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Simone Pollo's book "La morale della natura, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008", represents an absolute newsness in the italian philosophy landscape, and, even if it belongs to a small-size editorial publishing series, it performs a micro-monographic work about this specific topic: the problem of natural(istic) grounds of ethics and morality. This work is a contribution which is tending, with a very clever fluency of the principal questions and with very high mastery of exposition, to unite critical knowledge of analyzed themes and philosophical (and political, in the classical, ancient greek meaning of polites attitudes) militancy. As a result we can find in La morale della natura a clear, rich reading about problems like «Is it possible to defend the foundations of a system of ethics upon the natural basis of human behaviour and it biological ground? How can we do it?» with their (negative, but not simplistic) response, indispensable for every scientific or not-academic reader who wants to deal with or to examine in depth the very hard dominion of the nature-ethics interconnection. The aim of Simone Pollo's book is to reach this aims from a laical, secular and aconfessional point of view and from an perspective quite liberal, free and exempt from a certain simpleton nihilism, very a la page today. Of course, from this angle, the most virtue of Pollo's work is its efficacious way to present the deep root and the embedding of "naturalistic fallacy" – in the G. E. Moore' sense – in a panoply of laical and confessional approach (first of all in these latter), and in its attempt of debunking of the same mistaking setting. ; Il libro di Simone Pollo "La morale della natura, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008", rappresenta una novità assoluta in lingua italiana, e può essere considerato a pieno titolo una micromonografia su questo, specifico, argomento. Cosa non meno importante, trattasi di un contributo che è teso, con egregia padronanza delle questioni trattate e con ottima capacità espositiva, ad unire conoscenza critica ed approfondita delle tematiche sottese ad una militanza critica, filosofica e, per taluni aspetti, politica (nel senso più classico e neutrale del termine, vale a dire come frutto dell'impegno intellettuale di un polites), del tutto limpidamente (e perciò lealmente) esposte e messe a nudo dagli intenti stessi dell'autore. Il risultato è una lettura chiara, ricca e indispensabile per chiunque intenda non solo conoscere o approfondire un problema-dibattito ("come possiamo parlare di fondamenti naturali dell'etica?"), ma anche per chiunque intenda affrontare questo argomento senza tema alcuna di un approccio da una prospettiva sicuramente più marcata da una sensibilità laica e liberale, anziché da un'angolatura già schierata confessionalmente o, peggio ancora, non schierata per nulla, in nome di un certo nichilismo buonista, oggi assai di moda.

"Facts and processes of the contemporary world challenge different knowledge to reflect on the meaning of

actions, relationships, communication of women and men, as cultural actors or decision-makers

in order not to be subjected to them uncritically.

A way to respond to this challenge can be working on the topic of the limit, shedding light on the contradictions it shows. The problem given by human limitation - challanged by unlimited desires - is certainly not the exclusive prerogative of our age, nor the univocal consequence of the social, cultural, techonlogical and economics developmentent. Therefore the meanings related to concept of limit allow us to address with realism the relationship between the human's instances and the social and cultural conditions generated by contemporary scenarios where our daily life takes place.

The purpose of this volume is to analyse, through the proposals of authors who work in different research fields, the meaning of the physical and symbolic limit, reflecting on existential, social and cultural experiences that can be interpreted as the consequence of a different shadows of human limits.

This is a way to experience the use of concepts and semantics which allow us to analyse the processes that are responsible for the breakdown of the balance between subjectivity and context, as well as contributing to the reconciliation between scientific production and moral feeling."

In this thesis the science and technology subjects as developed by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition are discussed. The underlying theme is the phenomenon of worldlessness, which refers to the existential condition of modern man, and manifests itself in the rejection of the world, conceived as Lebenswelt. The current technological advances and contemporary society are key in Arendt's thought as they developed from worldlessness. Such topics give the measure of alienation, being the activities through which processes and actions are enfranchised, and whose consequences appear to be highly dangerous to mankind and its proximity. Arendt's methodological approach can be described as 'humanist', therefore it focuses on humans and those implications due to the modern technological advances. Arendt's point of view is that of the common man: she urges each individual to question their actions by investigating his naïves questions, and wondering if people are really aware of what they are doing in the name of scientific progress. Therefore, the ambivalent nature of scientific development – both creative and destructive – is criticised. Such criticism focuses on the interactive networks through which technicians and scientists contribute in constantly changing the world of life. This is in line with the main task of the aforementioned work, which is to develop the discussion within a semantic and decisional collective framework, politically responsible and democratically sustainable. Hence the need of a socio-anthropological investigation of a world that looks entirely determined by science and technology arises. These ensure that 'objective' truth and operational ability are given by universal, rather than natural and terrestrial laws. Consequently this kind of knowledge - acquired from a extra-terrestrial point of view, the Archimedean point – imposes itself on nature an human life, shading the differences between human and artificial.

