Filippo Santoni de Sio | Delft University of Technology (original) (raw)

Books by Filippo Santoni de Sio

Ma siamo sicuri che una partita con due formazioni che arrivano ad annullarsi a tal punto da bloccare il risultato su un pareggio a reti inviolate, racchiuda veramente lo spirito del gioco, e quindi il suo massimo livello di perfezione? Non sarebbero più rappresentativi novanta minuti ricchi di gol e di emozioni? Una di quelle partite che lasciano il tifoso palpitante e con la voce roca?

Partendo da queste domande Corrado del Bò e Filippo Santoni de Sio, filosofi di professione e appassionati tifosi, danno vita a un derby filosofico consumato a colpi di rimandi colti e citazioni sportive, un viaggio alla ricerca dello spirito del calcio che dai gol di van Basten nella celebre finale di Champions League contro la Steaua Bucarest del 1989, ci conduce a Messico ’70, alla “partita del secolo” con cui l’Italia superò la Germania Ovest, o ancora la semifinale mondiale del 2006, fino alle partite tra Pavia e Grosseto di Serie C1.

Col rigore dei ricercatori scientifici e il trasporto degli entusiasti, Del Bò e Santoni analizzano il rettangolo di gioco da ogni possibile prospettiva: i collegamenti tra il mondo del calcio e i nazionalismi, il concetto di fair play, la lingua plasmata intorno al gioco o le reazioni e i litigi davanti alla moviola serale, con il peso dello sconforto per una partita persa con un’azione dubbia.

Ed è forse qui lo spirito del gioco, nascosto dietro le discussioni su moduli e schieramenti, tattica e calciomercato: in quell’emozione rituale che ogni tifoso celebra almeno una volta alla settimana durante i novanta minuti, quella passione insensata e innaturale davanti alla quale anche «ai filosofi non resta che riconoscere che ci sono molte più cose tra le due porte di un campo di quante ne contenga la loro filosofia».

Lorena Bobbitt evira il marito e ottiene l’assoluzione per aver agito sotto la spinta di un “impu... more Lorena Bobbitt evira il marito e ottiene l’assoluzione per aver agito sotto la spinta di un “impulso irresistibile”. Anders Breivik uccide senza apparente ragione decine di giovani attivisti innocenti e rifiuta la difesa di infermità mentale, dichiarando di aver agito deliberatamente in nome dei suoi ideali politici.

Le cronache giudiziarie, ma anche la vita quotidiana, presentano innumerevoli “enigmi” della responsabilità: è giusto punire chi “perde il controllo” o agisce sotto la spinta di motivi irrazionali? Si è colpevoli per ciò che si fa senza rendersene conto? Si può essere biasimati per aver compiuto un’azione illecita sotto la pressione psicologica di una minaccia, o per evitare un male considerato maggiore?

Con una mossa originale, questo libro rifiuta di lasciare la risposta a simili domande all’esito della lotta fra le perizie degli psicologi e le necessità pragmatiche del diritto. Esso muove invece dalla convinzione che i problemi morali e giuridici della responsabilità possano essere efficacemente affrontati mediante il chiarimento filosofico di alcuni concetti-chiave: carattere, coscienza, capacità, volontà, razionalità, intenzione, coercizione e causalità.
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Responsabilità e diritto is a reader on the contemporary debate in the theory of responsibility. ... more Responsabilità e diritto is a reader on the contemporary debate in the theory of responsibility.

Contents:

Introduzione. I problemi della responsabilità (di F. Santoni De Sio) - La responsabilità e i limiti del male. Variazioni su un tema strawsoniano (di G. Watson) - Prolegomeno all'elaborazione di una definizione di "omicidio": l'illegale e l'illecito (di E. Anscombe) - Scelta, carattere e scusanti (di M.S. Moore) - L'actus reus del dottor Caligari (di B. Williams) - Intenzione ed effetti collaterali (di J. Finnis) - Responsabilità e sorte: le basi morali della responsabilità oggettiva (di T. Honoré) - L'esperto in tribunale (di A. Kenny) - Psicopatia e comprensione morale (di A. Duff) - Appendice. Guida per letture ulteriori e bibliografia (di F. Santoni De Sio).

