- Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology, Philosophy of Social Science, Social Ontology, Collective Intentionality, Philosophical Psychology, and 14 morePractical Reasoning, Rationality, Social Cognition, Democratic Theory, Public Deliberation, Deliberative Democracy, Normativity, Action Theory, Joint Action, Consciousness, Phenomenology, Metaphysics, Collective Action, and Epistemology of the Social Sciencesedit
Ideology is commonly defined along functional, epistemic, and genetic dimensions. This article advances a reasonably unified account that specifies how they connect and locates the mechanisms at work. I frame the account along a recent... more
Ideology is commonly defined along functional, epistemic, and genetic dimensions. This article advances a reasonably unified account that specifies how they connect and locates the mechanisms at work. I frame the account along a recent distinction between anchoring and grounding, endorse an etiological reading of functional explanations, and draw on current work about the epistemology of delusion, looping effects, and structuring causes to explain how ideologies originate, reproduce, and possibly collapse. This eventually allows articulating how the legitimating function of ideologies relates to the constitutive and causal role they play when embedded into the facts they are originally designed to anchor.
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A major barrier to designing inclusive built environments is inherent to the very idea of inclusive design: this idea prescribes designing environments that address the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human... more
A major barrier to designing inclusive built environments is inherent to the very idea of inclusive design: this idea prescribes designing environments that address the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences, yet taking differences seriously may imply severely restricting ‘the widest possible audience’. Inclusive design thus faces a paradox that is naturally connected with a question of justice. In confronting this paradox, we are investigating to what extent the theory of justice as fairness may apply to design. According to this theory, whether a design allows for equitable use is to be deliberated by users under a veil of ignorance concerning their own capacities or limitations. Since this can hardly apply to single artefacts, the social distribution of usability seems the proper domain of fairness in design. Under this reading, differences in usability are acceptable if overall usability for the 'worst off' is maximized. What this means for built environment design is explored in this article: how to understand usability, how to socially distribute it, and how to identify the 'worst off' in this context? In considering these questions, we seek to contribute to strengthening the theoretical basis of inclusive design, while offering built environment professionals a hold in confronting its paradox.
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ABSTRACT Underlying the development of inclusive design approaches seems to be the assumption that inclusivity automatically leads to good design. What good design means, however, and how this relates to inclusivity, is not very clear. In... more
ABSTRACT Underlying the development of inclusive design approaches seems to be the assumption that inclusivity automatically leads to good design. What good design means, however, and how this relates to inclusivity, is not very clear. In this paper we try to shed light on these questions. In doing so, we provide an argument for conceiving design as a deliberative enterprise. We point out how inclusivity and normative objectivity can be reconciled, by defining the norm of good design in terms of a deliberative cooperation between designers and the people they design for. In this view, a design is inclusive when it is produced by exploiting the information and competences at the disposal of the designer and the people she designs for in qualified circumstances. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Inclusive design approaches like universal design prescribe addressing the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences. Taking differences seriously, however, may imply that “the widest possible audience”... more
Inclusive design approaches like universal design prescribe addressing the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences. Taking differences seriously, however, may imply that “the widest possible audience” is severely restricted. In confronting this paradox, we recruit Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness. Applying Rawls’ principles to universal design implies that users derive which design allows for equitable use by deliberating under a veil of ignorance concerning their own capacities or limitations. Rather than addressing everyone’s needs, being designed universally then means matching what everyone would choose under the condition sketched. Since this can hardly apply to single artefacts, we suggest considering the social distribution of usability as the proper domain of fairness in design instead. Under this reading, just design concerns how usability is distributed across relevant users. Differences in usability are acceptable if overall usabil...
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Ideology is commonly defined along functional, epistemic, and genetic dimensions. This paper advances a reasonably unified account that specifies how they connect and locates the mechanisms at work. I frame the account along a recent... more
Ideology is commonly defined along functional, epistemic, and genetic dimensions. This paper advances a reasonably unified account that specifies how they connect and locates the mechanisms at work. I frame the account along a recent distinction between anchoring and grounding, endorse an etiological reading of functional explanations, and draw on current work about the epistemology of delusion, looping effects, and structuring causes to explain how ideologies originate, reproduce, and possibly collapse. This eventually allows articulating how the legitimating function of ideologies relates to the constitutive and causal role they play when embedded into the facts they are originally designed to anchor.
