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Il centro nazionale per il futuro della biodiversità e le sfide della biodiversità: ricerca, comunicazione e sensibilizzazione. Intervista a Gianluca Sarà
No full textThe national biodiversity future centre and the challenges of biodiversity: research, communication and awareness raising. Interview with Gianluca Sarà
This interview with Gianluca Sarà - Professor of Ecology, head of the Ecology Laboratory (EEB) at the Earth and Marine Sciences Department (DISTEM) of Palermo University (Italy) and head of Spoke 1 of the National Biodiversity Future Centre (NFBC) - aims to provide an overview of the National Biodiversity Future Centre, the first National Research and Innovation Centre dedicated to biodiversity, funded by the MUR through European Union funds - NextGenerationEU. An ambitious project that combines science, technology and applied research and brings together researchers from universities, research centres and companies throughout Italy, from scientific disciplines that are apparently very distant from each other, with the conviction that the diversity of theoretical approaches is an asset for investigating biodiversity. The interview aims to highlight the role that aesthetics and the arts can play in promoting not only more effective communication of scientific research on biodiversity to the general public, but also (and perhaps above all) in raising awareness of the dangers of increasing biodiversity loss, appealing to languages and practices other than those of science.Questa intervista con Gianluca Sarà - Professore di Ecologia, responsabile del Laboratorio di Ecologia (EEB) presso il Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DISTEM) dell’Università di Palermo (Italia) e responsabile dello Spoke 1 del National Biodiversity Future Centre (NBFC) - ha lo scopo di fornire una panoramica del Centro Nazionale per il Futuro della Biodiversità, il primo Centro Nazionale di Ricerca e Innovazione dedicato alla biodiversità, finanziato dal MUR attraverso i fondi dell’Unione Europea - NextGenerationEU. Un progetto ambizioso che combina scienza, tecnologia e ricerca applicata e riunisce ricercatori provenienti da università, centri di ricerca e aziende di tutta Italia, rappresentanti di discipline scientifiche apparentemente molto distanti tra loro, con la convinzione che la diversità degli approcci teorici rappresenti una risorsa per lo studio della biodiversità. L’intervista mira a mettere in evidenza il ruolo che l’estetica e le arti possono svolgere nel promuovere non solo una comunicazione più efficace della ricerca scientifica sulla biodiversità al grande pubblico, ma anche (e forse soprattutto) nella sensibilizzazione sui pericoli della crescente perdita di biodiversità, facendo appello a linguaggi e pratiche diversi da quelli scientifici
Smith and Kant: An Enquiry into the Ambivalences of Luxury
No full textThis study examines the concept of luxury through the contrasting perspectives of two 18th-century philosophers, exploring its moral, economic and political dimensions in the context of an emerging commercial society. Historically, luxury has been debated as both a driver of social progress and a source of inequality and moral concern. Unlike other contributors to this debate, this analysis focuses on two thinkers, Smith and Kant, who held marginal views on luxury, yet whose work reveals its complex role in liberal political theory. Smith takes an empirical approach, viewing luxury as intertwined with the rationality, sociability and sensitivity of human nature. In this view, luxury supports commerce, industry, and social refinement, ultimately benefiting society despite its association with vanity and excess. It promotes economic development, property rights, and the legal systems necessary to sustain a commercial society. Kant conceptualises luxury through a moral-philosophical lens, viewing it as a matter of duty and autonomy. He condemns luxury when it leads to excesses that are detrimental to individual dignity and communal welfare. This perspective highlights freedom, moral virtue, and culture as being essential to understanding the limits and implications of luxury. Juxtaposing these two perspectives sheds light on the differing conceptions of human nature, morality and societal progress found in modern thought. While one sees luxury as a natural and positive force in economic and social evolution, the other warns of its potential to undermine virtue and social cohesion. Together, these views provide a nuanced understanding of the ambivalent role of luxury in shaping modern liberal societies.This study examines the concept of luxury through the contrasting perspectives of two 18th-century philosophers, exploring its moral, economic and political dimensions in the context of an