From this prevailing of the political character of the Sicilian question and from the ambiguous mix of purported scientific analysis and ideological instrumentalization, between militant research and moral denunciation, the sacrifice of the history of Sicily was consumed for the benefit of history of ideas and imagery about Sicily. This certainly does not want to delegitimize the wealth of knowledge accumulated by a long intellectual tradition, which sometimes expressed important civil and political concerns, as much as recovering and giving historical depth to a history that has been more a subject of controversy than a field of investigation

Current concepts of biopoetics deal with the analogy between evolution theory and literature as well as with the mutual challenges of evolution and aesthetics. These approaches do not take into account the fact that the relationship between bios and the scientific, anthropological and cultural knowledge is not given, i.e. it is not necessary in the metaphysical sense of being unavoidable. Bios is life in itself. Through the concept of "bio-poetics" I thus intend to deny the homology of the domains of bios and poetics, in order to find a method that does not capture life through the aprioris of conceptual frameworks. The affirmative biopolitics by Roberto Esposito, referring to the power and politics of life itself, opens up methodological perspectives for conceiving an "aesthetics of living" which, analogously, is not modelled according to exterior rules based on moral, political, social, scientific or poetological frameworks. Thus, the dynamics of living exceeds such schemes revealing itself as exceeding the operations which produce knowledge. Aesthetics means therefore the activity of material techniques that make visible the traces of life inscribed in the materiality of writings or of pictures. From these premises, I reconceive the bond between knowledge and literature referring to contemporary literary theories and analysing poetical processes and figures such as indeterminacy in literary texts of the 19th and 20th century written in Germany, France and Italy. Eventually, this reading of literary texts demonstrates the fictional production of an "other" knowledge about the dynamics of bios, evolving from the aesthetics of literature.

Benedetto Varchi and Averroism. The article examines the role played by Averroes and the Averroist tradition in Benedetto Varchi's philosophical works. The first part clarifies why Varchi defines Dante as an "Averroist" and reconstructs his original reading of the first verse in Paradise (Paradiso). The second part argues that Varchi's plan to vernacularize philosophy, often interpreted as an attempt to "democratize" knowledge, should not prevent us from recognizing that he emphasizes the moral and intellectual differences existing among human beings. Though following Aristotle in saying that "all men by nature desire to know", Varchi shows no qualms in acknowledging that most of them cannot fulfil this desire and, referring to Averroes and Galen, claims that because of their complexio most people cannot understand philosophy.

In questo nostro intervento avremo modo di soffermarci sulla possibilità di tenere assieme sia la scienza medica sia la libertà di scelta della persona, avendo come tramite il giudizio riflettente kantiano ripreso da autori come Hannah Arendt e Paul Ricœur. Ci pare, infatti, che sia davvero necessario porre al centro del dibattito la possibilità di far crescere questa sinergia fra le diverse discipline, elaborando un approccio che si collochi nell'etica del rispetto, la quale sottende un'epistemologia che accredita come valida la conoscenza del particolare, cominciando ad introdurre il tema della libertà in relazione allo statuto epistemologico delle scienze. ; In the contemporary age there are many different types of approach, but we can reduce them to these two opposite poles: science and its objective knowledge against the existential dimension of the human subject. In addition to this, hyper-specialisation produces a strong separation in the same branch of knowledge and dialogue from one field of research to another is greatly lacking, because everyone only concentrates on his study area without applying a more open vision. Luckily, bioethics adopts an interdisciplinary view and in this way we can have a link through the different areas of the knowledge. In this article, we start to explain the importance of Kant's Reflective Judgment with its political, juridical and medical retakes, which were formulated by Hannah Arendt and Paul Ricœur. Finally, through the concepts of common law and exemplarity, we introduce an argument about the possibility of making an epistemological and scientific debate starting from the singular level and with an approach which considers both the aspects of freedom of choice and the respect for a person's life, but without descending into a relativism perspective.