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In this chapter, I consider the claim for pluralism commonly advanced in political philosophy as a claim concerning the standards, methods, and norms for forming belief and judgment about certain kinds of facts. After distinguishing... more
In this chapter, I consider the claim for pluralism commonly advanced in political philosophy as a claim concerning the standards, methods, and norms for forming belief and judgment about certain kinds of facts. After distinguishing between descriptive and normative epistemic pluralism, I contend that in this context pluralism needs to rest on grounds that are stronger than fallibilism yet weaker than relativism in order to enjoy a distinct standing. The idea of reasonable pluralism seems to devise a variety of normative pluralism designed to meet this demand. I argue, however, that this is an unstable position and suggest that an epistemic view of deliberation may be better suited to making sense of political justification. The latter view, though, is bound to dispense with normative pluralism.
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On Jaeggi's reading, the immanent and progressive features of ideology critique are rooted in the connection between its explanatory and its normative tasks. I argue that this claim can be cashed out in terms of the mechanisms involved in... more
On Jaeggi's reading, the immanent and progressive features of ideology critique are rooted in the connection between its explanatory and its normative tasks. I argue that this claim can be cashed out in terms of the mechanisms involved in a functional explanation of ideology and that stability plays a crucial role in this connection. On this reading, beliefs can be said to be ideological if (a) they have the function of supporting existing social practices, (b) they are the output of systematically distorted processes of belief formation, (c) the conditions under which distorting mechanisms trigger can be traced back to structural causal factors shaped by the social practice their outputs are designed to support. Functional problems thus turn out to be interlocked with normative problems because ideology fails to provide principles to regulate cooperation that would be accepted under conditions of non-domination, hence failing to anchor a stable cooperative scheme. By explaining ideology as parasitic on domination, ideology critique points to the conditions under which cooperation stabilizes as those of a practice whose principles are accepted without coercion. Thus, it entails a conception of justice whose principles are articulated as part of a theory of social cooperation. 1. Jaeggi on Ideology Rachel Jaeggi has advanced a conception of ideology and ideology critique according to which the normative task of critique must be properly connected with its explanatory task in order for critique to be immanent and promote change. In what follows I discuss Jaeggi's view in the light of a moderately cognitivist conception of ideology. I maintain that the explanatory task places three connected demands on a theory of ideology that relate to the functional, the epistemic, and the genetic dimension of ideology. In this context, I try to outline how these demands impact on the normative and progressive dimensions of ideology critique. In the present section I review Jaeggi's main claims concerning the connection between the analytical and the critical tasks of a theory of ideology, focusing in particular on the interlocking of
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In his latest book, Panebianco advances a rather complex theoretical framework for social sciences. In this paper I discuss some of its implications for the epistemology and the ontology of social sciences. In particular, I will make the... more
In his latest book, Panebianco advances a rather complex theoretical framework for social sciences. In this paper I discuss some of its implications for the epistemology and the ontology of social sciences. In particular, I will make the case for a sensible epistemological pluralism and for the explanatory relevance of ontological relations, suggesting that mechanistic effects partly depend on the latter. As for the first point, I argue that the weak individualism connected with micro-foundations and mechanistic explanations may allow in some case holistic explanations to be acceptable on empirical grounds. As for the second, I argue that making sense of emergence requires dropping downward causation and letting the relevant explanatory work to be done by the constraints part-whole relations and environmental conditions impose on the functioning of mechanisms.
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Inclusive design prescribes addressing the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences. Taking differences seriously, however, may imply severely restricting “the widest possible audience”. In confronting... more
Inclusive design prescribes addressing the needs of the widest possible audience in order to consider human differences. Taking differences seriously, however, may imply severely restricting “the widest possible audience”. In confronting this paradox, we investigate to what extent Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness applies to design. By converting the paradox into the question of how design can be fair, we show that the demand for equitability shifts from the design output to the design process. We conclude that the two main questions about justice find application in design: the question about the standards of justice and the question about its metrics. We endorse a Rawlsian approach to the former, while some revision may be due regarding the latter.