emerging commercial society. Historically, luxury has been debated as both a driver of social progress and a source of inequality and moral concern. Unlike other contributors to this debate, this analysis focuses on two thinkers, Smith and Kant, who held marginal views on luxury, yet whose work reveals its complex role in liberal political theory. Smith takes an empirical approach, viewing luxury as intertwined with the rationality, sociability and sensitivity of human nature. In this view, luxury supports commerce, industry, and social refinement, ultimately benefiting society despite its association with vanity and excess. It promotes economic development, property rights, and the legal systems necessary to sustain a commercial society. Kant conceptualises luxury through a moral-philosophical lens, viewing it as a matter of duty and autonomy. He condemns luxury when it leads to excesses that are detrimental to individual dignity and communal welfare. This perspective highlights freedom, moral virtue, and culture as being essential to understanding the limits and implications of luxury. Juxtaposing these two perspectives sheds light on the differing conceptions of human nature, morality and societal progress found in modern thought. While one sees luxury as a natural and positive force in economic and social evolution, the other warns of its potential to undermine virtue and social cohesion. Together, these views provide a nuanced understanding of the ambivalent role of luxury in shaping modern liberal societies
Percezione e biodiversità. Riflessioni fenomenologiche per un modello relazionale
No full textPerception and biodiversity. Phenomenological reflections for a relational model
Over the past few decades, the concept of biodiversity, since its initial formulation in 1986, has become central to both the academic and public debate as a means of evaluating the human impact on the well-being of the natural environments. In the face of challenges posed by climate change, this concept emphasizes the consequences of human actions and promotes a better management practice of the problem. This paper proposes a critical reflection on the philosophical premises underlying the concept of biodiversity, highlighting its limitations and advancing an alternative proposal. Rather than adopting an evaluation criterion focused on individuals, it suggests considering processes and relationships among living beings, adopting an aesthetic perspective, understood as the study of perception and interaction with the world. Through an analysis of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, a new theoretical model is proposed, one that conceives biodiversity as a system of relationships, thus redefining the identity of living beings as well. This relational approach offers a more dynamic vision of biodiversity, with significant implications for understanding and managing contemporary environmental crises.Negli ultimi decenni, il concetto di biodiversità, sin dalla sua formulazione iniziale nel 1986, è diventato centrale sia nel dibattito accademico che in quello pubblico come strumento per valutare l\u27impatto umano sul benessere degli ambienti naturali. Di fronte alle sfide poste dal cambiamento climatico, questo concetto sottolinea le conseguenze delle azioni umane e promuove una migliore pratica di gestione del problema. Questo articolo propone una riflessione critica sulle premesse filosofiche alla base del concetto di biodiversità, evidenziandone i limiti e avanzando una proposta alternativa. Piuttosto che adottare un criterio di valutazione incentrato sugli individui, suggerisce di considerare i processi e le relazioni tra gli esseri viventi, adottando una prospettiva estetica, intesa come lo studio della percezione e dell\u27interazione con il mondo. Attraverso un\u27analisi della fenomenologia di Merleau-Ponty, viene proposto un nuovo modello teorico che concepisce la biodiversità come un sistema di relazioni, ridefinendo così anche l\u27identità degli esseri viventi. Questo approccio relazionale offre una visione più dinamica della biodiversità, con implicazioni significative per la comprensione e la gestione delle crisi ambientali contemporanee
Scoprire il disinteresse estetico; attualità e critiche di un concetto filosofico
