Riccardo Viale | Università di Milano-Bicocca (original) (raw)
Papers by Riccardo Viale
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 2010
ABSTRACT Previous studies on obstacles in technology transfer between universities and companies ... more ABSTRACT Previous studies on obstacles in technology transfer between universities and companies emphasized the economic, legal, and organizational aspects, mainly focused in transfer of patents and licences. Since research collaboration implies a complex phenomenon of linguistic and cognitive coordination and attuning among members of the research group, a deeper cognitive investigation about this dimension might give some interesting answer to academy-industry problem. The main hypothesis is that there can be different cognitive styles in thinking, problem solving, reasoning and decision making that can hamper the collaboration between academic and industrial researchers. These different cognitive styles are linked and mostly determined by a different set of values and norms that are part of background knowledge. Different background knowledge is also responsible of bad linguistic coordination and understanding and of the difficulty of a successful psychology of group. The general hypotheses that will be inferred in this paper represent a research programme of empirical tests to control the effects on cognitive styles of different scientific and technological domains and geographical contexts.
Considerata da un punto di vista storico, l'innovazione rappresenta sicuramente uno dei fatto... more Considerata da un punto di vista storico, l'innovazione rappresenta sicuramente uno dei fattori fondamentali nello sviluppo delle società e delle economie avanzate. Numerosi studi hanno evidenziato come la supremazia economica e tecnologica che le nazioni occidentali sono venute consolidando nei confronti delle altre zone del pianeta, sia dovuta proprio alla loro capacità di alimentare nel tempo un flusso continuo di innovazioni. Secondo i calcoli di McCloskey (1985), l'incremento della produttività annua registrato in Inghilterra tra il 1780 e il 1860 è riconducibile per lo 0.14% a variazioni nel rapporto tra i fattori di produzione (in altre parole, ad una maggiore intensità di capitale), mentre il restante 1.19% annuo deve essere ricondotto all'effetto di innovazioni nei modi e nei processi di produzione. Conclusioni analoghe si raggiungono guardando agli incrementi di produttività registrati negli USA tra il 1909 ed il 1949 (Solow, 1971): solo il 12.5% dell'aumen...
The concept of Triple Helix is often used as a fuzzy metaphor. Sometime it plays a prescriptive r... more The concept of Triple Helix is often used as a fuzzy metaphor. Sometime it plays a prescriptive role. Other times it seems an empirical generalisation of local systems of S&T.
We are living in a new economy driven by knowledge. According to Kendrick (1994) the stock of gro... more We are living in a new economy driven by knowledge. According to Kendrick (1994) the stock of gross real capital in the US from 1929 to 1990 shows the increase of intangible over tangible capital: 6.075 billion dollars of tangible capital in 1929 and 28.525 in 1990 vs. 3.251 billion dollars of intangible capital in 1929 and 32.819 in 1990. Tangible capital comprises facilities, machineries, stocks and natural resources. Intangible capital comprises education, R&D and services. The importance of knowledge expressed by R&D and innovation comes also from other data. According to McCloskey (1985) the increase of annual productivity in the UK between 1780 and 1860 was of 1,33%. Only 0,14% derives from a greater capital intensity, while the remaining 1,19% was generated by innovations in processes and products. Similar data come from Solow (1971) regarding the US from 1909 to 1949: only a 12,5% increase in productivity was caused by a greater capital intensity while the remaining 87,5% de...
Mind & Society, 2000
The mind-society problem deals with the relations between mental and social phenomena. The proble... more The mind-society problem deals with the relations between mental and social phenomena. The problem is crucial in the main methodologies of social sciences. The thesis of hermeneutics is that we can only understand but not explain the relationship between beliefs and social action because mental and social events are not natural events. The thesis of social holism is that social phenomena are emergent and irreducible to mental phenomena. The thesis of rational choice theory is that social phenomena are reducible to mental phenomena and this reduction is explained by unrealistic a priori principles of rationality. These theses depend on their different solutions to the following fundamental philosophical issues: the mind-body identity; the causal nature of social explanation; the realistic goal of science. A positive answer to these issues implies support of a different solution to the mind-society problem: social phenomena are conventional concepts and they can be reduced and explained in terms of realistic concepts describing the causal mechanisms of individual reasoning and decision-making. Cognitive psychology seems to supply us some initial tentative models to explain social action, but research into neuropsychology might be able to generate the proper causal representations of the relation between mind and action.
International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 1999
Recent research on 'causal cognition' in adults and infants shows that we can perceive singular c... more Recent research on 'causal cognition' in adults and infants shows that we can perceive singular causal relations not previously experienced. In particular, infants that are able to perceive causality seem to rely on innate beliefs and principles that allow a priori inference of a connection between cause and effect.
