Mario De Caro - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Mario De Caro

Several decades ago Alexandre Koyré's interpretation of Galileo as a Platonist of a specific sort... more Several decades ago Alexandre Koyré's interpretation of Galileo as a Platonist of a specific sort was the dominant view, but today it is largely out of fashion. In this paper I argue that, if wrong regarding the experimental side of Galilean science, Koyré's interpretation was substantially correct as to its crucial ontological and epistemological components. In this light I defend the view that Galileo should be seen as an advocate of a physico-mathematical version of Platonism.

Naturalism and Normativity, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010

Philosophy in the Age of Science: Essays of Hilary Putnam. De Caro & Macarthur (eds.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012

Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts." C. S. Pierce "Even... more Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts." C. S. Pierce "Even the hugest telescope has to have an eye-piece no larger than the human eye." Ludwig Wittgenstein

Filosofia e questioni pubbliche, 2004

... | Ayuda. Donald Davidson: una filosofia dalla parte dell'interprete. Autores: Mario de C... more ... | Ayuda. Donald Davidson: una filosofia dalla parte dell'interprete. Autores: Mario de Caro; Localización: Filosofia e questioni pubbliche, ISSN 1591-0660, Nº. 1, 2004 , pags. 123-134. © 2001-2010 Universidad de La Rioja · Todos los derechos reservados. XHTML 1.0; UTF‑8.

Etica & Politica/Ethics & Politics, Jan 1, 2009

It is possible to speak about "naturalism" in many different ways -perhaps as many as the ways in... more It is possible to speak about "naturalism" in many different ways -perhaps as many as the ways in which nature has been conceived by philosophy and common sense over the centuries. Nowadays, the theme of philosophical naturalism -as well as the connected issue of how far the naturalization of the controversial entities can go -is back at the center of the philosophical debate, particularly in the wake of the big success achieved by cognitive sciences.

Multiple Sclerosis, 2006

Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). Howev... more Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respective cutoffs), it emerged that 31% of the patients were affected by some degree of cognitive deficit. In particular, 15% had mild, 11.2% moderate and 4.8% had severe impairment. Information processing speed was the most frequently impaired area, followed by memory. When two other tests (SDMT and MCST) were added and cognitive domains were considered, it emerged that 39.3% of the patients were impaired in two or more domains. When four subgroups were obtained by means of cluster analysis and then compared, it emerged that information processing speed and memory deficits differentiated the still cognitively unimpaired from the mildly impaired MS patients. Significant associations were found between cognitive and clinical characteristics. However, due to the large sample size, clinically irrelevant relationships may also have emerged. Even with the limitations imposed by the sample selection and the possible underestimation of the prevalence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, these results seem to provide further evidence that information processing speed deficit may be an early and important marker of cognitive impairment in MS patients. Multiple Sclerosis 2006; 12: 77Á/87. www.multiplesclerosisjournal.com

Drafts by Mario De Caro

V. Prosperi & D. Zucca (eds.), Lucretius Poet and Philosopher. Background and Fortunes of the De Rerum Natura, De Gruyter, Berlin forthcoming

A good way of posing the issue of free will in Machiavelli is to present it as an antinomy. On th... more A good way of posing the issue of free will in Machiavelli is to present it as an antinomy. On the one hand, there is the thesis that, in determinate conditions, there are good reasons for thinking that humans have free will. On the other hand, there is the antithesis, according to which free will is not real. In this light, one can wonder whether Machiavelli’s writings present a solution to this antinomy, or if, as many claim, he remained embroiled in an unsolved aporia.
In this article, it is e argued that -- notwithstanding many contrary interpretations and even if he was sometimes hesitant and ambiguous in his formulations -- Machiavelli believed that the world is not entirely governed by necessity, and that there are cases in which humans can in fact exercise free will. In his view, none of factors that seem to threaten the reality of libertarian free will (divine providence, fortune, astrological influences, and historical-anthropological conditioning) generated a form of determinism -- so that all of them left some space for the exercise of free will.