No full textQuesto articolo affronta la complessità del concetto di “disinteresse estetico”, offrendo un’analisi approfondita attraverso i contributi di importanti testi filosofici, tra cui quelli di Jerome Stolnitz, Thomas Hilgers e Maria Alina Asavei. Originariamente associato alla contemplazione della bellezza naturale, il disinteresse estetico emerge come principio fondamentale nell’esperienza artistica, così come nell’autodeterminazione individuale.Il testo esplora le implicazioni di questo atteggiamento nel contesto di una pratica artistica contemporanea più politicizzata, dove il disinteresse assume il ruolo di modalità di interazione creativa, capace di generare nuove consapevolezze e interpretazioni della realtà. Alla luce di queste intuizioni teoriche e di altri casi esemplari, l’articolo risponde all’invito a presentare contributi che approfondiscano gli aspetti paradigmatici della complessa evoluzione delle configurazioni contemporanee delle teorie classiche e post-kantiane del disinteresse estetico e delle loro reinterpretazioni originali nell’era contemporanea.Discovering Aesthetic Disinterestedness; relevance and critiques of a Philosophical Concept
This article addresses the complexity of the concept of “aesthetic disinterestedness”, offering an in-depth analysis through the contributions of significant philosophical texts, including those by Jerome Stolnitz, Thomas Hilgers, and Maria Alina Asavei. Originally associated with the contemplation of natural beauty, aesthetic disinterestedness emerges as a core principle in the artistic experience, as well as in individual self–determination.The text explores the implications of this attitude within the context of a more politicized contemporary artistic practice, where disinterest assumes the role of a mode of creative interaction, capable of generating new awareness and interpretations of reality. In light of these theoretical insights and other exemplary cases, the article responds to the invitation to present contributions that delve into paradigmatic aspects of the complex evolution of contemporary configurations of classical and post–Kantian theories of aesthetic disinterestedness and their original reinterpretations in the contemporary era
Beyond Capacity: Exakte Phantasie and the Reconfiguration of Educational Normativity
No full textThis article argues for rethinking education in the Anthropocene as a site for reconfiguring subjectivity, rather than a reactive response to crisis. Framing the climate crisis as an aesthetic and phenomenological challenge, following Scott Hamilton and Dipesh Chakrabarty, it explores how ontological insecurity undermines the imagination of alternative futures. Drawing on Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s concept of planetarity, the article proposes an ethical and epistemological shift beyond universalizing frameworks, foregrounding alterity and contingency as central to educational thought. The argument develops through Theodor W. Adorno’s negative dialectics and his notion of education after Auschwitz, offering a model of negative normativity grounded in critical reflection on historical rupture and epistemic limits. Central to this is Adorno’s concept of exakte Phantasie, reimagined here as a pedagogical practice of receptive and speculative imagination. As a form of ars inveniendi, it fosters critical hope and imaginative agency within conditions of ecological and ontological uncertainty. Adorno’s critical and material reconceptualization of imagination, I argue, offers a new – performative – interpretation of aesthetic education, which is attuned to address contemporary socioeconomical and ecological challenges.Oltre la capacità: Exakte Phantasie e la riconfigurazione della normatività educativa
Questo articolo sostiene la necessità di ripensare l\u27istruzione nell\u27Antropocene come luogo di riconfigurazione della soggettività, piuttosto che come risposta reattiva alla crisi. Inquadrando la crisi climatica come una sfida estetica e fenomenologica, seguendo Scott Hamilton e Dipesh Chakrabarty, esplora come l\u27insicurezza ontologica minacci l\u27immaginazione di futuri alternativi. Attingendo al concetto di planetarità di Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, l\u27articolo propone un cambiamento etico ed epistemologico che va oltre i modelli universalizzanti, mettendo in primo piano l\u27alterità e la contingenza come elementi centrali del pensiero educativo. L\u27argomentazione si sviluppa attraverso la dialettica negativa di Theodor W. Adorno e la sua nozione di educazione dopo Auschwitz, offrendo un modello di normatività negativa fondato sulla riflessione critica sulla rottura storica e sui limiti epistemici. Al centro di tutto ciò c\u27è il concetto di Adorno di exakte Phantasie, qui reimmaginato come pratica pedagogica di immaginazione ricettiva e speculativa. Come forma di ars inveniendi, essa promuove la speranza critica e l\u27azione immaginativa in condizioni di incertezza ecologica e ontologica. La riconcettualizzazione critica e materiale dell\u27immaginazione di Adorno, sostengo, offre una nuova interpretazione – performativa – dell\u27educazione estetica, in sintonia con le sfide socioeconomiche ed ecologiche contemporanee
Making the Music for ViaggIAccademici