In Italy sport plays an important role in social and cultural life. Its educational function and that of sport associations are not obvious for different schools of thought. This paper assumes functional and operational definition of education, as transmission of knowledge and the opportunity of favoring social interactions. With the purpose of interpreting the ongoing situation, the paper treats the evolution of relationship between sport associations and political institutions in a historical perspective, and describes the current situation of Sport Promotion Agencies and not for profit Associations, and their asymmetrical distribution between North and South Italy. The educational purpose of Sports Associations actually shows lights and shadows. The lights regard the strong capability to bring people together during the practice of amateur or agonistic sport even though many shadows affect the possibility to express a fair judgment on actual capability to transmit high sport moral values.

Il Gruppo Lombardo dell'UCID fu costituito a Milano l'11 maggio 1945 per iniziativa di uomini provenienti dall'ambiente dell'Azione Cattolica, del SEDAS e dell'ICAS, nonché importanti esponenti dell'imprenditoria, del management e del mondo bancario lombardo e milanese del tempo. Scopo primo dell'Associazione era "formare gli aderenti ai principi della morale professionale e […] promuovere l'attuazione del pensiero sociale nel campo dell'industria e del lavoro". Il Gruppo Lombardo è stato studiato con riferimento al periodo compreso tra la sua costituzione e la fine degli anni Sessanta/primi Settanta. In particolare, data l'importanza attribuita già da Statuto all'attività di formazione, ci si è concentrati sulla sua proposta formativa, sia da un punto di vista religioso e morale che tecnico e con riferimento a tematiche economiche, politiche, sociali o connesse all'attualità del tempo. Infine, si è presa in esame anche l'esperienza del Segretariato UCID di Servizio sociale e delle assistenti sociali collocate tramite tale ufficio presso diverse sedi della Giovanni Bassetti S.p.A. ; The Gruppo Lombardo had been founded in Milan on 11th May 1945 by a group of people belonging to the Italian Catholic Action or to other Catholic bodies and that were, at the same time, important Lombard entrepreneurs, managers or bankers. The Association's main aim was to spread among its members the knowledge of the principles of the Catholic social doctrine and to encourage their use in everyday working life. The Gruppo Lombardo was studied from its foundation up to the late 1960s/early 1970s. More precisely, because of the importance given by the Association to training and education, we focused on its initiatives in these fields; moreover, we examined also the case of the Segretariato UCID di Servizio sociale and of social workers belonging to this office but working for Giovanni Bassetti S. p. A.

It is well known that among cultural anthropologists and philosophers there is always a historical gap and a difference of interests, language and method, which often causes a rivalry between the two disciplines that ends to stiffen anthropology in a collection of descriptions without universal principles and philosophy in a reflection of noble ambitions but unable to consider the individual human cases. The main aim of this thesis is to read the complete works of the philosopher and anthropologist Ernesto de Martino (Naples 1908 - Rome 1965) as a point of union, isolated and sui generis, between anthropology and philosophy. The goal is to obtain, from the reading of his works, a true anthropology of the person who somehow bring order to his unsystematic work, searching in it a common thread: the person, based on the overcoming of life in value , synthesis of necessity and freedom, of transcendental truths and cultural variety. Therefore our aim is not to reconstruct philologically the work and the figure of de Martino or investigate from a historical point of view on the originality of the sources present in it. De Martino is not here treated as an end but as an instrument of knowledge of the human person in its essential aspects, moral and ethical. Thus, the aim of this work is theoretical and moral, that is: with the attempt to restore unity to the work of de Martino, we consider the ultimate and overarching meaning of his anthropology, rather than those moments of dialogue between ethnology, politics and philosophy in his work certainly present; then we wonder not so much who was de Martino as a scholar (problem still treated in this work) but what kind of scientific-philosophical proposal is his and if this proposal, given its ethical and epistemological complexity, can become the foundation for an organic human study that so far neither ethnology nor philosophy can, independently of each other, to ensure.

