RISULTATI RICERCA

- Carlo Borghero, Mitologie cartesiane, Le Lettere, Firenze 2023, pp. XXVIII-­506, € 35,00.
- Salomon Maimon, Aufsätze 1789-­1790, Versuch ueber die Transzendentalphilosophie, hrsg. von Maria Caterina Marinelli und Ives Radrizzani: Deutsche Schriften, Bd. I,1, Frommann Holzboog, Stuttgart Bad Cannstatt 2023, pp. 513, € 298,00
- Massimiliano Biscuso, L’ultima Thule. Ricerche filosofiche su Ernesto De Martino, IISF Press, Napoli 2021, pp. 287, € 25,00

Premetto che mi lusinga avere una recensione sulla «Rivista di storia della filosofia», del cui Comitato scientifico, in passato, ho fatto parte per un certo numero di anni. Sono colpito negativamente invece dalla reazione che il mio libro ha avuto presso gli storici della filosofia del nostro paese. Ho scritto un libro di oltre 200 pagine (Come non insegnare la filosofia, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2023), dedicato al problema dell’insegnamento della filosofia alle superiori, prendendo in esame manuali, anche di altri paesi europei, e decreti ministeriali ecc. ma quello che ha costituito la pietra dello scandalo sono state certe mie affermazioni riguardo ai rapporti tra filosofia e storia della filosofia e, in particolare il riferimento alla Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ho già risposto (sul «Giornale critico», fasc. maggio-­agosto 2024) alla recensione di Luca Bianchi (30 pagine), pubblicata sul «Giornale critico della filosofia italiana» (fasc. gennaio-­aprile 2024), che si dilunga in un minuzioso esame delle mie posizioni e non intendo ripetermi in questa sede. Mi limiterò, perciò, a considerare soltanto tre punti.

Lo scambio epistolare tra Spinoza e Oldenburg è un documento importante per la ricezione del Trattato teologico-­politico e, in particolare, per la teoria spinoziana dei miracoli. In queste pagine mi occuperò di un inciso sorprendente contenuto in una lettera di Spinoza a Oldenburg. Si tratta dell’inciso nel quale Spinoza «concede» che anche gli infedeli che fossero stati presenti alla presunta resurrezione di Cristo dai morti avrebbero visto quello che anche i fedeli presenti hanno visto e interpretato come un miracolo. In una lettera precedente, invece, Spinoza aveva affermato che solo i «santi» avevano assistito alla resurrezione di Cristo. Nelle pagine che seguono fornirò una ipotesi sulle ragioni che possono aver indotto Spinoza a questa autocorrezione.

In the second question of his commentary to the De coelesti hierarchia (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 149), while discussing Pseudo-­Dionysius’ appraisal of symbols, John Wenck inserts a long and well-­informed consideration of poetry that has no precedent in the commentary tradition and points to a peculiar reception of Aristotle’s Poetics. The paper sets to investigate the sources of Wenck’s position on poetry, as well as the reasons by which he harmonizes it with the theological contents of the commentary. In this regard, Wenck’s notes on poetry (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 1590) and marginalia to Hermann Alemannus’s translation of Averroes’s Expositio poeticae (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 1892) are studied for the first time. Furthermore, Wenck’s peculiar character is displayed by reflecting on the manner in which his views on poetry lead him to endorse and incorporate the tenets of Renaissance humanists like Peter Luder.

John Wenck (†1460) supported Albertism while he was master of Arts in Paris. In 1426, he enrolled at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Heidelberg. It is not yet clear whether in Heidelberg Wenck continued to uphold the same Albertist ideas or whether he shifted toward Thomism, as suggested by Rudolf Haubst. The paper reconsiders this issue by analyzing the early works Wenck wrote as a theology student in Heidelberg, namely his Principia on Peter Lombard’s Sentences and quaestiones on the Holy Spirit and on the Incarnation (1431). Editions of these writings are either lacking or currently in preparation. The paper brings out their main sources, especially Bonaventure, and highlight the doctrinal aspects of the debates that Wenck developed with his colleagues in those years. Moreover, the paper finds here the premises of the Wegestreit between the via Antiqua and the Nominalists, which continued to mark the University of Heidelberg in the following years. The main topics discussed by the paper are divine omnipotence, the creation and eternity of the world, and the interpretation of Aristotelian philosophy.

The paper reconstructs methods, sources, and doctrinal contents of John Wenck’s commentary on the Liber de causis and focuses, in particular, on Wenck’s interpretation of the theory of intelligences. The research perspective of the analysis is twofold. First, it aims to clarify Wenck’s positioning in the commentary tradition of the Liber de causis, with reference to his two main models: Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. Albert’s influence as an exegetical guide proves crucial;; Wenck’s interpretation shows, however, a distinct autonomy from Albert’s paraphrasing of the Liber de causis and bears witness to a somewhat ambiguous and tacit use of Aquinas’ commentary. Second, the paper relates Wenck’s doctrine to the teachings of the Albertist masters active in Paris during the first decades of the fifteenth century: John of Nova Domo, Heymeric of Campo, and Lambert of Monte. The commentary on the Liber de causis attests to Wenck’s adherence to the basic tenets of the so-­called Albertist school. At the same time, Parisian Albertism emerges as a multifaceted constellation of positions characterised by a varied reception of both the Liber de causis and Albert’s authority.

