July 2011
2 posts
Banana Yoshimoto ed Erodoto
La settimana scorsa ho acquistato da “amazon.it” tre libri: - Giorgio Amitrano, Il mondo di Banana Yoshimoto - Banana Yoshimoto, Ricordi di un vicolo cieco - Erodoto, Storie.
Oggi i libri sono arrivati.
Storie, di Erodoto consiste di due volumi. In totale fanno 1693 pagine. A sinistra abbiamo il testo in Greco ed a destra il testo in Italiano. Le Storie incominciano così: “Questa è...
1 tag
In viaggio con Erodoto
Ryszard Kapuscinski era un reporter polacco, nato nel 1932 e morto nel 2007. Ha lavorato come corrispondente estero per un’agenzia di stampa polacca. Kapuscinski ha scritto numerosi libri-reportage con cui ha vinto diversi premi.
Nel libro “In viaggio con Erodoto” Kapuscinski narra dei suoi viaggi in Afrika, China e Asia. Nei suoi viaggi porta di solito con sé il libro di Erodoto intitolato...
May 2011
1 post
Doubt and science
Peter Abelard (1079-1142): By doubting we come to inquiry, and through enquiry we perceive truth.
Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988): It is our responsibility as scientist, knowing the great progress and great value of a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom, to teach how doubt is not to be...
December 2010
1 post
January 2010
2 posts
Charles Baudelaire - The Ghost
Like an angel, feral eyed, to your sleeping side, Gliding down with oily flight In the inwards of the night, I shall give you, my dark one, Kisses frozen as the moon, Caresses such as snakes give Slithering round the open grave. When the livid daylights waken You will find my place forsaken, Icy till the evening’s here: As others might with tenderness Rule your life and your...
Wordsworth - A night-piece
THE sky is overcast
With a continuous cloud of texture close,
Heavy and wan, all whitened by the Moon,
Which through that veil is indistinctly seen,
A dull, contracted circle, yielding light
So feebly spread, that not a shadow falls,
Chequering the ground--from rock, plant, tree, or tower.
At length a pleasant instantaneous gleam
Startles the...
December 2009
3 posts
China and the 'open' economies
If our activities will continue in the same pace, China in 5 to 10 years from now will be the leading economy of the world. The reason is that China has a ‘closed’ economy and the government stimulates the economy in a fashion Keynes would be proud of. But this leadership will not last very long as strong economies always evolve into ‘open’ economies. Just like the ones in...
1 tag
Storia di un taccuino leggendario
MOLESKINE ® è l’erede del leggendario taccuino degli artisti e intellettuali degli ultimi due secoli, da Vincent Van Gogh a Pablo Picasso, da Ernest Hemingway a Bruce Chatwin. Compagno di viaggio tascabile e fidato, ha custodito schizzi, appunti, storie e suggestioni prima che diventassero immagini famose o pagine di libri amati. Nel suo libro “Le vie dei canti”, Chatwin ci...
1 tag
Nel treno
Quando ero ragazzino e vivevo a Catania in Sicilia, mi piacevano molto i treni. Una volta ebbi fortuna. Mia madre doveva andare a Palermo per vedere una sorella che stava male. Prendemmo il treno! Era il 1964, l’anno in cui il ciclista francese Jacques Anquetil vinse il giro d’Italia.
Arrivati a Messina, dove eravamo obbligati ad aspettare più di un’ora e mezza, la locomotiva nera venne sganciata...
November 2009
1 post
1 tag
Phd Thesis 1
After finishing my studies on Change Management, January this year, I thought it would be nice to return to science by working on a PhD Thesis.
In April I had an appointment with a professor and we made some plans. The first goal was to find a subject that suited me. But soon after this meeting the professor got ill and I was advised to look for another professor as principal supervisor.
At the...
October 2009
7 posts
1 tag
WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR (1564 – 1616)
The wishful song (from Measure for Measure) of lost love, listened to by Mariana who has been foresaken by her lover:
Take, o take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn;
And those eyes, the brake of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again, bring agian,
Seals of love, but seal’d in vain, seal’d in vain.
