One of the most unpredictable things the pandemic brought to our societies was the closure of hospitals and other health services to visitors. Preventing the spread of infection was the main reason for these decisions in the early days of the pandemic when there was no clarity about the means of transmission and the origin of the virus. However, in view of the persistence of the restrictions to date and the numerous negative consequences they have had on the professional and (...) personal quality of life of doctors, nurses, patients and carers, the aim of this article is to analyse in depth the reasons why these decisions have been and, above all, are still being applied, also considering the hypothesis that the choices made so far in the training of health professionals should be questioned. The persistence of restrictions, the constant reduction of human and economic resources in the face of an increase in the demand for care have exacerbated the distance between health professionals and users, to the point of escalating into actual acts of violence and aggression. According to the Critical Pedagogy approach, educators can play a central role in activating formative and collaborative strategies, such as maieutic groups, to rebuild an alliance between those who today find themselves on opposite sides: health professionals on the one hand, and patients and families on the other. (shrink)

The illness immersion condition prevents patients from enjoying everything worth living life for. In any case, according to Frank, this condition could represent one of the most insightful experiences towards understanding the meaning of life. Using the metaphor of phoenix taken from May, Frank identified four kinds of embodiments through which the phoenix can reveal itself in a patient after an illness immersion experience: the phoenix that could ever be and the phoenix that might have been; the recurrent and cumulative (...) phoenix and the reluctant phoenix. Based on these considerations, a qualitative study was conducted in order to give voice to the different phoenix embodiments focusing on several autobiographies of patients afflicted with severe or terminal illness. The analysis highlights several similarities that the different phoenixes shared ; however, a deep difference emerged in their worldview which proves able to lead them towards different epiphanies. These evidences reveal that every sick person should be understood, stimulated and accompanied throughout his lived experience of illness by an expressly designed and dedicated care. (shrink)

“La vita non è altro che chimica” e “la vita non è riducibile a chimica” sono due idee opposte dello storico problema di identificare la specificità del vivente. Sebbene siano due posizioni opposte, per entrambe la chimica è un punto di riferimento per “leggere” il vivente, è la prospettiva privilegiata in cui “interpretare” il vivente. La prospettiva di questo libro non è quella riduzionista, ma quella sistemica delle relazioni. La vita, come le altre proprietà emergenti, non si esaurisce nelle relazioni (...) con l’interno (le sostanze chimiche costituenti) e con l’esterno (l’ambiente), ma senza di esse non è studiabile scientificamente. Il linguaggio chimico, infatti, è il linguaggio universale della materia, sia di quella che costituisce le rocce sia di quella degli organismi viventi e, parafrasando Galileo, la materia dell’universo è scritta in linguaggio chimico e i suoi caratteri sono atomi, molecole e macromolecole; senza queste conoscenze è un aggirarsi vanamente per un oscuro labirinto. (shrink)

In this communication, starting from the relationship between chemistry and biology, I would like to show that the chemical explanation of the material world is today universal and this deserves some philosophical consideration.

Dall'autore del più visitato sito web dedicato a Giordano Bruno, un volume in chiusura dell'anno bruniano, edito da Marotta & Cafiero: WWW.Giordano Bruno di Guido del Giudice è un assai originale pubblicazione che trova nella passione filosofica di chi lo ha scritto la sua più profonda motivazione.