Search results

A growing dissatisfaction with the political class has emerged in Italy. Inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the original strategy adopted by the Five Star Movement (FSM) was to connect citizens and institutions directly, thanks to ICTs. A participation platform called "Rousseau" was created to this end in 2016. However, after the Movement's great success in the 2018 national elections, digital utopianism was gradually abandoned. In 2021, the statute was reformed, creating new roles and organs making the FSM more akin to a traditional party, and the 'Rousseau' platform was replaced by another one with limited functions. This evolution leads to three theses: first, the reference to Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a mainly symbolic value for FSM; second, as recent facts show, this ideal reference weakened with the action of governing and the 'normalisation' of the party; third, this evolution confirms that the Rousseauian ideal is difficult to realise in a complex society.

Abstract: Habermas believes that the foundation of democracy is to be found in the discourse principle. Also, some cognitive and experimental studies have suggested that democratic procedures can promote a debate between different opinions and ideas, thus improving the decision-making performance of public authorities. However, Habermas believes that, while, on the one hand, the democratic community is based on the premise that participants in the discourse collectively strive to find the best solutions, on the other, the democratic process allows citizens to irrationally misuse their political rights. If, therefore, reasoned decision and dialogue have an important role in the justification of democracy, but it is a limited role, we propose the idea of an imperfect dialogic democracy.Keywords: Jürgen Habermas; Collective Reasoning; Cognitive and Experimental Studies; Democracy; Decision Making La democrazia dialogica imperfetta: il principio discorsivo di Habermas e gli studi sperimentali sul ragionamento collettivoRiassunto: Secondo Habermas il fondamento della democrazia risiede nel principio del discorso. Alcuni studi cognitivi e sperimentali suggeriscono che le procedure tipiche delle democrazia siano in grado di promuovere un dibattito fra opinioni e idee diverse, capace di migliorare le performances decisionali delle autorità pubbliche. Tuttavia, da un lato Habermas ritiene che la comunità democratica sia basata sulla presupposto che chi partecipa a un pubblico discorso si impegni a trovare la migliore soluzione, dall'altro le procedure democratiche non impediscono che i cittadini utilizzino in maniera irrazionale i loro diritti politici. Se le decisioni ragionate e il dialogo hanno un ruolo importante nella legittimazione della demcocrazia, un ruolo che tuttavia resta limitato, allora suggeriamo l'idea di una democrazia dialogica imperfetta.Parole chiave: Jürgen Habermas; Ragionamento collettivo; Studi cognitivi e sperimentali; Democrazia; Processi decisionali

Abstract. Background: Climate factors may offer a stronger explanation of the variations in suicide rates compared with economic variables, even in the case of patients admitted involuntarily. Aims: We assessed the role of temperature as a determinant of the increased prevalence of suicide attempts (SA). Method: The sample comprised all cases of hospitalization for SA at the Psychiatric Clinic of the IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino between August 2013 and July 2018. For ambient temperature, data were provided by the Meteorological Observatory of the University of Genoa. Results: We noted a peak in suicides that was typically found in late spring and early summer due to global warming. Limitations: Other environmental/psychological factors contributing to the onset of an acute clinical event were not considered. The cross-sectional design of the study is another limitation. Conclusion: Further studies are needed to clarify the impact of climatic factors on suicide behavior and implement early intervention and preventive strategies for mental health.