Several decades ago Alexandre Koyré's interpretation of Galileo as a Platonist of a specific sort... more Several decades ago Alexandre Koyré's interpretation of Galileo as a Platonist of a specific sort was the dominant view, but today it is largely out of fashion. In this paper I argue that, if wrong regarding the experimental side of Galilean science, Koyré's interpretation was substantially correct as to its crucial ontological and epistemological components. In this light I defend the view that Galileo should be seen as an advocate of a physico-mathematical version of Platonism.

Naturalism and Normativity, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010

Philosophy in the Age of Science: Essays of Hilary Putnam. De Caro & Macarthur (eds.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012

Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts." C. S. Pierce "Even... more Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts." C. S. Pierce "Even the hugest telescope has to have an eye-piece no larger than the human eye." Ludwig Wittgenstein

Filosofia e questioni pubbliche, 2004

... | Ayuda. Donald Davidson: una filosofia dalla parte dell'interprete. Autores: Mario de C... more ... | Ayuda. Donald Davidson: una filosofia dalla parte dell'interprete. Autores: Mario de Caro; Localización: Filosofia e questioni pubbliche, ISSN 1591-0660, Nº. 1, 2004 , pags. 123-134. © 2001-2010 Universidad de La Rioja · Todos los derechos reservados. XHTML 1.0; UTF‑8.

Etica & Politica/Ethics & Politics, Jan 1, 2009

It is possible to speak about "naturalism" in many different ways -perhaps as many as the ways in... more It is possible to speak about "naturalism" in many different ways -perhaps as many as the ways in which nature has been conceived by philosophy and common sense over the centuries. Nowadays, the theme of philosophical naturalism -as well as the connected issue of how far the naturalization of the controversial entities can go -is back at the center of the philosophical debate, particularly in the wake of the big success achieved by cognitive sciences.

Multiple Sclerosis, 2006

Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). Howev... more Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respective cutoffs), it emerged that 31% of the patients were affected by some degree of cognitive deficit. In particular, 15% had mild, 11.2% moderate and 4.8% had severe impairment. Information processing speed was the most frequently impaired area, followed by memory. When two other tests (SDMT and MCST) were added and cognitive domains were considered, it emerged that 39.3% of the patients were impaired in two or more domains. When four subgroups were obtained by means of cluster analysis and then compared, it emerged that information processing speed and memory deficits differentiated the still cognitively unimpaired from the mildly impaired MS patients. Significant associations were found between cognitive and clinical characteristics. However, due to the large sample size, clinically irrelevant relationships may also have emerged. Even with the limitations imposed by the sample selection and the possible underestimation of the prevalence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, these results seem to provide further evidence that information processing speed deficit may be an early and important marker of cognitive impairment in MS patients. Multiple Sclerosis 2006; 12: 77Á/87. www.multiplesclerosisjournal.com

V. Prosperi & D. Zucca (eds.), Lucretius Poet and Philosopher. Background and Fortunes of the De Rerum Natura, De Gruyter, Berlin forthcoming

A good way of posing the issue of free will in Machiavelli is to present it as an antinomy. On th... more A good way of posing the issue of free will in Machiavelli is to present it as an antinomy. On the one hand, there is the thesis that, in determinate conditions, there are good reasons for thinking that humans have free will. On the other hand, there is the antithesis, according to which free will is not real. In this light, one can wonder whether Machiavelli’s writings present a solution to this antinomy, or if, as many claim, he remained embroiled in an unsolved aporia.
In this article, it is e argued that -- notwithstanding many contrary interpretations and even if he was sometimes hesitant and ambiguous in his formulations -- Machiavelli believed that the world is not entirely governed by necessity, and that there are cases in which humans can in fact exercise free will. In his view, none of factors that seem to threaten the reality of libertarian free will (divine providence, fortune, astrological influences, and historical-anthropological conditioning) generated a form of determinism -- so that all of them left some space for the exercise of free will.