- History of concepts, Philosophy of Nature, Philosophy of Biology, Kant and Environmental Philosophy, Philosophy of Chemistry, Phenomenology of Spirit, and 8 more19th-century German philosophy, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, History of Science, History Of Modern Philosophy, René Descartes (in Philosophy/History Of Philosophy/17th Century Early Modern Philosophy), Immanuel Kant, and 17th Century & Early Modern Philosophyedit
- • Cinzia Ferrini (Laurea cum laude and PhD in Philosophy, University of Rome (I) “La Sapienza”) on Hegel’s logic of b... more• Cinzia Ferrini (Laurea cum laude and PhD in Philosophy, University of Rome (I) “La Sapienza”) on Hegel’s logic of being and his philosophy of nature
• studied as:
o doctoral student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1985-6): Mode and measure in the two editions of the Logic of Being,
• visiting researcher at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (1988-89), on the scientific context of Hegel’s early philosophy of nature
• as Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter at the University of Bern (1992-1994), on the Tschugg Library in relation to the sources of Hegel’s De orbitis planetarum (1801)
• Alexander v. Humboldt Stiftung fellow at the German Universities of Wuppertal (1994-1995) and Konstanz (1996, 1997, 1998-1999), carrying out a running commentary to the pars destruens of Hegel’ De orbitis planetarum (1801)
• Permanently appointed at the University of Trieste (2000), where she was teaching History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy until October 31st, 2023..
In 2005 she was elected member of the Academia Europaea as independent member of the Council (2006-7) and as member of the Board of Trustees (2008-2013)
Her main research area is Modern History of Philosophy and Classical German Philosophy; she has published widely in international peer-reviewed journals, companions and collections on Kant and the empirical sciences and on Hegel’s logic, phenomenology, philosophy of nature and anthropology, also in relation to aspects of ancient and contemporary thought.edit
Fothcoming in M. Bykova (ed.), Hegel's Philosophy of Nature (CUP, 2024)
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Draft. To be presented at the HICO WORKSHOP "Logic and Life". University of Ghent, 12-14.09.2023
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From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat, and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force, and motion. It has been noted that each of these topics pertains... more
From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat, and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force, and motion. It has been noted that each of these topics pertains to his 1755 Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, in which he drew on extant cosmogonies and the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by naturalists including Buffon, Haller, and Thomas Wright. How does Kant build on these various sources? This article aims to provide a nuanced account of specific features of the relation between natural history and natural philosophy in Kant's early developmental theory of the universe and to illuminate the strategy that guides his innovative, selective appropriation of contemporaneous insights.
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This study examines, from its origins, Kant's project of identifying, understanding and ordering the physical diversity of the single species of mankind, reconstructing its context in the continuous dialogue and comparison with... more
This study examines, from its origins, Kant's project of identifying, understanding and ordering the physical diversity of the single species of mankind, reconstructing its context in the continuous dialogue and comparison with naturalists and philosophers, as well as explorers and geographers of the time. It intends to offer critical historical-philosophical tools and useful materials for an overall re-examination of Kant's thought on the criteria for defining a stable natural classification of human racial diversity. The results of the research allow us to orient ourselves in the contemporary interdisciplinary debate, addressing the most controversial and most contested aspects of Kantian theory today.
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Open access. Link: https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/33652 Questo studio esamina, fin dalle sue origini, il progetto kantiano di comprendere e ordinare la diversità fisica della specie umana, ricostruendone il contesto nel... more
Open access. Link:
https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/33652
Questo studio esamina, fin dalle sue origini, il progetto kantiano di comprendere e ordinare la diversità fisica della specie umana, ricostruendone il contesto nel continuo dialogo e confronto con naturalisti e filosofi, nonché esploratori e geografi del tempo. Intende offrire strumenti critici storico-filosofici e materiali utili per un riesame complessivo del pensiero di Kant su una stabile e naturale classificazione della differenza umana in razze. Un riesame che permetta di orientarsi nel dibattito interdisciplinare contemporaneo, gettando nuova luce sugli aspetti oggi maggiormente contestati della teoria kantiana
https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/33652
Questo studio esamina, fin dalle sue origini, il progetto kantiano di comprendere e ordinare la diversità fisica della specie umana, ricostruendone il contesto nel continuo dialogo e confronto con naturalisti e filosofi, nonché esploratori e geografi del tempo. Intende offrire strumenti critici storico-filosofici e materiali utili per un riesame complessivo del pensiero di Kant su una stabile e naturale classificazione della differenza umana in razze. Un riesame che permetta di orientarsi nel dibattito interdisciplinare contemporaneo, gettando nuova luce sugli aspetti oggi maggiormente contestati della teoria kantiana
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This essay aims to demonstrate a clear and significant difference, not merely expository revisions or additions, in the logical progression of Being between Hegel's two main versions of the Doctrine of Being (1812-1817 and 1827-1830,... more
This essay aims to demonstrate a clear and significant difference, not merely expository revisions or additions, in the logical progression of Being between Hegel's two main versions of the Doctrine of Being (1812-1817 and 1827-1830, 1832). This controversial issue is analysed by retracing and examining changes that international scholarship still widely neglects. Focussing on Hegel's introduction of the doubled transition of Quality and Quantity in the genesis of Measure, the essay argues that the main point of the revisions is that Hegel views the whole determinateness of Being as self-sublating its own externality, because in one determination of Being passing into another one, the first does not vanish; instead, both remain within their relational unity. Hegel's new version of the genesis of Measure indicates an essentially qualitative appreciation of the quantitative methods of the empirical sciences. This accords with Hegel's growing acknowledgment in Berlin of the independent cognitive status of the natural sciences in regard to philosophy, and with his reassessment of the relation among intuition, representation and conceptual cognition of the objects of consciousness, to do justice to their real differences and their being for themselves within their own existence.
