METAFISICA E MATEMATICA. Continuo e discreto. L’ambiguità dell’attimo. Il principio di continuità. Forza viva e forza morta. Tra Platone e Democrito

L’INTERPRETAZIONE DEL CALCOLO. Il nuovo secolo. La ripresa delle ostilità. La giustificazione del calcolo infinitesimale. Tra sé e sé. Interpretazione e immaginario. Regole e princìpi

LE PRIME CONTROVERSIE. Quantità incomparabilmente piccole. Il primo contendente. La disputa con Nieuwentijt. Irrealtà dell’infinitesimo. Ultimi strascichi polemici

LA PUBBLICAZIONE DEL METODO. Un nuovo algoritmo. La scuola concorrente. Flussioni nel tempo e nello spazio

LA NASCITA DEL CALCOLO LEIBNIZIANO: La geometria degli indivisibili. Infiniti indivisibili attuali. Gli anni d’apprendistato di Leibniz. L’aritmetica degli infinit.i Verso l’analisi infinitesimale. Il triangolo caratteristico. La fondazione del calcolo

INTRODUZIONE: Metafisica dell’infinitamente piccolo. L’analisi leibniziana. L’infinitesimo e il calcolo. La scomposizione del mutamento

A particular aspect of the confrontation between modern philosophy and the aristotelian tradition regards the so-called psychology of faculties. On this ground, it is for modern thought much harder, in comparison to the field of natural sciences, to differentiate itself from concepts, theories, and terminologies which characterize the still…[Read more]

The paper deals with Leibniz’s manuscript writings on the foundation of infinitesimal calculus since 1702: the mathematician’s late theory, and the preparatory works to his “Cum prodiisset atque increbuisset”, are presented. An edition of Leibniz’s unpublished DEFENSE DU CALCUL DE DIFFERENCES is provided as an Appendix.

Few of Arendt’s writings have drawn more criticism from her own supporters than “Reflections on LIttle Rock,” in which she opposes the federally mandated desegregation of schools. I take Arendt’s comments as a way of opening up problems in her conception of the relationship among political storytelling, plurality and judgment. I do this through a…[Read more]

This is a worksheet I ask students to use to engage in self-assessment of their own essays. I use a version of the same worksheet for peer feedback on essays.

From Charles Taylor to Marcel Gauchet, theorists of the social imaginary have given us new ways
to talk about the shared structures of meanings and practices of the West. Theorists of this group
have argued against the narrow horizons of meaning that are deployed by deliberative political
theories in developing their basic normative concepts…[Read more]

When speaking of the philosophical importance of James’s late style, critics and philosophers have taken two broad approaches. One route, exemplified by Martha Nussbaum, attributes this style to the sensitivity of the characters. The other, exemplified by Robert Pippin, attributes the writing’s complexity to the ambiguities of the moral codes dur…[Read more]

Introduction to Althusser’s concept of ideological reproduction, written for those with little to no theory experience.

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. These are about Michael Walzer’s article, “Just War and Terrorism” (2006).

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia. These refer to an article by Soran Reader, “Making Pacifism Plausible” (2000).

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia. These focus on Nussbaum’s article called “Capabilities & Human Rights” (1997).

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Talks about the first and second forms of the Categorical Imperative, the good will & acting from duty vs. merely in accordance with duty, and Kant’s four examples of duties.

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

Slides for an Introduction to Philosophy course at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

This short essay considers rabbinic ideas of reproduction, likeness, and species variation in conversation with the work of Joann Sfar and Sunaura Taylor. Part of Ancient Jew Review’s Forum on Animals.