No full textHow can human and artificial intelligence converge within a shared creative endeavour capable of giving musical expression to a theatrical work on artificial intelligence? This piece presents an autoethnographic account by musicologist and composer Mattia Merlini, documenting his experience in composing the stage music for ViaggIAccademici – a play addressing academic concerns regarding ChatGPT, conceived and written with the assistance of the same AI system. In seeking to translate the musical ideas emerging from an extended dialogue between ChatGPT and musicologist Maurizio Corbella, Merlini adopted the principal guidelines proposed by the AI, populating a general struc- tural framework with musical materials generated or elaborated through AI-based tools. The breadth of these suggestions resulted in the production of both MIDI files and ready- made phonograms, as well as specific AI-mediated decisions concerning timbre, struc- ture, software and arrangement, and the employment of AI-assisted mastering techniques. Throughout this process, the role of the human composer remained essential – particularly in the selection of materials, the formulation of a coherent aesthetic framework, and the adaptation of the final track to the dramaturgical demands of the play and the synchroni- sation of live performance. As an instance of practice-based research, and in continuity with the GPTheatre Project from which the play originated, this experiment offers a re- flection on the evolving relationship between human and machine creativity within a do- main traditionally regarded as distinctively and profoundly human.How can human and artificial intelligence converge within a shared creative endeavour capable of giving musical expression to a theatrical work on artificial intelligence? This piece presents an autoethnographic account by musicologist and composer Mattia Merlini, documenting his experience in composing the stage music for ViaggIAccademici – a play addressing academic concerns regarding ChatGPT, conceived and written with the assistance of the same AI system. In seeking to translate the musical ideas emerging from an extended dialogue between ChatGPT and musicologist Maurizio Corbella, Merlini adopted the principal guidelines proposed by the AI, populating a general struc- tural framework with musical materials generated or elaborated through AI-based tools. The breadth of these suggestions resulted in the production of both MIDI files and ready- made phonograms, as well as specific AI-mediated decisions concerning timbre, struc- ture, software and arrangement, and the employment of AI-assisted mastering techniques. Throughout this process, the role of the human composer remained essential – particularly in the selection of materials, the formulation of a coherent aesthetic framework, and the adaptation of the final track to the dramaturgical demands of the play and the synchroni- sation of live performance. As an instance of practice-based research, and in continuity with the GPTheatre Project from which the play originated, this experiment offers a re- flection on the evolving relationship between human and machine creativity within a do- main traditionally regarded as distinctively and profoundly human
Soglie di eccedenza Forme di resistenza estetica nell’era algoritmica
No full textThis paper investigates the aesthetic role of algorithmic hallucinations, situating Heidegger’s question of technology at the core of its analysis. Algorithmic hallucinations are approached not as accidental malfunctions, but as instances of computational poiēsis, in which algorithmic systems disclose phenomena that exceed the bounds of predictive models. They constitute moments of excess within the calculable, revealing the unforeseen and the incalculable as intrinsic dimensions of technical processes. Margaret Boden’s framework of transformative creativity situates these phenomena as generative acts capable of producing configurations of meaning that transcend the limitations of their inputs, highlighting the aesthetic resistance inherent in algorithmic systems. Concurrently, Jacques Rancière’s notion of the partage du sensible illuminates the political dimension of such events, demonstrating how hallucinations destabilize established regimes of visibility and recognition. Integrating these perspectives, the study underscores the dual significance of unpredictability in algorithmic systems: as an aesthetic edge, it discloses the system’s capacity for excess, invention, and perceptual surprise; as a political edge, it exposes the fragility of imposed structures of perception. The paper concludes by examining contemporary artistic practices that critically engage algorithmic systems, showing how they translate the unforeseen and the incalculable into forms of aesthetic resistance and perceptual innovation