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“Human Diversity in Context” is a joint research project of the Academia Europaea and the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste which aims to develop new, distinctive strategies to integrate the form and content of... more
“Human Diversity in Context” is a joint research project of the Academia Europaea and the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste which aims to develop new, distinctive strategies to integrate the form and content of ‘knowledge’ and to awaken the sense of responsibility for social prejudices and ‘us/them’ dichotomies, by conveying a socially contextualised understanding of the complexity of the real world and its cultural and religious structures, facets, objects and of course, groups. Taken as a whole, this collection of essays shows how differences can manifest, articulate and actualise the potential of identity when these two poles, identity and difference, are not taken to extremes in abstract, pre-judicial ways, as mutually opposed and challenging, but are seen and examined in their concrete, living interplay within a variety of contexts. These studies provide a multifaceted critical examination of the ways, tools and strategies through which European societies have historically envisioned and now confront, construct and conceptualise their perception, representation and evaluation of the unity of humankind within its contextualised diversity. As a distinctive compendium of scholarship reflecting the current state and different fields of studies of identity, otherness and processes of othering, the editor and research coordinator, together with the authors, hope to have produced a valuable contribution to current debates. What integrates the Academia Europaea's mission and vision with the research strategies and educational objectives of the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste is the capacity to inspire new thinking to address contemporary challenges.
Please feel free to download the collection (in open access) at the following link: : https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/30260
Please feel free to download the collection (in open access) at the following link: : https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/30260
Research Interests: Biological Anthropology, Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Higher Education, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 7 moreIslamic Studies, Literature and Trauma, Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Studies, Holocaust Literature, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, Gypsies & Travellers, and History of the Greek Diaspora in modern times
Hegel speaks of human self-knowledge in terms of "self-elevation" above the singularity of sensation to the universality of thought and as addressing human truth and knowledge. However, if we regard his famous injunction "know thyself" as... more
Hegel speaks of human self-knowledge in terms of "self-elevation" above the singularity of sensation to the universality of thought and as addressing human truth and knowledge. However, if we regard his famous injunction "know thyself" as meaning that a self-conscious I must become another for itself, only in order to be able to identify with itself, then our self-knowledge would rest upon a hypertrophy of the subject's sense of identity. For this reason Hegel has been charged with subordinating concrete difference and real alterity to abstract and idealistic self-identity. Is this Hegel's lesson on our subjective identity? To answer this question I examine how the phenomenological path brings to light the awareness of the common rationality of human beings in terms of the subject's capability to know oneself as oneself within the others passing through the necessity of negating the self-sense of one's own natural essential singularity. My aim is to show how Hegel's initially abstract subjective identity (the 'I') is torn out of its simplicity and self-relation (I am I), loses its independent punctual subsistence and, by overcoming the indifference and immediacy of what is other than itself, assumes an inter-subjective and objective dimension. I shall account for the 'I''s phenomenological process of transforming the accidentality, externality and necessity of its outwardness and inwardness into the socially shared spiritual representations, purposes and norms of any historical statal community of human agents. By focusing on the master-serf relationship and on the impact of what appears to be objectified in the serf''s work on the externalization of the master's own inwardness, I highlight Hegel's idea of freedom as intersubjective cognitive and practical actualization. In Hegel's absolute idealism, relational characteristics enter the definition of what is substantial in individuals qua embodied 'I''s, embedded in an interconnected totality.
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1) Status quaestionis and research trends: a brief survey; 2) Issues at stakes in the transition from Nature to Spirit: a brief historical survey and some introductory remarks; 3) Contribution to the discussion: A. The Idea as being and... more
1) Status quaestionis and research trends: a brief survey; 2) Issues at stakes in the transition from Nature to Spirit: a brief historical survey and some introductory remarks; 3) Contribution to the discussion: A. The Idea as being and its phenomenological justification; B. Negativity and positivity of Nature C. The path of return of nature to spirit: the philosophy of nature\u2019s emancipation from externality; 4) The Transition to Spirit; 5) Final systematic remarks on the relation between Nature and Spiri
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Questa raccolta di saggi affronta il complesso e articolato rapporto fra tragedia e filosofia, proponendosi di mostrare come il drammaturgo con il suo eroe tragico e il sapiente della filosofia si siano occupati del medesimo problema, un... more
Questa raccolta di saggi affronta il complesso e articolato rapporto fra tragedia e filosofia, proponendosi di mostrare come il drammaturgo con il suo eroe tragico e il sapiente della filosofia si siano occupati del medesimo problema, un problema che pare avere rilevanza etica e che si può porre entro l’ambito proprio del linguaggio. L’obiettivo del volume è quello di cogliere la potenza costruttiva, e spesso problematica, del dialogo tra filosofia e tragedia fra V e IV secolo a. C
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According to a well-known statement in Hegel'sEncyclopaedia, what differentiates the philosophy of nature from physics is ‘the kind of metaphysics used by them both’ (W9: §246Z: 20,N: 11). In the same vein, recent scholarship has... more
According to a well-known statement in Hegel'sEncyclopaedia, what differentiates the philosophy of nature from physics is ‘the kind of metaphysics used by them both’ (W9: §246Z: 20,N: 11). In the same vein, recent scholarship has stressed that Hegel criticises the logical procedures and metaphysical presuppositions of the working scientist's activity, taking issue with their lack of awareness about the mental categories they use and the alleged consistency of their way of arguing. Put rather more critically, it is often claimed that Hegel's concerns were purely philosophical, and that he never entered into genuinely scientific debate. Unlike Schelling, who engaged in scientific debate, Hegel is thought to have confined himself to observing and judging it, demonstrating his ability to grasp its main features, on the basis of which later to build his philosophy of nature.To combat the old tradition of negative assessment of Hegel's relation to the empirical sciences, w...