Papers by Filippo Santoni de Sio

AI & society, Feb 7, 2023

The urban traffic environment is characterized by the presence of a highly differentiated pool of... more The urban traffic environment is characterized by the presence of a highly differentiated pool of users, including vulnerable ones. This makes vehicle automation particularly difficult to implement, as a safe coordination among those users is hard to achieve in such an open scenario. Different strategies have been proposed to address these coordination issues, but all of them have been found to be costly for they negatively affect a range of human values (e.g. safety, democracy, accountability…). In this paper, we claim that the negative value impacts entailed by each of these strategies can be interpreted as lack of what we call Meaningful Human Control over different parts of a sociotechnical system. We argue that Meaningful Human Control theory provides the conceptual tools to reduce those unwanted consequences, and show how "designing for meaningful human control" constitutes a valid strategy to address coordination issues. Furthermore, we showcase a possible application of this framework in a highly dynamic urban scenario, aiming to safeguard important values such as safety, democracy, individual autonomy, and accountability. Our meaningful human control framework offers a perspective on coordination issues that allows to keep human actors in control while minimizing the active, operational role of the drivers. This approach makes ultimately possible to promote a safe and responsible transition to full automation.

In the context of the knowledge agenda automated driving (knowledgeagenda.connekt.nl/engels/), Ri... more In the context of the knowledge agenda automated driving (knowledgeagenda.connekt.nl/engels/), Rijkswaterstaat commissioned TU Delft to write a white paper on ethical issues in automated driving to provide a basis for discussion and some recommendations on how to take into account this subject when deploying automated vehicles. In this paper I present, discuss, and offer some recommendations on some major ethical issues presented by the introduction on the public road of automated driving systems (ADS), aka self-driving cars. The recommended methodology is that of Responsible Innovation and Value-Sensitive Design. The concept of “meaningful human control” is introduced and proposed as a basis for a policy approach which prevents morally unacceptable risks for human safety, and anticipates issues of moral and legal responsibility for accidents. The importance of the individual rights to safety, access to mobility and privacy is highlighted too.

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2021

Science and engineering ethics, 2021

In this article the title and running title were incorrectly given as 'Marc Coeckelbergh, AI Ethi... more In this article the title and running title were incorrectly given as 'Marc Coeckelbergh, AI Ethics, Mit Press, 2021' but should have been 'Mark Coeckelbergh, AI Ethics, Mit Press, 2021'. The original article has been corrected. Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica, 2012

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2021

Utet, 2018

La partita perfetta, secondo l’indimenticato adagio di Gianni Brera, termina con il risultato di ... more La partita perfetta, secondo l’indimenticato adagio di Gianni Brera, termina con il risultato di 0 a 0. Squadre attente tatticamente, corte, concentrate; le difese controllano gli attacchi, le forze in campo si bilanciano: nessun gol. Ma siamo sicuri che una partita con due formazioni che arrivano ad annullarsi a tal punto da bloccare il risultato su un pareggio a reti inviolate, racchiuda veramente lo spirito del gioco, e quindi il suo massimo livello di perfezione? Non sarebbero più rappresentativi novanta minuti ricchi di gol e di emozioni? Una di quelle partite che lasciano il tifoso palpitante e con la voce roca? Partendo da queste domande Corrado del Bò e Filippo Santoni de Sio, filosofi di professione e appassionati tifosi, danno vita a un derby filosofico consumato a colpi di rimandi colti e citazioni sportive, un viaggio alla ricerca dello spirito del calcio che dai gol di van Basten nella celebre finale di Champions League contro la Steaua Bucarest del 1989, ci conduce a Messico ’70, alla “partita del secolo” con cui l’Italia superò la Germania Ovest, o ancora la semifinale mondiale del 2006, fino alle partite tra Pavia e Grosseto di Serie C1. Col rigore dei ricercatori scientifici e il trasporto degli entusiasti, Del Bò e Santoni analizzano il rettangolo di gioco da ogni possibile prospettiva: i collegamenti tra il mondo del calcio e i nazionalismi, il concetto di fair play, la lingua plasmata intorno al gioco o le reazioni e i litigi davanti alla moviola serale, con il peso dello sconforto per una partita persa con un’azione dubbia. Ed è forse qui lo spirito del gioco, nascosto dietro le discussioni su moduli e schieramenti, tattica e calciomercato: in quell’emozione rituale che ogni tifoso celebra almeno una volta alla settimana durante i novanta minuti, quella passione insensata e innaturale davanti alla quale anche «ai filosofi non resta che riconoscere che ci sono molte più cose tra le due porte di un campo di quante ne contenga la loro filosofia».