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abstract: The connection between science and democracy can be read along two different lines. The first claims that they share some basic assumptions about rationality. The second rejects the neutrality of science and claims that... more
abstract: The connection between science and democracy can be read along two different lines. The first claims that they share some basic assumptions about rationality. The second rejects the neutrality of science and claims that democratic deliberations aims at establishing moral truths. I argue that, while the first line of thought is sound, the second is problematic.
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Husserl's Logical Grammar is intended to explain how complex expressions can be constructed out of simple ones so that their meaning turns out to be determined by the meanings of their constituent parts and the way they are put together.... more
Husserl's Logical Grammar is intended to explain how complex expressions can be constructed out of simple ones so that their meaning turns out to be determined by the meanings of their constituent parts and the way they are put together. Meanings are thus understood as structured contents and classified into formal categories to the effect that the logical properties of expressions reflect their grammatical properties. As long as linguistic meaning reduces to the intentional content of pre-linguistic representations, however, it is not trivial to account for how semantics relates to syntax in this context. In this paper, I analyze Husserl's Logical Grammar as a system of recursive rules operating on representations and suggest that the syntactic form of representations (both mental and linguistic) contributes to their semantics because it carries information about semantic role. I further discuss Husserl's syntactic account of the unity of propositions and argue that, on this account, logical form supervenes on syntactic form. In the last section I draw some implications for the phenomenology of thought and conjecture that the structural features it displays are likely to convey the syntactic structures of an underlying language-like representational system.
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A symposium on B. Epstein, The Ant Trap, Oxford University Press. M. Bianchin, Mente, metafisica e società = /= F. Guala, Un'ontologia sociale Pluralista. Epstein su "anchors" e "grounds" = / = I. Testa, I fatti sociali dipendono da... more
A symposium on B. Epstein, The Ant Trap, Oxford University Press.
M. Bianchin, Mente, metafisica e società = /= F. Guala, Un'ontologia sociale Pluralista. Epstein su "anchors" e "grounds" = / = I. Testa, I fatti sociali dipendono da atteggiamenti individuali? Sul pluralismo metafisico di B. Epstein
M. Bianchin, Mente, metafisica e società = /= F. Guala, Un'ontologia sociale Pluralista. Epstein su "anchors" e "grounds" = / = I. Testa, I fatti sociali dipendono da atteggiamenti individuali? Sul pluralismo metafisico di B. Epstein
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Book Symposium on Michael Thompson's "Life and Action" (downlodable here: http://fqp.luiss.it/category/numero/ns-supplementary-volume-2015-life-and-action) The symposium on Michael Thompson's "Life and Action, is organized according to... more
Book Symposium on Michael Thompson's "Life and Action"
(downlodable here: http://fqp.luiss.it/category/numero/ns-supplementary-volume-2015-life-and-action)
The symposium on Michael Thompson's "Life and Action, is organized according to the threefold
partition of the book. As for part one, Paolo Costa focuses on
the logical and metaphysical understanding of “life-form” and
relates it to similar approaches in philosophical anthropology. As
for part two, Constantine Sandis examines the role of simple past
and progressive tenses in the naïve theory of action and contrasts
it with alternative contemporary approaches in action theory.
Matteo Bianchin questions Thompson’s rejection of folk
psychological accounts by focusing on phenomenal intentionality
and action planning. As for part three, Arto Laitinen considers
Thompson’s understanding of practices as a source of goodness
in the light of the Hegelian distinction between Moralität und
Sittlichkeit. Italo Testa discusses Thompson’s anti-individualist
account of dispositions and social practices, and assesses its
relevance for social philosophy and social ontology. Ingrid
Salvatore interrogates Thompson’s understanding of Rawls’s
“Two concepts of Rule” and rule-like practices.