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From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat, and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force, and motion. It has been noted that each of these topics pertains... more
From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat, and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force, and motion. It has been noted that each of these topics pertains to his 1755 Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, in which he drew on extant cosmogonies and the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by naturalists including Buffon, Haller, and Thomas Wright. How does Kant build on these various sources? This article aims to provide a nuanced account of specific features of the relation between natural history and natural philosophy in Kant's early developmental theory of the universe and to illuminate the strategy that guides his innovative, selective appropriation of contemporaneous insights.
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A widespread view sees a great affinity between Kant's theory of matter in his 1756 Monadologia physica and Boscovich's dynamics. To claim that Boscovich influenced Kant's account, however, presupposes a European diffusion of... more
A widespread view sees a great affinity between Kant's theory of matter in his 1756 Monadologia physica and Boscovich's dynamics. To claim that Boscovich influenced Kant's account, however, presupposes a European diffusion of Boscovich's 1745-1755 writings, and to justify the label "the Kant-Boschovich shell atom theory" requires more than an alleged common assumption of simple unextended parts of compound bodies as centres of attractive and repulsive forces. I provide detailed evidence and analysis against both claims. E\u2019 opinione diffusa che vi sia affinit\ue0 tra la concezione della materia nella Monadologia fisica (1756) di Kant e la dinamica di Boscovich. Sostenere l\u2019ipotesi di un\u2019influenza delle tesi di Boscovich su Kant presuppone una circolazione europea degli scritti boscovichiani del 1745-1755 e l\u2019etichetta di una teoria Kant-Boscovich si fonda sulla comune assunzione di parti semplici inestese di corpi composti come centri di forze attrattive e repulsive. Si mostra come questi assunti non siano n\ue9 giustificati n\ue9 sufficienti
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Historical, anthropological, cultural, philosophical and literary studies are all woven together to pose, probe and re-evaluate the questions and the answers about who we are now, today, here \u2013 wherever \u2018we\u2019 may live or... more
Historical, anthropological, cultural, philosophical and literary studies are all woven together to pose, probe and re-evaluate the questions and the answers about who we are now, today, here \u2013 wherever \u2018we\u2019 may live or find ourselves, as individuals and as members of various groups \u2013 in view of our de facto multi-cultural histories, cultures and economies, whether we attend to these multi-cultural, historical and, because they persist into the present day, contemporary cultural complexities about \u2018ourselves\u2019 and \u2018others\u2019
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What I am going to share and discuss with you is on ly a part of a major study that I brought to completion here in Gottingen duri ng a short visit as a Humboldt fellow. Its central issue concerns the rol es of imagination in Kant.... more
What I am going to share and discuss with you is on ly a part of a major study that I brought to completion here in Gottingen duri ng a short visit as a Humboldt fellow. Its central issue concerns the rol es of imagination in Kant. Imagination engages its figurative power both empir ically, unifying the manifold of different perceptions in images, reprod ucing representations by selecting the way in which they combine together, a nd transcendentally, in both determining and reflective judgments. I begin by co nsidering first imagination as an active function of sensibility, and then exam ine its role in serving the understanding, before analysing its involuntary pla y which generates fantasy, daydreams and illusion, and which poses the problem of controlling our power of imagination. Then I consider the interplay betwe en imagination and ideas of reason, note that for Kant reason forms an idea as a focus imaginarius , highlighting both the illusory and the regulative s ides of their...
Research Interests: Psychology, Epistemology, Metaphor, Imagination, Adventure, and 3 moreIllusion, Fantasy, and Sensibility
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Nel Colloquio con Burman, Cartesio afferma la legittimità di separare essenza ed esistenza nel pensiero, in quanto possiamo concepire qualcosa senza la sua esistenza in atto (sine actuali existentia), “come mens come distinta dal corpo,... more
Nel Colloquio con Burman, Cartesio afferma la legittimità di separare essenza ed esistenza nel pensiero, in quanto possiamo concepire qualcosa senza la sua esistenza in atto (sine actuali existentia), “come mens come distinta dal corpo, ut rosa in hieme, la filosofia della mente e la ricerca storico-filosofica contemporanea, a partire dal cognitivismo di tradizione anglo-americana, hanno sviluppato la tendenza ad attribuire a Cartesio l’invenzione storica di una mente autonoma dalla sua corporeità, i cui stati sono individuati unicamente dal loro disincarnato ruolo funzionale. Si è così andata diffondendo un’immagine dell’uomo cartesiano come intrinsecamente duplice ed eterogeneo, risultante da una mente, paragonabile a uno spirito angelico, congiunta alla macchina di un corpo animale. Di contro, un’opposta linea interpretativa rivendica un Cartesio critico del dualismo mente-corpo, sostenendo che l’unione delle due sostanze nell’uomo, la res cogitans e la res extensa, costitusce un...