1 tag
HENRY VAUGHAN (1621 - 1695)
Peace
My Soul, there is a country
Afar beyond the stars,
Where stands a winged sentry
All skillful in the wars;
There, above noise and danger
Sweet Peace sits, crown’d with smiles,
And One born in a manger
Commands the beauteous files.
He is thy gracious friend
And (O my Soul awake!)
Did in pure love descend,
To die here for thy sake.
If thou canst get but thither,
There grows the...
September 2009
9 posts
Against the mathematization of meaning?
@stevenzenith asked: as an existentialist actively engaged at level-1 and level-2 of your model I’m curious as to where this antimath comes from?
My answer: first a little correction; I am not antimath in general. I am only very sceptical of applying mathematics to predict behaviour. I am just very disappointed in the results of mathematics and statistics and in the negative role they play...
Against the mathematization of meaning?
As an existentialist I oppose to the idea that we, human beings, are primarily rational beings. The decisions we make are mostly based on the expected meaning of the outcomes and not on the expected utility. As an existentialist I focus on experience, meaning and feelings (level-1). Abstractions, measurement and mathematization are pursuits on level-2, the level of the reduced representation of...
Why I am an existentialist.
It is the experience of life, however, which is the point of life - so why isn’t it also the point of philosophy? Over the course of millennia Western philosophy has become increasingly abstract and increasingly removed from the lives of real human beings. In dealing with technical issues like the nature of truth or knowledge, human beings have been pushed further into the background. In...
A letter from J.K. Galbraith to J.F. Kennedy
Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts November 15,1963
Dear Mr. President:
As the years pass, you must be growing accustomed to my communiques which, largely in the interests of science, draw attention to my foresight and prescience in economic matters. I am led to favor you with another example in the current case of the balance of payments.
The gain is almost exclusively the result of...
1 tag
Reflections on man after the end of history.
On september the 6th (2009) there has been a conference organized by the Nexus Institute on Faith, Death and Freedom. Speakers were: Zainab Al-Suwaij, Anne Applebaum, Pierre Audi, John N. Gray, Moshe Halbertal, Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Eva Hoffman, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Nina Khrushcheva, Yossi Klein Halevi, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, David Modell, Tariq Ramadan, Charles Rosen, Jonathan Sacks, Marc Sageman,...
August 2009
6 posts
2 tags
@Anadyome
Thanks for reminding me of Maslow, his theory of motivation and his hierarchy of needs. In the process of writing down my ideas I did not think of him. And not without a good reason.
What I call ‘core of meningfulness’ is not a set of (hierarchical) needs, but a standard, a norm for the evaluation of the outcome of thoughts and deeds.
The concept has to do with ‘good’ and...
1 tag
Reply to @Anadyome
@Anadyome asks: Are humans born with a ‘core of meaningfulness’ or is meaningfulness an unfolding process in response to life’s experiences?
My conjecture is that humans are born with a ‘core of meaningfulness’, a drive that let people search for and realise beneficial (environmental) conditions.
You can think of this core as an innate standard against which the individual...
2 tags
Existence
Existence is not a philosophical problem in the first place but the evolving collection of an individual’s experiences.
A thinking, moral and feeling individual interacts with his physical and social environment. The resulting experiences of this interaction are transformed by his mind into images and symbols, making communication possible.
The individual is not born as a ‘tabula rasa’...
My little cricket
When I was a little boy living in Indonesia I got a little field cricket for my birthday.
I kept it in a metal box with two holes in the cover for air.
Half of the box I filled with earth and made a little hole in it, so the cricket could feel at home.
The other half was intended for the cricket to roam about, drink and eat.
Every day I gave my little cricket some grass with a few drops of...
3 tags
Philosophy of science
Practicing philosophy of science must be very disappointing. While with the aid of scientific knowledge we got to the moon for example, there is still debate among philosophers of science about the aim of science. Why can’t we clarify these aims once and for all?
1 tag
Reply to @pareidoliac
@pareidoliac asks: but really, am i the only person to think that universal healthcare is not a matter of democratic debate but a fundamental right?
My answer is yes and no.
Yes, because I think we should help each other here on this earth (it’s always a two-way thing though).
No, because there are a lot of people who do not care for others. Can you force them to help (by law)? Yes, you...