European Journal of Sociology, 2009
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 2007
Summary. Tacit knowledge is pervasive in many aspects of human life. In the past it was analyzed ... more Summary. Tacit knowledge is pervasive in many aspects of human life. In the past it was analyzed mainly as behavioral skill and know-how in practical knowledge such as craftsmanship. Afterwhile it was also applied to more intellectual skills such as piano ...
Contributions to Economic Analysis, 2006
this paper is to clarify an important thesis related to human intellectual development. The thesi... more this paper is to clarify an important thesis related to human intellectual development. The thesis is stated in its most persuasive form in a recent book by Allison Gopnik and Andrew Meltzo# #Gopnik and Meltzo#, 1996#. They say:
ABSTRACT The remarkable transition from helpless infant to sophisticatedfive-year-old has long ca... more ABSTRACT The remarkable transition from helpless infant to sophisticatedfive-year-old has long captured the attention of scholars interested inthe discovery of knowledge. To explain these achievements, developmentalpsychologists often compare children's discovery procedures to those ofprofessional scientists. For the child to be qualified as a ``littlescientist'', however, intellectual development must be shown to derivefrom rational hypothesis selection in the face of evidence. In thepresent paper we focus on one dimension of rational theory-choice,namely, the relation between hypothesis confirmation and evidencediversity. Psychological research suggests cultural variability inappreciating evidence diversity and lack of such appreciation by youngchildren. Before reaching conclusions about the ``little scientist''thesis, however, it is essential to normatively analyze the diversityissue. We undertake such an analysis within a Bayesianperspective.
Mind and Language, 1999
Most speakers experience unclarity about the application of predicates like tall and red to limin... more Most speakers experience unclarity about the application of predicates like tall and red to liminal cases. We formulate alternative psychological hypotheses about the nature of this unclarity, and report experiments that provide a partial test of them. A psychologized version of the 'vagueness-as-ignorance' theory is then advanced and defended.
The Philosophical Quarterly, 1992
Science and Public Policy, 2002
ABSTRACT The concept of the Triple Helix is often used as a vague model. Sometimes it plays a pre... more ABSTRACT The concept of the Triple Helix is often used as a vague model. Sometimes it plays a prescriptive role. At times it seems an empirical generalisation of local systems of science and technology. Moreover, it is unclear if it has to be interpreted as a neo-corporatist phenomenon or, on the other hand, if its dynamics seem to fit an evolutionary model. We propose to assess the Triple Helix model by an analysis of some of the most innovative European regional areas. The aim of this assessment is to verify the prescriptive hypothesis that only an evolutionary model of Triple Helix, where the evolution of a strong interaction of academy-industry relations is shaped by regulation and market forces and not by the direct intervention of government and public bodies, is able to produce the best S&T output. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Mind & Society, 2014
ABSTRACT From April 8th to 10th 2013, the Herbert Simon Society held its first General Conference... more ABSTRACT From April 8th to 10th 2013, the Herbert Simon Society held its first General Conference in New York. About fifty researchers from different countries and working in different areas attended the event. The conference focused on three topics which were identified as particularly relevant in the development of Simonian thought: duality of mind, creativity and alternative theories to rational expectations. A first Herbert Simon Honorary Lecture by Gerd Gigerenzer opened the conference. Gerg Gigerenzer was later elected as Chairman of the Herbert Simon Society. Joseph Stiglitz closed the conference with the second Herbert Simon Honorary Lecture.The Herbert A. Simon Society brings together economists, social and cognitive scientists engaged in critical issues such as bounded rationality, problem solving, simulation of human thought and creativity. In particular, it gathers some of the most important economists who try to reformulate economic theory by starting from some of the non-neoclassi ...
Mind & Society, 2000
Homo sociologicus and homo oeconomicus are, for different reasons, unsatisfactory models for the ... more Homo sociologicus and homo oeconomicus are, for different reasons, unsatisfactory models for the social sciences. A third model, called "rational model in the broad sense", seems better endowed to cope with the many different expressions of rationality of the social agent. Some contributions by Weber, Durkheim and Marx are early examples of the application of this model of social explanation based on good subjective reasons. According to this model and to the evidence of cognitive anthropology, it is possible to reconcile primitive thinking with the inferential principles of Western people. Lastly, cognitive psychology can contribute to the discovery of generalizations of reason-based choices that can strengthen the explanatory power of "rational model in the broad sense". 42 good"). Other sociologists feel uncomfortable with the typical economic explanation of behavior, notably because it cannot account for a number of collective phenomena. For instance, it is hard to see how magical rituals could be analyzed along economic lines. himself, who made a major contribution to drawing sociologists' attention to the economic interpretation of behavior, clearly indicated that the behavioral axiomatics used in his much quoted book were not universal.