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In questo studio ci siamo chiesti perch\ue9 e come sia Kant che Hegel intendano dimostrare la necessit\ue0 tanto di andare oltre la sospensione del giudizio, quanto di integrare lo scetticismo nella 'vera' filosofia... more
In questo studio ci siamo chiesti perch\ue9 e come sia Kant che Hegel intendano dimostrare la necessit\ue0 tanto di andare oltre la sospensione del giudizio, quanto di integrare lo scetticismo nella 'vera' filosofia (rispettivamente critica e speculativa). Lo scopo della nostra ricerca \ue8 quello di individuare la natura e il senso delle loro ragioni, e di metterne in luce la specifica differenza di strategie argomentative e di esiti, istituendo un confronto tra alcuni luoghi della Critica della Ragion Pura e testi hegeliani del 1801-02 e 1807
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Abstract: This paper examines evidence which can enhance our appreciation of the character and significance of Kant\u2019s pre-Critical defence of physical influx and his conception of space-filling, in connection with his metaphysical... more
Abstract: This paper examines evidence which can enhance our appreciation of the character and significance of Kant\u2019s pre-Critical defence of physical influx and his conception of space-filling, in connection with his metaphysical concern for mind-body causal interaction. I highlight a Cartesian legacy in Kant\u2019s True Estimation and his Physical Monadology, where Kant, modifying common conceptions of activity and spatial presence, distinguishes between the capacity of an immaterial substance to occupy space by having a spatial location, and the sphere of its activity, in contrast to the power of material substances to fill space by their extension and solidity. I highlight some important features of Descartes\u2019s metaphysical and physical models of the contingent locality of simple unextended substances, and challenge recent views that Henry More\u2019s model of extended but metaphysical-indivisible spirits is an archetype for, or at least a precursor to, Kant\u2019s for...
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My point of departure is the relation between Hegel and the stance of contemporary theoretical biology in relation to biota and their habitat, Umwelt as life world of living being. I then address the issue of geology as first part of the... more
My point of departure is the relation between Hegel and the stance of contemporary theoretical biology in relation to biota and their habitat, Umwelt as life world of living being. I then address the issue of geology as first part of the Organic Physics in Hegel's Philosophy of nature, the subjectivity of organic life, the 'idealism' of animal life in relation to its environment. I conclude highlighting Hegel's biophysical approach to geology and his view that what is living is able purposively to transform and place what comes from without within its own sphere and warmth, its special 'self-world'
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The starting point of this paper is the relationship between the conceptual form of knowing and the ordinary cognitive strategies of the unscientific consciousness in Hegel’s Preface to the Phenomenology, reconstructed in terms of the... more
The starting point of this paper is the relationship between the conceptual form of knowing and the ordinary cognitive strategies of the unscientific consciousness in Hegel’s Preface to the Phenomenology, reconstructed in terms of the opposition between modes of explanation ruled by either ‘lifeless’ or ‘living’ universals. It shows how, in the Phenomenology, Hegel’s double concern (quest for determinatedness and exoteric intelligibility of the True), which crosses the development of his thought, from the early writings to the 1830 Encyclopaedia, may also mark his distance from the dead mechanism of the principle of inertia and of external combination of self-sufficient abstract forces which were philosophically grounded on the Kantian Leblosigkeit of matter, and it is at the basis of his criticism of any empirical analysis that remains at the standpoint of analysis and atomistic division. The paper contends that with the phenomenological concept of force as the unconditioned, self-identical universality that emerges from the self-sublation of perceiving consciousness as the inner, productive ground of the manifold properties of the object, Hegel also wants to show that when Kant grounds the objectivity of experience he fails to credit thought-determinations with any active and immanent part in determining the content of experience. The conclusion is that Hegel’s analysis of the deceptive experience of the “perceiving understanding” in the dialectic of Perception proves in the experience of consciousness that natural things have to be objectively determined according to what is internal and necessary, not external or alien to them: their ground is force that expresses itself.
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Hegel speaks of human self-knowledge in terms of "self-elevation" above the singularity of sensation to the universality of thought and as addressing human truth and knowledge. However, if we regard his famous injunction... more
Hegel speaks of human self-knowledge in terms of "self-elevation" above the singularity of sensation to the universality of thought and as addressing human truth and knowledge. However, if we regard his famous injunction "know thyself" as meaning that a self-conscious I must become another for itself, only in order to be able to identify with itself, then our self-knowledge would rest upon a hypertrophy of the subject's sense of identity. For this reason Hegel has been charged with subordinating concrete difference and real alterity to abstract and idealistic self-identity. Is this Hegel's lesson on our subjective identity? To answer this question I examine how the phenomenological path brings to light the awareness of the common rationality of human beings in terms of the subject's capability to know oneself as oneself within the others passing through the necessity of negating the self-sense of one's own natural essential singularity. My aim is to show how Hegel's initially abstract subjective identity (the 'I') is torn out of its simplicity and self-relation (I am I), loses its independent punctual subsistence and, by overcoming the indifference and immediacy of what is other than itself, assumes an inter-subjective and objective dimension. I shall account for the 'I''s phenomenological process of transforming the accidentality, externality and necessity of its outwardness and inwardness into the socially shared spiritual representations, purposes and norms of any historical statal community of human agents. By focusing on the master-serf relationship and on the impact of what appears to be objectified in the serf''s work on the externalization of the master's own inwardness, I highlight Hegel's idea of freedom as intersubjective cognitive and practical actualization. In Hegel's absolute idealism, relational characteristics enter the definition of what is substantial in individuals qua embodied 'I''s, embedded in an interconnected totality.
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As guest editor of this special issue of Esercizi Filosofici, the author introduces Kenneth R. Westphal's and Paolo Parrini's position papers on pragmatism, idealism and realism by elucidating the background and rationale of the... more
As guest editor of this special issue of Esercizi Filosofici, the author introduces Kenneth R. Westphal's and Paolo Parrini's position papers on pragmatism, idealism and realism by elucidating the background and rationale of the workshop she organized on 29 April, 2015 at the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste, within the framework of her undergraduate course in «History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy». The Appendix lists questions posed by students and by the audience, to which the invited speakers replied in discussion following the presentations; their respective replies follow their main papers.