Considered within the long process through which Milan has become a "city of exhibitions", the "Mostra nazionale delle Arti e dell'Industria" 1881 is of crucial relevance. On that occasion, twenty years after the country's unification, the roaring Excelsior Ball in the background, Milan displayed its self-portrait in the pavilions under the motto "Labor vincit omnia", standing as "moral capital of Italy". Such an ambitious project relied on a series of volumes – Mediolanum (Vallardi), Milano 1881 (Ottino), Milano e i suoi dintorni (Civelli), – offering the radiant image of a close and hard-working community. In this perspective, such a close collaboration between the ruling class and Milan-based intellectuals during the exhibition represented a model: promoted by a state-of-the-art publishing industry, the initiative fostered a synergy between the educated members of society, be them Milan-born or adoptive, who gathered in institutional venues as well as within the "repubblica della carta sporca". Writers and journalists, engineers and economists, technicians and scientists, engravers and artists were all committed to sketch the portrait of the "città più città d'Italia" (Verga). They all stood on the common ground provided by a sound value system, never giving way to bombastic statements, and by the shared interests of a modern civil society: a common ground made firmer by the Enlightenment and Romantic tradition and a Smilesian confidence in positivist culture. Milan's hard-working ethics is well summarized in the slogans of Milanese pride: initiative, inter-class solidarity, lay tolerance and charitable philanthropy; a strong tie to "cose serie, cose sode"; an idea of progress meant as cautious evolution; the promotion of a wide-ranging knowledge able to combine the humanities with "utili cognizioni", strongly suspicious of any kind of abstraction. Common sense, intended as the combination of balance and integrity, was considered as the rule of daily life, while the public sphere was governed by an efficient local government priding itself on being miles away from the idle talk of the political capital. Recovering Cattaneo's motto - "convertire il mondo moderno in mondo nostro" - the "moral capital" rose to the challenge of industrial progress within the European context, against any form of short-sighted and regressive entrenchment.

The author offers a "portrait" of Pietro Ferraro, founder of "Futuribili". The purpose is to describe the journal's leading light and to define the characterstics of a generation which, in the 1960s and '70s, felt the need to "invent" the future of society and take the responsibility of changing a world in crisis, a world which needed more democracy and a new relationship with an environment otherwise doomed to die. More than university professors, Pietro Ferraro, Aurelio Peccei, Alexander King and Bertrand de Jouvenel were entrepreneurs, directors of international organisations and intellectuals sensitive to the future. Born in Venice in 1908, Ferraro was the owner of dolomite mining companies, the San Giusto cotton mill in Trieste and the Timavo paper mill in Duino, but was also a leading figure in the Resistance to the Republic of Salò, an enthusiastic sportsman and a critic of Keynesian economics (on which he wrote a number of books from 1947 to 1970). Above all he believed in the idea of The construction of the future as a moral duty (his last book), which lay behind his foundation of the journal "Futuribili". Pietro Ferraro had a complex character, combining a projection towards the future, an almost aesthetic sense of adventure and intellectual curiosity, an absorption in the practice of knowledge, an infusion of deep moral values in the everyday conduct of his businesses, and the pleasure of building a utopian society in which utopia is more of a movement towards perfection than the achievement of perfection itself. ; L'autore presenta una "medaglia" di Pietro Ferraro, il fondatore di Futuribili. Ciò viene fatto sia per descrivere il primo protagonista della rivista, e sia anche per delineare i caratteri di una generazione, che a cavallo degli anni sessanta/settanta sente il bisogno di "inventare" il futuro di una società che si assume l'onere di cambiare un mondo in crisi, perché ha bisogno di maggiore democrazia e di un nuovo rapporto con l'ambiente perché altrimenti questo muore. Pietro Ferraro, ma anche Aurelio Peccei, Alexander King, Bertrand de Jouvenel, sono imprenditori, dirigenti di organizzazioni internazionali, intellettuali con sensibilità per il futuro, ma molto meno professori universitari. Ferraro nasce a Venezia nel 1908, è imprenditore di ditte per l'estrazione della dolomite, del cotonificio San Giusto (a Trieste), della cartiera del Timavo a Duino, ma è anche un avventuroso protagonista della Resistenza nella Repubblica Sociale di Salò, è un esteta dello sport (cui si dà con vero entusiasmo), è anche un critico delle concezioni keynesiane cui dedica alcuni libri (dal 1947 al 1970); ma è soprattutto convinto de "La costruzione del futuro come impegno morale" (l'ultimo libro), sta alla base dell'idea di fondare la rivista "Futuribili". Pietro Ferraro sviluppa una complessa personalità, che unisce in sé proiezione al futuro, senso quasi estetico dell'avventura e della curiosità intellettuale, riversamento nel pratico della conoscenza, infusione della propria azione quotidiana da imprenditore nei valori profondi e ultimi, piacere di costruire una società utopica in cui però l'utopia è più movimento verso la perfezione che stabilità della perfezione.