GPTheatre Seen from the Stage: an (intra-human) dialogue with dramaturgs Giulia Asselta and Maddalena Mazzocut-Mis and director Paolo Bignamini
No full textThe interview presents the GPTheatre project “as seen from the stage”, through the experience of the theatre director and the dramaturgs who found themselves involved in this unusual experiment
The Agential Dimension of Disinteredness
No full textLa dimensione agenziale del disinteresse
Il concetto di disinteresse è ancora oggi centrale nel dibattito estetico, poiché nel corso della storia ha assunto caratteristiche molto diverse e persino ambigue. Ripercorrendo le origini di questo concetto, il mio obiettivo è quello di interpretare il disinteresse alla luce di una prospettiva che sta guadagnando terreno nell\u27estetica contemporanea, che considera centrale la dimensione agenziale. L\u27interpretazione di Kant è di particolare interesse perché, pur conservando alcuni tratti passivi delle formulazioni precedenti, presenta i giudizi estetici come una risposta, introducendo al contempo alcuni aspetti pratici iniziali. L\u27ambiguità del disinteresse kantiano ci permette di sostenere, attingendo a una riflessione più contemporanea come quella di Alcaraz León (2019), l\u27importanza di riconoscere una dimensione pratica inerente al gusto. Essa sostiene che l\u27attenzione disinteressata, lungi dall\u27essere distaccata o inerte, consente uno spazio di novità, apertura ed esemplarità estetica. Questa riformulazione posiziona il gusto non come una semplice risposta passiva, ma come una pratica situata e normativa che partecipa alla formazione di un significato condiviso attraverso l\u27esempio piuttosto che la regola.The notion of disinterestedness is still central to the aesthetic debate today, as it has taken on very different and even ambiguous features throughout history. By tracing the roots of this concept, my aim is to read disinterestedness in the light of a perspective that is gaining ground in contemporary aesthetics, which sees the agential dimension as central. Kant’s interpretation is of particular interest because while it retains some of the passive traits from previous formulations, presenting the aesthetic judgments as a response, at the same time introducing some initial practical aspects. The ambiguity of Kantian disinterestedness allows us to argue, drawing from a more contemporary reflection such as that of Alcaraz León (2019), for the importance of recognizing a practical dimension inherent in taste. It contends that disinterested attention, far from being detached or inert, allows for a space of novelty, openness, and aesthetic exemplarity. This reframing positions taste not as a mere passive response but as a situated, normative practice that participates in the formation of shared meaning through example rather than rule
The Female Archetypes of Greek Aestheticism in Theater
No full textAestheticism was a movement that had a significant impact on early 20th-century Greek drama, as elements of it can be discerned in certain plays by some of the most prominent Greek playwrights of the period, such as Nikos Kazantzakis, Petros Nirvanas, and Konstantinos Christomanos. The movement\u27s female archetypes - the fatal, sensual, and dangerous woman who seduces and destroys the man, and the psychologically and physically frail and vulnerable woman - also appear in Greek theatrical works influenced by aestheticism. The present study aims to present and analyze the representation of female figures in some of these plays, as well as their reception by contemporary critics, who were strongly influenced both by feminism, socialism, and Nietzschean philosophy- dominant social and philosophical currents of the time- and by realism and ethnography, which prevailed in literary and theatrical circles.Gli archetipi femminili dell\u27estetismo greco nel teatro
L\u27estetismo fu un movimento che ebbe un impatto significativo sul teatro greco dell\u27inizio del XX secolo, poiché alcuni suoi elementi sono riscontrabili in alcune opere teatrali di alcuni dei più importanti drammaturghi greci dell\u27epoca, come Nikos Kazantzakis, Petros Nirvanas e Konstantinos Christomanos. Gli archetipi femminili del movimento - la donna fatale, sensuale e pericolosa che seduce e distrugge l\u27uomo, e la donna psicologicamente e fisicamente fragile e vulnerabile - compaiono anche nelle opere teatrali greche influenzate dall\u27estetismo. Il presente studio mira a presentare e analizzare la rappresentazione delle figure femminili in alcune di queste opere teatrali, nonché la loro ricezione da parte dei critici contemporanei, fortemente influenzati sia dal femminismo, dal socialismo e dalla filosofia nietzscheana - correnti sociali e filosofiche dominanti dell\u27epoca - sia dal realismo e dall\u27etnografia, che prevalevano nei circoli letterari e teatrali