This chapter begins with Hegel’s definitions of nature and space in the second part of his Encyclopedia, and focuses on the progressive subordination of mere spatial juxtapositions within the philosophy of nature’s system of degrees, from... more
This chapter begins with Hegel’s definitions of nature and space in the second part of his Encyclopedia, and focuses on the progressive subordination of mere spatial juxtapositions within the philosophy of nature’s system of degrees, from quantitative to qualitative stages: from mechanical and external relations to the configuration of the regions of the earth. This paper retraces the immanent, progressive transition from nature to spirit through forms of subjective “appropriations” of externality. In Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit, within “subjective spirit,” geography aims to conceive the necessity involved in the determinate articulations of continental masses and seas. In relation to geography, Hegel treats corresponding physical and spiritual human differences as the life of spirit still immersed in its natural world. This prepares for including geography within the philosophy of history.
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Cinzia Ferrini, "Approaching Contemporary Philosophical Problems Historically: on Idealisms, Realisms, and Pragmatisms", in: Esercizi Filosofici, vol. 10, n. 1 (2015), pp. 1-15
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To recount the story of how Hegel’s philosophy of nature was received and interpreted is to recount a paradigmatic story of paradigm shifts in the Humanities. From its inception Hegel’s philosophy of nature was regarded as a horrible... more
To recount the story of how Hegel’s philosophy of nature was received and interpreted is to recount a paradigmatic story of paradigm shifts in the Humanities. From its inception Hegel’s philosophy of nature was regarded as a horrible example of the aberrations of arrogant philosophical speculation and absolute constructions. Even very recent scholars recall that when dealing with Hegel’s philosophy of nature «it is virtually impossible to ignore the harsh criticism that this part of his system has faced over the past two centuries». 2 The stream of charges likely began with the Duke of Gotha and Altenburg Ernst II. In 1801 he received a complimentary copy of the Dissertatio philosophica de orbitis planetarum, Hegel’s first condensed but nevertheless elaborated interpretation of Newton’s mechanics and speculative approach to the planetary system. On it the Duke wrote: «Monumentum insaniae seculi decimi noni» and then sent the copy to Baron von Zach, the court astronomer, author of th...
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The aim of this essay is to cast light on the puzzling transition from logic to nature that is stated at the end of Hegel's Science of Logic. The passage is summed up by the famous intriguing sentence about the absolute idea freely... more
The aim of this essay is to cast light on the puzzling transition from logic to nature that is stated at the end of Hegel's Science of Logic. The passage is summed up by the famous intriguing sentence about the absolute idea freely resolving to let itself go.Firstly, I shall sketch the, so to speak, “divine” features of the absolute philosophical knowing that is to be developed in the Encyclopaedia system. My point is to account for the relationship between the standpoint reached by the Phenomenology of Spirit and the content of the Logic, regarded as the presentation of God as he is in his eternal essence.Secondly, I shall focus attention on the way in which the developed idea of philosophical knowing is systematically displayed in the Encyclopaedia. My point is now to account for: i) the mutual relationships among the three parts of philosophical science (science of logic, philosophy of nature, philosophy of spirit); and ii) the relationship between these parts and the whole o...
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Intersezioni Rivista di storia delle idee ISSN : 0393-2451. Numero: 2, agosto 2003, Indice. DOI: 10.1404/9161. Renate Washner e T. Posch (a cura di), Die Natur muß bewiesen werden Cinzia Ferrini, pp. 343-0 6 [pdf 118K ...
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My aim in this chapter is to place Hegel ' s view of organic life in its philosophical and historical context, that is, to highlight its distinctive theoretical features and to examine them against the background of the... more
My aim in this chapter is to place Hegel ' s view of organic life in its philosophical and historical context, that is, to highlight its distinctive theoretical features and to examine them against the background of the approaches, achievements, and trends of the empirical sciences of his ...
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Hegel's introductory discussion of Reason (§C. (AA); Chapter V), which focuses on reason's Certainty and Truth, is as important as it is brief and allusive. Careful consideration reveals that in Reason Hegel... more
Hegel's introductory discussion of Reason (§C. (AA); Chapter V), which focuses on reason's Certainty and Truth, is as important as it is brief and allusive. Careful consideration reveals that in Reason Hegel addresses a much broader array not only of philosophical, but ...
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... mechanics: «consists in its causality through the combination of the manifold without a conceptlying at the ... To sum up, in the set of passages quoted above, the notion of the (as it were ... as nothing but «applied doctrine of... more
... mechanics: «consists in its causality through the combination of the manifold without a conceptlying at the ... To sum up, in the set of passages quoted above, the notion of the (as it were ... as nothing but «applied doctrine of nature» (ibid.: «Die 15 introduced ad hoc, a sign of the ...