Table of Contents:
Paolo Costa, "Where does our undestanding of life come from? The riddle about recognizing living things"
Constantine Sandis, "He buttered the toast while baking a fresh loaf"
Matteo Bianchin, "Intentions and Intentionality"
Arto Laitinen, "Practices as ‘actual’ sources of goodness of actions"
Italo Testa, "Some consequences of Thompson’s Life and Action for social philosophy"
Ingrid Salvatore, "Thompson on Rawls and Practices"
(downlodable here: http://fqp.luiss.it/category/numero/ns-supplementary-volume-2015-life-and-action)
The symposium on Michael Thompson's "Life and Action, is organized according to the threefold
partition of the book. As for part one, Paolo Costa focuses on
the logical and metaphysical understanding of “life-form” and
relates it to similar approaches in philosophical anthropology. As
for part two, Constantine Sandis examines the role of simple past
and progressive tenses in the naïve theory of action and contrasts
it with alternative contemporary approaches in action theory.
Matteo Bianchin questions Thompson’s rejection of folk
psychological accounts by focusing on phenomenal intentionality
and action planning. As for part three, Arto Laitinen considers
Thompson’s understanding of practices as a source of goodness
in the light of the Hegelian distinction between Moralität und
Sittlichkeit. Italo Testa discusses Thompson’s anti-individualist
account of dispositions and social practices, and assesses its
relevance for social philosophy and social ontology. Ingrid
Salvatore interrogates Thompson’s understanding of Rawls’s
“Two concepts of Rule” and rule-like practices.
Table of Contents:
Paolo Costa, "Where does our undestanding of life come from? The riddle about recognizing living things"
Constantine Sandis, "He buttered the toast while baking a fresh loaf"
Matteo Bianchin, "Intentions and Intentionality"
Arto Laitinen, "Practices as ‘actual’ sources of goodness of actions"
Italo Testa, "Some consequences of Thompson’s Life and Action for social philosophy"
Ingrid Salvatore, "Thompson on Rawls and Practices"
Research Interests: Analytic Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy, Theory of the good life (Philosophy), and 9 moreMoral and Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Life, Theory of Collective Action, Michael Thompson, Philosophy of action and theory of rationality, Theory of Action, History of Philosophy, Socio Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of (Social) Science
I argue that a capacity for mindreading conceived along the line of simulation theory provides the cognitive basis for forming we-centric representations of actions and goals. This explains the plural first personal stance displayed by... more
I argue that a capacity for mindreading conceived along the line of simulation theory provides the cognitive basis for forming we-centric representations of actions and goals. This explains the plural first personal stance displayed by we-intentions in terms of the underlying cognitive processes performed by individual minds, while preserving the idea that they cannot be analyzed in terms of individual intentional states. The implication for social ontology is that this makes sense of the plural subjectivity of joint actions without making group agents require either a corporate body or the unity of consciousness.
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In this paper I consider the relevance of Tomasello’s work on social cognition to the theory of communicative action. I argue that some revisions are needed to cope with Tomasello’s results, but they do not affect the core of the theory.... more
In this paper I consider the relevance of Tomasello’s work on social cognition to the theory of communicative action. I argue that some revisions are needed to cope with Tomasello’s results, but they do not affect the core of the theory. Moreover, they arguably reinforce both its explanatory power and the plausibility of its normative claims. I proceed in three steps. First, I compare and contrast Tomasello’s views on the ontogeny of human social cognition with the main tenets of Habermas’ theory of communicative action. Second, I suggest how to reframe the role of language in the theory of communicative rationality in order to integrate the two theories. Third, I show how this affects social ontology, supporting the view that the construction of social reality is normatively constrained.
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Research Interests:
In the Logical Investigations Husserl sets out the idea of a Logical Grammar as a theory intended to explain how complex expressions can be constructed out of simple ones so that their meaning turns out to be determined by the meanings of... more
In the Logical Investigations Husserl sets out the idea of a Logical Grammar as a theory intended to explain how complex expressions can be constructed out of simple ones so that their meaning turns out to be determined by the meanings of their constituent parts and the way they are put together.
Meanings are therefore classified into formal categories that match the syntactic categories of linguistic expressions, so that the logical properties of expressions turn out to reflect their grammatical properties. As long as linguistic meaning reduces to the intentional content of mental representations, however, it is not trivial to account for how they relate to syntax.