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 2010
ABSTRACT Previous studies on obstacles in technology transfer between universities and companies ... more ABSTRACT Previous studies on obstacles in technology transfer between universities and companies emphasized the economic, legal, and organizational aspects, mainly focused in transfer of patents and licences. Since research collaboration implies a complex phenomenon of linguistic and cognitive coordination and attuning among members of the research group, a deeper cognitive investigation about this dimension might give some interesting answer to academy-industry problem. The main hypothesis is that there can be different cognitive styles in thinking, problem solving, reasoning and decision making that can hamper the collaboration between academic and industrial researchers. These different cognitive styles are linked and mostly determined by a different set of values and norms that are part of background knowledge. Different background knowledge is also responsible of bad linguistic coordination and understanding and of the difficulty of a successful psychology of group. The general hypotheses that will be inferred in this paper represent a research programme of empirical tests to control the effects on cognitive styles of different scientific and technological domains and geographical contexts.
Considerata da un punto di vista storico, l'innovazione rappresenta sicuramente uno dei fatto... more Considerata da un punto di vista storico, l'innovazione rappresenta sicuramente uno dei fattori fondamentali nello sviluppo delle società e delle economie avanzate. Numerosi studi hanno evidenziato come la supremazia economica e tecnologica che le nazioni occidentali sono venute consolidando nei confronti delle altre zone del pianeta, sia dovuta proprio alla loro capacità di alimentare nel tempo un flusso continuo di innovazioni. Secondo i calcoli di McCloskey (1985), l'incremento della produttività annua registrato in Inghilterra tra il 1780 e il 1860 è riconducibile per lo 0.14% a variazioni nel rapporto tra i fattori di produzione (in altre parole, ad una maggiore intensità di capitale), mentre il restante 1.19% annuo deve essere ricondotto all'effetto di innovazioni nei modi e nei processi di produzione. Conclusioni analoghe si raggiungono guardando agli incrementi di produttività registrati negli USA tra il 1909 ed il 1949 (Solow, 1971): solo il 12.5% dell'aumen...
The concept of Triple Helix is often used as a fuzzy metaphor. Sometime it plays a prescriptive r... more The concept of Triple Helix is often used as a fuzzy metaphor. Sometime it plays a prescriptive role. Other times it seems an empirical generalisation of local systems of S&T.
We are living in a new economy driven by knowledge. According to Kendrick (1994) the stock of gro... more We are living in a new economy driven by knowledge. According to Kendrick (1994) the stock of gross real capital in the US from 1929 to 1990 shows the increase of intangible over tangible capital: 6.075 billion dollars of tangible capital in 1929 and 28.525 in 1990 vs. 3.251 billion dollars of intangible capital in 1929 and 32.819 in 1990. Tangible capital comprises facilities, machineries, stocks and natural resources. Intangible capital comprises education, R&D and services. The importance of knowledge expressed by R&D and innovation comes also from other data. According to McCloskey (1985) the increase of annual productivity in the UK between 1780 and 1860 was of 1,33%. Only 0,14% derives from a greater capital intensity, while the remaining 1,19% was generated by innovations in processes and products. Similar data come from Solow (1971) regarding the US from 1909 to 1949: only a 12,5% increase in productivity was caused by a greater capital intensity while the remaining 87,5% de...
Mind & Society, 2000
The mind-society problem deals with the relations between mental and social phenomena. The proble... more The mind-society problem deals with the relations between mental and social phenomena. The problem is crucial in the main methodologies of social sciences. The thesis of hermeneutics is that we can only understand but not explain the relationship between beliefs and social action because mental and social events are not natural events. The thesis of social holism is that social phenomena are emergent and irreducible to mental phenomena. The thesis of rational choice theory is that social phenomena are reducible to mental phenomena and this reduction is explained by unrealistic a priori principles of rationality. These theses depend on their different solutions to the following fundamental philosophical issues: the mind-body identity; the causal nature of social explanation; the realistic goal of science. A positive answer to these issues implies support of a different solution to the mind-society problem: social phenomena are conventional concepts and they can be reduced and explained in terms of realistic concepts describing the causal mechanisms of individual reasoning and decision-making. Cognitive psychology seems to supply us some initial tentative models to explain social action, but research into neuropsychology might be able to generate the proper causal representations of the relation between mind and action.
International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 1999
Recent research on 'causal cognition' in adults and infants shows that we can perceive singular c... more Recent research on 'causal cognition' in adults and infants shows that we can perceive singular causal relations not previously experienced. In particular, infants that are able to perceive causality seem to rely on innate beliefs and principles that allow a priori inference of a connection between cause and effect.