Per la prima volta si forniscoino prove documentali derlla continuiit\ue0 dell'interesse di Hegel per le scienze empiriche e matematiche (meccanica, fisica, geometria, ottica) tratte dall'archivio bernese dove \ue8 conservato il... more
Per la prima volta si forniscoino prove documentali derlla continuiit\ue0 dell'interesse di Hegel per le scienze empiriche e matematiche (meccanica, fisica, geometria, ottica) tratte dall'archivio bernese dove \ue8 conservato il catalogo di vendita della Biblioteca di Tschugg dove Hegel ha oggiornato per tre annio come precettore della nobile famiglia voin Steiger di Berna. Tali prove permettono di rintracciare le fonti della prima filosofia della natura di hegel (il lavoro preparatorio per la Dissertatio del 1801) non nel periodo di Francoforte, come normalmente ritenuto, ma in quello precedente di Berna (1793-1796) con importanti conseguenze relativamente alle conoscenze acquisite, agli autori considerati, alla ricostruzione della perspicuit\ue0 della critica alla dimostrazione newtoniana della seconda legge di Keplero (tratta dalla lettura di L.-B. Castel
1 On Hegel's Confrontation with the Sciences in 'Observing Reason': Notes for a Discussion Cinzia Ferrini (University of Trieste) A trend in recent scholarship has stressed that Hegel criticizes the logical procedures and... more
1 On Hegel's Confrontation with the Sciences in 'Observing Reason': Notes for a Discussion Cinzia Ferrini (University of Trieste) A trend in recent scholarship has stressed that Hegel criticizes the logical procedures and metaphysical presuppositions of the working scientist's activity ...
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This paper begins with Hegel’s definitions of nature and space in the second part of his Encyclopaedia, and focusses on the progressive subordination of mere spatial juxtapositions within the philosophy of nature’s system of degrees, from... more
This paper begins with Hegel’s definitions of nature and space in the second part of his Encyclopaedia, and focusses on the progressive subordination of mere spatial juxtapositions within the philosophy of nature’s system of degrees, from quantitative to qualitative stages: from mechanical and external relations to the configuration of the regions of the earth. This paper retraces the immanent, progressive transition from nature to spirit through forms of subjective ‘appropriations’ of externality. In Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit, within “subjective spirit”, geography aims to conceive the necessity involved in the determinate articulations of continental masses and seas. In relation to geography, Hegel treats corresponding physical and spiritual human differences as the life of spirit still immersed in its natural world. This prepares for including geography within the philosophy of history.
This paper is structured by these sub-topics:
1) nature’s internal externality and dispersion: its quantitative beginning in thought;
2) space as indifferent mutual externality: place as the unity of the here and now;
3) towards sublating the division of nature and spirit: the self of the living individual as self-determining subjectivity that creates its own place, appropriating externality;
4) the totality of the earth as life’s presupposition: The a-conceptual explicative modality of spatial relations for geological formations;
5) from the mechanical and contingent configuration of the Earth to conceptual comprehension of the essential relations among continents in geographical explanation. Diversity of continents and racial differences in Hegel’s Anthropology.
6) Conclusions: Hegel’s philosophical geography as ‘one’s own space’ apprehended in thought.
This paper is structured by these sub-topics:
1) nature’s internal externality and dispersion: its quantitative beginning in thought;
2) space as indifferent mutual externality: place as the unity of the here and now;
3) towards sublating the division of nature and spirit: the self of the living individual as self-determining subjectivity that creates its own place, appropriating externality;
4) the totality of the earth as life’s presupposition: The a-conceptual explicative modality of spatial relations for geological formations;
5) from the mechanical and contingent configuration of the Earth to conceptual comprehension of the essential relations among continents in geographical explanation. Diversity of continents and racial differences in Hegel’s Anthropology.
6) Conclusions: Hegel’s philosophical geography as ‘one’s own space’ apprehended in thought.
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Section 1: What does one know, and how does one know it, to possess knowledge of oneself? On the significance of truth, knowledge and humanity in Hegel's assessment of the Erkenne dich selbst 1.1 Knowing (Wissen) and Cognition (Erkennen)... more
Section 1: What does one know, and how does one know it, to possess knowledge of oneself? On the significance of truth, knowledge and humanity in Hegel's assessment of the Erkenne dich selbst 1.1 Knowing (Wissen) and Cognition (Erkennen) 1.2 Truth (Wahrheit) vs. certainty (Gewissheit) and the conscious knowing subject vs. the object 1.3 Common vs. philosophical truth and intuitive, formal, conceptual knowing 1.4 Particularity, singularity, immediate individuality, universal individuality 1.5 Humanity vs. animality: the 'I' 1.6 The actualization of the universal or das Wesens selbst als Geist: inwardness and appearance Section 2: What of my spiritual finitude do I come to know when grasping my concept philosophically and how does my essence prove itself by coming forth into appearance? 2.1 My finitude: quality and quantity in the logical structure of the 'I' as self-relation 2.2 Sameness and otherness, continuity and discreteness in human vs. animal selves within the state of nature 2.3 Contingency and externality in the qualitative, natural characteristics of the human self: constitution and behavior as manifesting inwardness 2.4 The attracting role of needs for mutually excluding individuals: developing mediated and reflected behaviors for a lasting dimension of individuality 2.5 Knowing myself within the other through conserving sublation of a dependent subject: some logical and anthropological reasons 2.6 The mind-body union and the unification of the independent and dependent forms of consciousness: the transition from the abstract to the embodied thinking I 2.7 What we must come to know about ourselves, individually and collectively Presentation:
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Guide to Hegel's De orbitis planetarum - Comment to the text and its translation (pp. 53-104) with notes by Cinzia Ferrini. Notes by Mauro Nasti De Vincentis are signed by N.