Husserl’s take on these issues suggests the following:
1) The syntactic form of representations (both mental and linguistic) carries information about their semantic role;
2) The logical form of representations supervenes on their syntactic form;
3) The phenomenology of thought is broadly language-like.
Meanings are therefore classified into formal categories that match the syntactic categories of linguistic expressions, so that the logical properties of expressions turn out to reflect their grammatical properties. As long as linguistic meaning reduces to the intentional content of mental representations, however, it is not trivial to account for how they relate to syntax.
Husserl’s take on these issues suggests the following:
1) The syntactic form of representations (both mental and linguistic) carries information about their semantic role;
2) The logical form of representations supervenes on their syntactic form;
3) The phenomenology of thought is broadly language-like.
Research Interests:
By endorsing that Bildung is a condition for thought, McDowell explicitly sets out to revive a theme in classical german philosophy. As long as the concept of Bildung is intended to play a role McDowell’s theory of meaning and reasons,... more
By endorsing that Bildung is a condition for thought, McDowell explicitly sets out to revive a theme in classical german philosophy. As long as the concept of Bildung is intended to play a role McDowell’s theory of meaning and reasons, however, it is best understood in the light of his distinctive combination of neo-Fregeanism about content and Wittgensteinianism about rule-following. The Fregean part is there to ensure that reasons are objective, the Wittgensteinian move is to account for our grasping of reasons. I argue that, as it stands, the project can hardly succeed. According to this reading, Bildung not only provides the epistemic resources to access reasons; it shapes them in a way that is in tension with the idea that reasons are objective in the sense required. I conclude with a guess about the amendment needed to keep the project in the air.
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ABSTRACT The contribution of Husserl’s phenomenology to the foundations of social and political theory can be appraised at both the methodological and the normative level. First, it makes intersubjective interaction central to the... more
ABSTRACT The contribution of Husserl’s phenomenology to the foundations of social and political theory can be appraised at both the methodological and the normative level. First, it makes intersubjective interaction central to the constitution of social reality. Second, it stresses reciprocity as a constitutive feature of intersubjectivity. In this context, individuals can be seen to be both ‘constituting’ and ‘constituted by’ their participation in communities, under a constraint of mutual recognition as intentional agents. This view is in no way atomistic, as it allows individual identities to be constituted intersubjectively; still, it remains individualistic, since it does not permit the ontological independence of collective entities. At the epistemological level, this provides a foundation of methodological individualism; at the normative level, it suggests that social order is a deliberative task and political legitimacy ultimately rests on moral principles of reciprocity and equal respect.
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Research Interests:
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The phenomenology of alienation is rich, yet it is far from clear how to account for a paradox it raises about consciousness. Consciousness cannot be said to be false in the same way beliefs can be. Talks of alienation rather suggest that... more
The phenomenology of alienation is rich, yet it is far from clear how to account for a paradox it raises about consciousness. Consciousness cannot be said to be false in the same way beliefs can be. Talks of alienation rather suggest that we may happen to un- dergo experiences that look as if they are not ours. The paradox is therefore different, and far deeper, than paradoxes and irrationalities affecting beliefs in self-deception, wishful thinking and the like. As a consequence, explanations working at the level of beliefs and their etiology seem at least incomplete. I argue that a complete account may involve the distortion of mechanisms operating in social cognition. Simulation theories of mind reading, in particular, seem to provide the theoretical tools to ex- plain how subjective experience can turn out to look alienated or “false”.
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In his most recent book, The Democratic Horizon, Alessando Ferrara discusses three ways in which contemporary political philosophy addresses pluralism in the “hyper-pluralist” context of contemporary societies. More specifically, he... more
In his most recent book, The Democratic Horizon, Alessando Ferrara discusses three ways in which contemporary political philosophy addresses pluralism in the “hyper-pluralist” context of contemporary societies. More specifically, he analyses Rawls’ political liberalism, the agonistic view of democracy, and a “conjectural” strategy that aims at including non-liberal comprehensive doctrines in the democratic process. The problem is that the justification of democracy in a “hyper-pluralistic” society differs greatly from that of classical liberalism.