In this paper we sketch a new theory of human capacity – the Institutionalistic Theory of Capacit... more In this paper we sketch a new theory of human capacity – the Institutionalistic Theory of Capacity (ITC). According to ITC human capacities for actions are normatively defined powers deriving from a status or a role, i.e. powers deriving from a position within a normative structure. ITC stresses the inherently normative character of capacity attribution, thus challenging the strong naturalistic claim that human capacities could be fully analyzed by science. The concept of human capacity entails the possibility of failure: an agent occupying a role may fail to perform in accordance with a capacity actually possessed by the agent. Starting from a reflection on the logic of how technical artefacts (mal-) function, we show how ITC can make sense of failure, and why strong naturalistic views cannot.

Philosophical Inquiries, 2014

If you are visiting Milan, you will discover that 'Cesare Beccaria' is a Milanese household name.... more If you are visiting Milan, you will discover that 'Cesare Beccaria' is a Milanese household name. Walking through the streets downtown-in an area familiar to shoppers-is Cesare Beccaria Square, and everyone has heard of the high school, or of the juvenile prison, named after this illustrious citizen of the past. While walking through the square, somebody might even direct your attention to a bronze, a replica of an original Nineteenth century marble by Giuseppe Grandi, which shows a man no longer young, stout; from his clothing and hairstyle he is easily recognisable as a nobleman of the Eighteenth century. He is absorbed in his thoughts-some books are at his feet-suggesting that he must be a scholar, maybe a philosopher. Those asking for further information about the thoughtful man on the pedestal will easily satisfy their curiosity. Even in these forgetful times anybody will tell them that he is Cesare Beccaria, the author of On Crimes and Punishments. This answer exemplifies the phenomenon of a literary work that almost overwhelms the memory of its author. According to Luigi Settembrini, On Crimes and Punishments is more than a book, it is "a fact of history, because it marks the time when torture and atrocities were abolished in criminal trials, and people began to wonder whether it is really necessary to wage death on those guilty of a crime" (1878: 67). For the Neapolitan scholar, who wrote in the Nineteenth century, roughly one hundred years after the publication of Beccaria's book, the phenomenon we have mentioned above is already a fait accompli, inspiring ambiguous praise. Cesare Beccaria-Settembrini says-"wrote less than anybody else, and became the most notorious of all: his name is a concept of justice and humanity, and therefore will never be forgotten" (1878: 67). Today we can say that Settembrini's judgement, which sounds like a prophecy, has come true. We have not forgotten Beccaria's name, and indeed we associate it with the struggle for justice and humanity in punishment that was one of the dominant themes of the Enlightenment. One might say that the statue itself is the symbolic representation of this fact, since it was built where apparently lied the Executioner's home, in front of the building

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017

2.3 Status of Autonomous Capacities in Military Command & Control Structures 2.3.1 Case Studies 2... more 2.3 Status of Autonomous Capacities in Military Command & Control Structures 2.3.1 Case Studies 2.4 Outlook of Likely Developments 2.4.1 Technological Limitations 2.4.2 Legal Limitations 2.4.3 Operational Limitations 3 Law 3.1 Actors and Initiatives on the International Plane 3.2 The Substance of the International Debate 3.3 Possible Developments in the Law 4 Ethics 4.1 Outlining the Ethics of Autonomous Robotics Discussion 4.1.1 The Responsibility Gap 4.1.2 Human Rights and Autonomous Robotics Systems 4.1.3 Autonomous Robotics Systems and Human Virtues 4.1.4 Moral Harm Caused by Autonomous Weapons Systems 4.2 Ethics of System Autonomy 4.2.1 The Moral Status of System Autonomy 4.2.2 Meaningful Human Control 4.2.3 Major Ethical Positions in the Current Debate against Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems 4.3 Arguments Contra System Autonomy 4.3.1 Autonomous Systems in General 4.3.2 Autonomous Weapons Systems 4.4 Arguments Pro System Autonomy 4.4.1 Autonomous Systems in General 4.4.2 Autonomous Weapons Systems 4.5 Likely Developments 5 Material 5.1 Author Team 5.2 List of Interviewed Experts 5.3 List of Workshop Participants 5.4 List of Abbreviations 5.5 Annotated Literature