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Guide to Hegel's De orbitis planetarum - Section I
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Guide to Hegel's De orbitis planetarum- backcover
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Il dualismo sostanziale tra res cogitans e res extensa in Cartesio inventa davvero il modello del soggetto umano come mente disincarnata in una macchina, o si tratta di un mito cognitivista e di una semplificazione dei manuali di storia... more
Il dualismo sostanziale tra res cogitans e res extensa in Cartesio inventa davvero il modello del soggetto umano come mente disincarnata in una macchina, o si tratta di un mito cognitivista e di una semplificazione dei manuali di storia della filosofia? In dialogo con le immagini proposte da indirizzi di ricerca contemporanei alternativi fra loro, e in particolare con la tradizione degli studi anglo-americani, il libro trova in Cartesio le ragioni per una differenza tra mente e sostanza pensante ed esplora le potenzialità dei suoi modelli analogici, matematici e fisici, per l’unione intrinseca di mente e corpo della persona umana // Does Descartes's substantial dualism between res cogitans and res extensa actually 'invent' the model of the modern subject as a disembodied mind in a machine or this is either a myth of cognitivism or a simplification of the hand-books in the history of modern philosophy? Against the background of the unsettled debate between dualists or supporters of Descartes inventor of the disembodied mind on the one side, and trialists or supporters of the psychophysical unity of Descartes's human being on the other side, my work finds in Descartes's metaphysical works the reasons for a difference between mens and res cogitans and explores the potentiality of Descartes' s mathematical and physical analogical models for the intrinsic mind-body union of the human person.The book has been published in November 2015 also in open access by Trieste University Press (EUT). Free download is available at: http://www.openstarts.units.it/dspace/handle/10077/11816
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This is a research program I designed, as general coordinator, on behalf of the Board of the Academia Europaea (www.acadeuro.org) to bring together the university research of members of the Humanities and Social and related Sciences... more
This is a research program I designed, as general coordinator, on behalf of the Board of the Academia Europaea (www.acadeuro.org) to bring together the university research of members of the Humanities and Social and related Sciences Classes , to enhance the role of the Humanities within the AE's activities. The project was not funded, and currently a smaller research group is carrying on the core of the project. The other AE members still involved are: Susana Onega (University of Zaragoza, Section: Literary and Theatrical Studies), Maria Paradiso (University of Sannio, Section: Social Sciences); John Tolan (University of Nantes, Section: History and Archaeology ), Iván Zoltán Dénes (István Bibó Center for Advanced Studies of Humanities and Social Sciences in Budapest). Since I believe that the thematic and transversal, multi-disciplinary approach conceived for this project is valid and productive, I wish to share it with the academia.edu scholarly community.
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Quali colonne d'ercole nel 1620: il mare non è un cosmo e la giusta misura greco-romana – Tempeste, naufragi e porti nel senso cristiano dell'esistenza. Bacone e la conoscenza senza hybris – Locke, conoscenza ed esperienza: lo scandaglio... more
Quali colonne d'ercole nel 1620: il mare non è un cosmo e la giusta misura greco-romana – Tempeste, naufragi e porti nel senso cristiano dell'esistenza. Bacone e la conoscenza senza hybris – Locke, conoscenza ed esperienza: lo scandaglio come misura del limite – Kant: avventure metafisiche in alto mare tra verità e illusione.
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9.04.24 - Conferenza all'Università di Udine
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Il mio contributo sarà inerente ad aspetti trattati nel corso dell'aa 2018-19 su questioni di storiografia da Voltaire a Nietzsche. I miei studenti hanno incontrato almeno quattro motivi di intersezione tra la teoria kantiana della... more
Il mio contributo sarà inerente ad aspetti trattati nel corso dell'aa 2018-19 su questioni di storiografia da Voltaire a Nietzsche. I miei studenti hanno incontrato almeno quattro motivi di intersezione tra la teoria kantiana della differenza razziale e la filosofia della storia: nello scritto del 1784 Idea per una storia universale, nella recensione alle Ideen di Herder del 1785, nello scritto sulla pace perpetua del 1795 e quello sul quesito se il genere umano sia in costante progresso verso il meglio del 1798. Per Kant la natura ha 'voluto' privare l'uomo di conoscenze innate, di istinti, di armi naturali, come zanne e artigli, ma lo ha anche liberato dagli istinti, dandogli l'uso della mano, e dandogli la possibilità di concepire a priori senza esperienza, destinando così l'uomo ad una strada di perfettibilità solo attraverso se stesso per mezzo della propria ragione come uso incondizionato di tutte le sue forze anche progettuali. Questo più o meno quanto dovrebbero sapere i miei studenti. Quello che voglio prospettare ancora loro, in modo funzionale rispetto ai contenuti del corso che ufficialmente si conclude oggi, e in questa cornice seminariale è un approfondimento del concetto e della funzione delle razze nella economia del pensiero kantiano sulla storia, facendo emergere quesiti rilevanti per lo stato della ricerche più avanzate su Kant.
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Trieste, 13.5.2019, scientific organizer: Cinzia Ferrini
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The file contains the program of the conference and the abstracts of the invited papers
Research Interests: Cultural History, Philosophy Of Religion, Self and Identity, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Immigration Studies, and 7 moreStereotypes Of Roma As Tigani/Cigany/Zingari/Gypsies, National Identity, Holocaust Studies, Diaspora Studies, Representation of Others, Ethnicity and National Identity, and Identity Stereotypes
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In § 377 of The Philosophy of Spirit, Hegel understands the absolute Gebot " know thyself " as regarding human " truth and knowledge, " not what is peculiar to particular individuals. To know oneself does not concern those contingent... more
In § 377 of The Philosophy of Spirit, Hegel understands the absolute Gebot " know thyself " as regarding human " truth and knowledge, " not what is peculiar to particular individuals. To know oneself does not concern those contingent idiosyncrasies which are precious only to an individual's narcisistic self-satisfaction. How then does Hegel relate the natural instinctive singularity and sensibility of finite individual human beings to their inherent destiny as thinking, spiritual free beings and their common supersensible nature as rational agents? The basic characteristic of Geist is to negate that which is external and convert into a being-for-self or simple self-relation, and the universal 'I' that any individual being is, is regarded as the primary and simplest determination of spirit: the I is torn out of its simplicity and self-relation (I am I), loses its independent subsistence and assumes ein geistiges Dasein. The paper considers the main topic of this conference by accounting for this spiritual development of the 'I', from its characterization as an abstract and simple being, as it were a simple soul in opposition to the material composition of its corporeality, to its becoming concrete by confronting (and assimilating) the multitude of external objects.