John Wenck is best known for his polemical writing against Cusanus and is therefore mostly portrayed in critical literature as a conservative scholastic who adheres to Thomistic theses. His philosophical and theological works remain still unedited and his adherence to Parisian Albertism has been downplayed. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of John Wenck’s thought by investigating the Albertist elements present in his commentary on the third book of De Anima, probably used for lectures at the Faculty of Arts in Paris. This paper is divided into three parts: the first consists in an analysis of the structure and sources of Wenck’s commentary on De Anima, the second is a doctrinal exploration of the theory of the intellectual soul, highlighting Albertist aspects such as self-­knowledge and the possibility of knowledge without sensory images and the third is an investigation of the commentary’s reception at the University of Krakow in the late 15th century, showing the lasting influence of Wenck’s work.

This paper, through a geospatial multicriteria analysis, evaluates the green economy’s (GE) development in over 2700 Local Administrative Units (LAUs) of Italian Alps, incorporating geographical, environmental, and socio-economic variables). LAUs have been classified across altitude and urbanization to examine how socio-demographic and territorial peculiarities impact GE indexes performance. Results highlight heterogeneous GE domain performance that depend on socio-demographic and territorial conditions. Low-density municipalities score lower in local economic competitiveness, accessibility, GHG reduction, and air pollution. High-density municipalities have lower equality and human well-being scores. Findings suggest regional and province-level regulations’ relevance in driving performance variation, aiding local and national governments in shaping ad hoc policies for territorial advancement.

Blockchain technology, brought into existence in the year 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, is an open and distributed ledger tool offering secure and permanent storage of transactions. It offers decentralized control of transactions. Over the period, three different versions of blockchain have been developed. It is widely used in sectors like healthcare, education, etc. Circular economy is such a production and consumption ecosystem that focuses on waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. The present study tries to analyze the avant-garde state of blockchain technology’s application for circular economy by adopting a bibliometric and systematic approach. Taking a filtered sample of 1339 papers from Scopus database, bibliometric analysis was conducted with an aim to understand the evolution of blockchain’s usage in circular economy. Later, systematic review of the relevant papers is done that highlighted major prospects and barriers to blockchain’s adoption. The study also cites present applications of blockchain by corporates and governments. Finally, it concludes with suggestions for blockchain’s better adoption. The present study is one of its kind, true to the knowledge of the authors. Such bibliometric analysis combined with systematic review is an outcome of the original work of the authors. The combined results of the two reviews have not yet been done in the field of study.

Platone (Platone Consortium, 2020) was a four-year Horizon 2020 funded European project that aimed at defining new approaches to increase the observability of renewable energy resources and loads to exploit their flexibility. It developed advanced management open-source platforms to unlock grid flexibility and to realize an open and non-discriminatory market, linking users, aggregators, and operators. These platforms were tested in three pilot projects in Italy (Platone Consortium, 2021), Greece (Platone Consortium, 2023) and Germany (Platone Consortium, 2021) and allow to integrate solutions like: Local Energy Communities, Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) supporting Distribution System Operators (DSOs), FlexibilityBased Reinforcement Planning, and Flexibility Provision by Distributed Resources. The results of pilot projects were complemented by an analysis of the Scalability and Replicability Analysis (SRA) potential of the most promising solutions tested in the demos in the European context (Platone consortium, 2023). The present paper expands the Platone project’s insights into a comprehensive methodology for evaluating the replicability potential of solutions developed in the 3 pilot projects in Extra European contexts, notably Canada. By integrating quantitative insights with empirical evidence from pilot projects across Italy, Greece, and Germany, the proposed approach highlights the critical interplay between technical innovation, regulatory adaptability, and stakeholder engagement. The analysis was performed with a qualitative approach. First, a literature review of the similar approaches developed by other European projects that allows to identify the technical, regulatory, and stakeholder acceptance issues that impact on the SRA potential of the Platone solutions. These elements were used to elaborate an ad hoc questionnaire that was distributed among the list of stakeholders of Canadian experts identified by the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. The survey highlights key insights and recommendations for deploying innovative energy solutions in Canada, such as VPPs and Flexibility-based Reinforcement Planning. Challenges include technical hurdles, like the deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure, and regulatory barriers across Canadian regions affecting distributed energy resources (DER) participation and energy trading. To overcome these obstacles, strategies such as comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, strengthened data privacy, standardized practices, regulatory alignment, increased stakeholder awareness, and supportive government policies are essential. Addressing these challenges can pave the way for successful integration of these solutions into Canada’s energy framework, contributing to a sustainable and resilient energy system.

Unitization is an essential strategy for Nigeria’s crucial oil and gas sector, aimed at collaboratively managing hydrocarbon reservoirs across various leases. This study delves into its complexities, including challenges like ownership conflicts and technical issues, alongside benefits such as enhanced resource recovery and shared technology. Despite these obstacles, unitization promises improved efficiency and sustainable development by fostering cooperation, reducing waste, and promoting responsible extraction practices. The research highlights the necessity of a robust regulatory framework, clear communication, and stakeholder collaboration for unitization to succeed. It concludes that by embracing unitization, Nigeria can advance its energy industry sustainably, aligning with national objectives and ensuring economic and environmental benefits.

The global concern surrounding the environmental impacts of oil price fluctuations prompts us to investigate the skewed effects of such changes on environmental contamination in BRICS economies. Utilizing a yearly time series dataset from 1991 to 2020, the study employs quantile regression techniques to discern nuanced patterns between economic factors, financial development, oil prices, and their collective impact on the environment in BRICS nations. The results, gleaned from panel data analysis across BRICS nations, unveil a notable correlation between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and a persistent increase in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Intriguingly, the study reveals a negative correlation between GHG emissions and financial development, suggesting a potential mitigating effect of financial advancements on environmental harm. Moreover, the study identifies that extremely low, greater than median and extreme high oil prices do not significantly contribute to environmental degradation.