolutionary Ecology: Concepts and Case Studies.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   24 citations  
  34. Modal validity and the dispensability of the actuality operator.Vittorio Morato - 2014 - In Michal Dancak & Vit Puncochar (eds.), The Logica Yearbook 2013.
    In this paper, I claim that two ways of defining validity for modal languages (“real-world” and “general” validity), corresponding to distinction between a correct and an incorrect way of defining modal valid- ity, correspond instead to two substantive ways of conceiving modal truth. At the same time, I claim that the major logical manifestation of the real- world/general validity distinction in modal propositional languages with the actuality operator should not be taken seriously, but simply as a by-product of the way (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  35. The proximate–ultimate distinction and evolutionary developmental biology: causal irrelevance versus explanatory abstraction.Massimo Pigliucci & Raphael Scholl - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (5):653-670.
    Mayr’s proximate–ultimate distinction has received renewed interest in recent years. Here we discuss its role in arguments about the relevance of developmental to evolutionary biology. We show that two recent critiques of the proximate–ultimate distinction fail to explain why developmental processes in particular should be of interest to evolutionary biologists. We trace these failures to a common problem: both critiques take the proximate–ultimate distinction to neglect specific causal interactions in nature. We argue that this is implausible, and that the distinction (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   16 citations  
  36. La «salvezza dei simili» come progetto comune dei sapienti negli scritti del giovane Spinoza.Massimo Ricchiari - 2015 - Atti Dell'Accademia di Scienze Morali E Politiche 125:59-102.
    Spinoza’s philosophy could be understood as a tireless research of the truth. Nevertheless it can’t be interpreted as a path that leads only the wise to the salvation. The effort to reach the bliss, freedom, the true knowledge of the mind, has to belong to all humanity. So the role of the philosopher must be to encourage men to seek the truth, to love it through the union with God above all else. This is the soteriological fabric of the early (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  37. Species as family resemblance concepts: the (dis-)solution of the species problem?Massimo Pigliucci - 2003 - Bioessays 25 (6):596-602.
    The so-called ‘‘species problem’’ has plagued evolution- ary biology since before Darwin’s publication of the aptly titled Origin of Species. Many biologists think the problem is just a matter of semantics; others complain that it will not be solved until we have more empirical data. Yet, we don’t seem to be able to escape discussing it and teaching seminars about it. In this paper, I briefly examine the main themes of the biological and philosophical liter- atures on the species problem, (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   29 citations  
  38. The borderlands between science and philosophy.Massimo Pigliucci - 2008 - Quarterly Review of Biology 83 (1):7-15.
    Science and philosophy have a very long history, dating back at least to the 16th and 17th centuries, when the first scientist-philosophers, such as Bacon, Galilei, and Newton, were beginning the process of turning natural philosophy into science. Contemporary relationships between the two fields are still to some extent marked by the distrust that maintains the divide between the so-called “two cultures.” An increasing number of philosophers, however, are making conceptual contributions to sciences ranging from quantum mechanics to evolutionary biology, (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   32 citations  
  39. Why Machine-Information Metaphors are Bad for Science and Science Education.Massimo Pigliucci & Maarten Boudry - 2011 - Science & Education 20 (5-6):471.
    Genes are often described by biologists using metaphors derived from computa- tional science: they are thought of as carriers of information, as being the equivalent of ‘‘blueprints’’ for the construction of organisms. Likewise, cells are often characterized as ‘‘factories’’ and organisms themselves become analogous to machines. Accordingly, when the human genome project was initially announced, the promise was that we would soon know how a human being is made, just as we know how to make airplanes and buildings. Impor- tantly, (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   21 citations  
  40. The Ethics of Tit-for-Tat.Massimo Pigliucci - 2001 - Philosophy Now 33:28-29.
    Taking a quick look at game theory, rational egoism and the evolution of fairness.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  41. Neokantismo come filosofia della cultura: Wilhelm Windelband e Heinrich Rickert.Massimo Ferrari - 1998 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 3:367-388.
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  42. The Fall and Rise of Dr. Pangloss: adaptationism and the Spandrels paper 20 years later.Massimo Pigliucci & Jonathan Kaplan - 2000 - Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15 (2):66-77.
    Twenty years have passed since Gould and Lewontin published their critique of ‘the adaptationist program’ – the tendency of some evolutionary biologists to assume, rather than demonstrate, the operation of natural selection. After the ‘Spandrels paper’, evolutionists were more careful about producing just-so stories based on selection, and paid more attention to a panoply of other processes. Then came reactions against the excesses of the anti-adaptationist movement, which ranged from a complete dismissal of Gould and Lewontin’s contribution to a positive (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   26 citations  
  43. Phenotypic plasticity and evolution by genetic assimilation.Massimo Pigliucci, Courtney Murren & Carl Schlichting - 2006 - Journal of Experimental Biology 209:2362-2367.