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interdisciplinary discussion and presentation of "L'invenzione di Cartesio"
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Relazione presentata, su invito di Carlo Borghero, al Workshop Filosofia, scienze, erudizione nel Sei-Settecento. Bilanci e prospettive di ricerca (Villa Mirafiori, 26-28 gennaio 2016), nell’ambito del Prin 2010-2011: Atlante della... more
Relazione presentata, su invito di Carlo Borghero, al Workshop Filosofia, scienze, erudizione nel Sei-Settecento. Bilanci e prospettive di ricerca (Villa Mirafiori, 26-28 gennaio 2016), nell’ambito del Prin 2010-2011: Atlante della ragione europea (XV-XVIII secolo).
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Evaluations of research achievements
I – INFORMAZIONI GENERALI 1.1 – Caratteristiche di una tesi triennale 1.2 – Assegnazione e tempistica 1.3 – Prerequisiti e condizioni specifiche richieste dalla docente 1.4 – Fasi preliminari II – NORME DI COMPOSIZIONE 2.1 –... more
I – INFORMAZIONI GENERALI
1.1 – Caratteristiche di una tesi triennale
1.2 – Assegnazione e tempistica
1.3 – Prerequisiti e condizioni specifiche richieste dalla docente
1.4 – Fasi preliminari
II – NORME DI COMPOSIZIONE
2.1 – Testo
2.2 - Note
2. 3- Carattere
III – LA STRUTTURA DELLA TESI
3.1. - Introduzione
3.2 Corpo della tesi
3.3 - Conclusioni
1.1 – Caratteristiche di una tesi triennale
1.2 – Assegnazione e tempistica
1.3 – Prerequisiti e condizioni specifiche richieste dalla docente
1.4 – Fasi preliminari
II – NORME DI COMPOSIZIONE
2.1 – Testo
2.2 - Note
2. 3- Carattere
III – LA STRUTTURA DELLA TESI
3.1. - Introduzione
3.2 Corpo della tesi
3.3 - Conclusioni
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In this paper I develop the following line of argument: 1. first, I present some authoritative instances of the common understanding of the character of observation in the natural sciences of the time, and highlight some distinctive... more
In this paper I develop the following line of argument: 1. first, I present some authoritative instances of the common understanding of the character of observation in the natural sciences of the time, and highlight some distinctive nuances within the Germanic scientific culture. 2. Second, I examine a neglected case of conflict between the empirical instance of a natural scientist who criticizes Kant's account of race and the philosopher's reply based on understanding 'observation' against the background of the rational maxims of scientific inquiry. 3. Third, I show how Hegel took issue with the awareness of working scientists about the neutrality of 'observation', inverting their apparent point of view based on singular sensible perceptions through their actual classificatory activity, which has universal significance. 4. I conclude showing that, although both Kant and Hegel prove the inadequacy of description (Beschreibung) as observational activity of reason for sound scientific results, important differences remain regarding the ontological value of regulative and constitutive principles of reason within natural sciences.
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Hegel regards the same word Sinn as conveying or signifying both the external origin of the sensible material of representation, the sense organs which apprehend a thing immediately in space and time, and the mediate reflective position... more
Hegel regards the same word Sinn as conveying or signifying both the external origin of the sensible material of representation, the sense organs which apprehend a thing immediately in space and time, and the mediate reflective position of that very represented content (Sache) in my inwardness, as self-relation, universality, simplicity. My point in this paper is to provide a legitimate ground and an interpretation of Hegel's statement by retracing logical and phenomenological reasons which were significantly reassessed after the 1817 Enciclopaedia Logic. I contend that Hegel revised the relation between intuition, representation and conceptual cognition of the objects of consciousness, to do justice to their real differences and their being for themselves within their own finite mode of existence.
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Abstract: From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force and motion. It has been noted that each pertains to his... more
Abstract:
From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force and motion. It has been noted that each pertains to his 1755 Universal Natural History and Theories of the Heavens, whilst he drew upon extant cosmogonies and the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by such naturalists as Buffon, Haller and Thomas Wright. How does Kant build upon these various sources? This paper aims both to provide a nuanced account of specific features of the relation between natural history and natural philosophy in Kant’s early developmental theory of the universe, and to illuminate his strategy which guides his innovative, selective appropriation of contemporaneous insights.
From 1754 to 1756 Kant wrote on such central, related topics as the axial rotation of the Earth, the theory of heat and the composition of matter, focusing on space, force and motion. It has been noted that each pertains to his 1755 Universal Natural History and Theories of the Heavens, whilst he drew upon extant cosmogonies and the analogical form of Newtonianism developed by such naturalists as Buffon, Haller and Thomas Wright. How does Kant build upon these various sources? This paper aims both to provide a nuanced account of specific features of the relation between natural history and natural philosophy in Kant’s early developmental theory of the universe, and to illuminate his strategy which guides his innovative, selective appropriation of contemporaneous insights.
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Introduction by Cinzia Ferrini, scientific organizer and moderator of Part I (East/West)
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IN CORSO DI PUBBLICAZIONE IN " GIORNALE CRITICO DELLA FILOSOFIA ITALIANA " (2018)