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2019

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2017

How should autonomous vehicles (aka self-driving cars) be programmed to behave in the event of an... more How should autonomous vehicles (aka self-driving cars) be programmed to behave in the event of an unavoidable accident in which the only choice open is one between causing different damages or losses to different objects or persons? This paper addresses this ethical question starting from the normative principles elaborated in the law to regulate difficult choices in other emergency scenarios. In particular, the paper offers a rational reconstruction of some major principles and norms embedded in the Anglo-American jurisprudence and case law on the Bdoctrine of necessity^; and assesses which, if any, of these principles and norms can be utilized to find reasonable guidelines for solving the ethical issue of the regulation of the programming of autonomous vehicles in emergency situations. The paper covers the following topics: the distinction between Bjustification^and Bexcuse^, the legal prohibition of intentional killing outside self-defence, the incommensurability of goods, and the legal constrains to the use of lethal force set by normative positions: obligations, responsibility, rights, and authority. For each of these principles and constrains the possible application to the programming of autonomous vehicles is discussed. Based on the analysis, some practical suggestions are offered.

Contents:

AI & society, Feb 7, 2023

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2021

Science and engineering ethics, 2021

Materiali per una storia della cultura giuridica, 2012

Accident Analysis & Prevention

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2021

Utet, 2018

Philosophical Inquiries, 2014

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2019

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2017

Rivista Di Filosofia, 2012

Classical arguments for the compatibility of determinism and freedom of the will commonly associa... more Classical arguments for the compatibility of determinism and freedom of the will commonly associated to Hobbes and Hume have in the last fifty years successfully challenged and shown to be unsatisfying. However, compatibilism is still alive and kicking. The paper provides a survey and a discussion of some of the most convincing contemporary compatibilist arguments, as presented by Daniel Dennett and other contemporary philosophers. These are related to the following issues: causation and the excuse, the concept of control, the relationship between determinism and possibility, the alleged threat of neurosciences to human agency, and the moral basis of responsibility.

Rivista Di Filosofia, 2007

Abstract Many moral and legal theorists have recently endorsed a Humean view of responsibility, a... more Abstract Many moral and legal theorists have recently endorsed a Humean view of responsibility, according to which attributions of responsibility depend on character assessment. In the first part of this paper, the major contemporary developments of this ...

Rivista Di Filosofia, 2006

Abstract Ever since the 1970s the elaboration of a philosophical theory of the subjective basis o... more Abstract Ever since the 1970s the elaboration of a philosophical theory of the subjective basis of criminal liability has been attempted in the Anglo-American world, often in the context of the discussions on the problem of the responsibility of the mentally ill offender. Michael S. ...

Rivista Di Filosofia, 2012

In this paper I challenge the view that there is a clear-cut conceptual distinction between an in... more In this paper I challenge the view that there is a clear-cut conceptual distinction between an insanity defense and a plea of unfitness to plead, a view based on the distinction between insanity as a doctrine of substantive law affecting the agent’s responsibility, and unfitness to plead as a doctrine of procedure affecting the legitimacy of trial. What this picture tends to conceal is the fact that responsibility has a diachronic nature, as far as it depends on the ability on the part of the agent not only to act according to reasons, but also to engage in a reflection on his actions and the reasons for them. If so, a lack of the relevant capacities at the time of the trial may impinge on the responsibility of the offender, not only on the right to proceed with the trial against him. To highlight this point some cases of serious dissociation of personality are taken into account. These cases are particularly interesting, insofar as they concern agents which didn’t manifest any serious mental defect at the time of their wrongful action, nor at the time of trial. Still, doubts about these agents’ responsibility arise because of their apparent inability to recognize, at the time of trial, their actions as something that they did, for which they should now answer.