    In addition to considerable debate in the recent evolutionary literature about the limits of the Modern Synthesis of the 1930s and 1940s, there has also been theoretical and empirical interest in a variety of new and not so new concepts such as phenotypic plasticity, genetic assimilation and phenotypic accommodation. Here we consider examples of the arguments and counter- arguments that have shaped this discussion. We suggest that much of the controversy hinges on several misunderstandings, including unwarranted fears of a general (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   22 citations  
  44. The mismeasure of machine: Synthetic biology and the trouble with engineering metaphors.Maarten Boudry & Massimo Pigliucci - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (4):660-668.
    The scientific study of living organisms is permeated by machine and design metaphors. Genes are thought of as the ‘‘blueprint’’ of an organism, organisms are ‘‘reverse engineered’’ to discover their functionality, and living cells are compared to biochemical factories, complete with assembly lines, transport systems, messenger circuits, etc. Although the notion of design is indispensable to think about adaptations, and engineering analogies have considerable heuristic value (e.g., optimality assumptions), we argue they are limited in several important respects. In particular, the (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   18 citations  
  45. The Proper Role of Population Genetics in Modern Evolutionary Theory.Massimo Pigliucci - 2008 - Biological Theory 3 (4):316-324.
    Evolutionary biology is a field currently animated by much discussion concerning its conceptual foundations. On the one hand, we have supporters of a classical view of evolutionary theory, whose backbone is provided by population genetics and the so-called Modern Synthesis (MS). On the other hand, a number of researchers are calling for an Extended Synthe- sis (ES) that takes seriously both the limitations of the MS (such as its inability to incorporate developmental biology) and recent empirical and theoretical research on (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   21 citations  
  46. Istinto e materialismo. Cabanis e Condillac a confronto.Serena Massimo - 2020 - Noctua 7 (2):270-335.
    Cabanis’ enucleation of the notion of instinct in his Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme articulates through a critique of the use of this notion by Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, who would not have recognised the founding role of physiology in human perceptive and intellectual activity. An analysis of Cabanis’ criticism to Condillac and an investigation of the meaning attributed to the notion of instinct by both philosophers allow to individuate in this notion the expression of two different (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  47. Condillac e i suoi recensori.Serena Massimo - 2018 - Noctua 5 (2):200-267.
    In the 17th century the dissemination of philosophical ideas relied also on the critical summaries and reviews published by the journals. The focus of this paper is the reactions of two of these journals – the Journal de Trévoux, edited by the Jesuits of the Parisian Collège Louis Le Grand, and the Journal des Sçavans – to Condillac’s works. The Jesuit journal, under the direction of pére Berthier – probably himself the author of the reviews – had a precise plan (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  48. GPT-3: its nature, scope, limits, and consequences.Luciano Floridi & Massimo Chiriatti - 2020 - Minds and Machines 30 (4):681–⁠694.
    In this commentary, we discuss the nature of reversible and irreversible questions, that is, questions that may enable one to identify the nature of the source of their answers. We then introduce GPT-3, a third-generation, autoregressive language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like texts, and use the previous distinction to analyse it. We expand the analysis to present three tests based on mathematical, semantic, and ethical questions and show that GPT-3 is not designed to pass any of them. (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   42 citations  
  49. Genotype–phenotype mapping and the end of the ‘genes as blueprint’ metaphor.Massimo Pigliucci - 2010 - Philosophical Transactions Royal Society B 365:557–566.
    In a now classic paper published in 1991, Alberch introduced the concept of genotype–phenotype (G!P) mapping to provide a framework for a more sophisticated discussion of the integration between genetics and developmental biology that was then available. The advent of evo-devo first and of the genomic era later would seem to have superseded talk of transitions in phenotypic space and the like, central to Alberch’s approach. On the contrary, this paper shows that recent empirical and theoretical advances have only sharpened (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   19 citations  
  50. Gould on Morton, Redux: What can the debate reveal about the limits of data?Jonathan Kaplan, Massimo Pigliucci & Joshua Banta - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 52:22-31.
    Lewis et al. (2011) attempted to restore the reputation of Samuel George Morton, a 19th century physician who reported on the skull sizes of different folk-races. Whereas Gould (1978) claimed that Morton's conclusions were invalid because they reflected unconscious bias, Lewis et al. alleged that Morton's findings were, in fact, supported, and Gould's analysis biased. We take strong exception to Lewis et al.’s thesis that Morton was “right.” We maintain that Gould was right to reject Morton's analysis as inappropriate and (...)
    Download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
1 — 50 / 219