European Journal of Sociology, 2009
Studies in Computational Intelligence, 2007
Summary. Tacit knowledge is pervasive in many aspects of human life. In the past it was analyzed ... more Summary. Tacit knowledge is pervasive in many aspects of human life. In the past it was analyzed mainly as behavioral skill and know-how in practical knowledge such as craftsmanship. Afterwhile it was also applied to more intellectual skills such as piano ...
Contributions to Economic Analysis, 2006
this paper is to clarify an important thesis related to human intellectual development. The thesi... more this paper is to clarify an important thesis related to human intellectual development. The thesis is stated in its most persuasive form in a recent book by Allison Gopnik and Andrew Meltzo# #Gopnik and Meltzo#, 1996#. They say:
ABSTRACT The remarkable transition from helpless infant to sophisticatedfive-year-old has long ca... more ABSTRACT The remarkable transition from helpless infant to sophisticatedfive-year-old has long captured the attention of scholars interested inthe discovery of knowledge. To explain these achievements, developmentalpsychologists often compare children's discovery procedures to those ofprofessional scientists. For the child to be qualified as a ``littlescientist'', however, intellectual development must be shown to derivefrom rational hypothesis selection in the face of evidence. In thepresent paper we focus on one dimension of rational theory-choice,namely, the relation between hypothesis confirmation and evidencediversity. Psychological research suggests cultural variability inappreciating evidence diversity and lack of such appreciation by youngchildren. Before reaching conclusions about the ``little scientist''thesis, however, it is essential to normatively analyze the diversityissue. We undertake such an analysis within a Bayesianperspective.
Mind and Language, 1999
Most speakers experience unclarity about the application of predicates like tall and red to limin... more Most speakers experience unclarity about the application of predicates like tall and red to liminal cases. We formulate alternative psychological hypotheses about the nature of this unclarity, and report experiments that provide a partial test of them. A psychologized version of the 'vagueness-as-ignorance' theory is then advanced and defended.
The Philosophical Quarterly, 1992
Science and Public Policy, 2002
ABSTRACT The concept of the Triple Helix is often used as a vague model. Sometimes it plays a pre... more ABSTRACT The concept of the Triple Helix is often used as a vague model. Sometimes it plays a prescriptive role. At times it seems an empirical generalisation of local systems of science and technology. Moreover, it is unclear if it has to be interpreted as a neo-corporatist phenomenon or, on the other hand, if its dynamics seem to fit an evolutionary model. We propose to assess the Triple Helix model by an analysis of some of the most innovative European regional areas. The aim of this assessment is to verify the prescriptive hypothesis that only an evolutionary model of Triple Helix, where the evolution of a strong interaction of academy-industry relations is shaped by regulation and market forces and not by the direct intervention of government and public bodies, is able to produce the best S&T output. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Mind & Society, 2014
ABSTRACT From April 8th to 10th 2013, the Herbert Simon Society held its first General Conference... more ABSTRACT From April 8th to 10th 2013, the Herbert Simon Society held its first General Conference in New York. About fifty researchers from different countries and working in different areas attended the event. The conference focused on three topics which were identified as particularly relevant in the development of Simonian thought: duality of mind, creativity and alternative theories to rational expectations. A first Herbert Simon Honorary Lecture by Gerd Gigerenzer opened the conference. Gerg Gigerenzer was later elected as Chairman of the Herbert Simon Society. Joseph Stiglitz closed the conference with the second Herbert Simon Honorary Lecture.The Herbert A. Simon Society brings together economists, social and cognitive scientists engaged in critical issues such as bounded rationality, problem solving, simulation of human thought and creativity. In particular, it gathers some of the most important economists who try to reformulate economic theory by starting from some of the non-neoclassi ...
Mind & Society, 2000
Homo sociologicus and homo oeconomicus are, for different reasons, unsatisfactory models for the ... more Homo sociologicus and homo oeconomicus are, for different reasons, unsatisfactory models for the social sciences. A third model, called "rational model in the broad sense", seems better endowed to cope with the many different expressions of rationality of the social agent. Some contributions by Weber, Durkheim and Marx are early examples of the application of this model of social explanation based on good subjective reasons. According to this model and to the evidence of cognitive anthropology, it is possible to reconcile primitive thinking with the inferential principles of Western people. Lastly, cognitive psychology can contribute to the discovery of generalizations of reason-based choices that can strengthen the explanatory power of "rational model in the broad sense". 42 good"). Other sociologists feel uncomfortable with the typical economic explanation of behavior, notably because it cannot account for a number of collective phenomena. For instance, it is hard to see how magical rituals could be analyzed along economic lines. himself, who made a major contribution to drawing sociologists' attention to the economic interpretation of behavior, clearly indicated that the behavioral axiomatics used in his much quoted book were not universal.