We normally think that the degree of a person’s responsibility co-varies (among other things) wit... more We normally think that the degree of a person’s responsibility co-varies (among other things) with their mental capacity. This is after all wy we think that children, the senile, and those suffering from certain kinds of mental illness or retardation are less than fully responsible for what they do – i.e. because they have significant deficits in the mental capacities that are required for responsible moral agency – why children acquire more responsibilities as they grow up, and why people’s status as responsible moral agents is re-established as they recover from mental illness. This “capacitarian” idea that responsibility tracks mental capacity is also the operative assumption behind a significant portion of current “neurolaw” research which aims to help the law to assess and to restore people’s responsibility by using modern neuroscientific techniques to discover, detect and treat mental disorders.

But if responsibility diminishes when mental capacities are lost, and is restored when they are subsequently regained, then what would happen if a person’s mental capacities were extended even further – i.e. beyond the level that most humans can reasonably be expected to reach – through the use of cognitive enhancement technologies? Recent research suggests that drugs originally designed to treat mental disorders – e.g. Ritalin,
bromocriptine, donepezil, and modafinil – can significantly improve mental performance when taken by healthy individuals. Would a person whose mental capacities were increased through the use of such drugs become “hyper responsible”, and if so then in what sense?

For instance, would cognitively enhanced people acquire new
responsibilities that they otherwise wouldn’t have had? Might they, as a consequence, be legitimately blamed when they fail to discharge those greater responsibilities? And would that increase the likelihood that they will subsequently be held responsible (i.e. liable) when things go wrong?
On a different note, if cognitive enhancers indeed improve mental
performance, then might it become morally and legally obligatory for
people in some situations to cognitively enhance themselves? For instance,
given how much is at stake in an operating theatre, on a military
battlefield, and in long-haul flights, it could be argued that surgeons,
soldiers and aeroplane pilots have a moral duty to take cognitive
enhancers to ensure the highest performance possible, and that they
would be negligent or even reckless if they didn’t enhance themselves.

What is the relationship between is and ought — for instance, between findings revealed about our... more What is the relationship between is and ought — for instance, between findings revealed about our psychology as revealed by empirical studies in the Behavioural, Cognitive and Neurosciences, and norms about what we ought to do or not do as expressed by different role responsibilities? What may we expect from one another given what the BCN reveal about our actual mental capacities? Do facts determine or in some other way constrain what norms we may legitimately impose onto one another, or are norms more autonomous? We argue that norms are not merely derivative from facts; and that not merely are norms not just standards against which we judge or assess people's actions; but, more importantly, and more substantially, that norms play a crucial role in constructing agency. In particular, the norms that we set in the social sphere – norms which express our expectations of one another – play a crucial role in making it possible to even recognise agents within an otherwise-myopic fact-driven world view. Norms both construct and protect agency and agents from the onslaught of an otherwise agentless and impersonal view of the universe in which all that there is is just the impersonal and relentless flow of cause and effect.

The concepts of capacity and character play a similar role in common language. They are used to a... more The concepts of capacity and character play a similar role in common language. They are used to attribute some enduring properties to persons, through which to recognize, understand and assess their actions and failures. They are similar also in possessing an essentially normative nature. In this presentation a conceptual analysis of “capacity” and “character” is proposed. The methodology will be similar to that suggested by J.L. Austin in A plea for excuses (1956) – relying on legal and psychological literature to sharpen our understanding of common concepts without being confused by philosophical bias. This analysis will show that whereas the concept of capacity plays an irreplaceable role in describing, understanding and assessing people’s actions, the concept of character is not basic in the same sense. This may hopefully help to clarify and solve some well-known philosophical questions concerning capacity, character and responsibility.

in Mario Ricciardi, Andrea Rossetti e Vito Velluzzi (eds.), Filosofia del diritto. Norme, concett... more in Mario Ricciardi, Andrea Rossetti e Vito Velluzzi (eds.), Filosofia del diritto. Norme, concetti, argomenti, Carocci, Roma 2015, pp. 145-174.