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At death’s door, Leibniz firmly refused to see a priest. This seems to be in strong contrast with the central role that he attributes to God in his philosophy and with his explicit acceptance of the Christian religion. Thus, the circumstances surrounding Leibniz’s death, as related by some direct and indirect witnesses, provide an opportunity to examine the sincerity of Leibniz’s position on religion. The final conclusion is that Leibniz believed in a religion broadly inspired by Christian principles but that he was not a particularly pious believer, which is fully in line with his own kind of ante litteram deism.

Descartes’ theory of error is based on the attribution of judgment to the faculty of (free) will and on the wider scope of the latter with respect to perception. Against this theory, Spinoza rejects every distinction between perception and will, emphasizing that every perception has by itself an assertive force, which can be prevented only by some opposing perception. The author tries to show how Leibniz, while willing to maintain the distinction between perception and will, nevertheless adopts and develops this Spinozian idea in his psychological study on the "series of thoughts". This idea is developed in the context of a phenomenistic view of reality, where Leibniz tries to make sense of the judgement of reality in pragmatistic terms - i.e. through the striving to act, connected to some of our perceptions - or in terms of the coherence of perceptions themselves.

Questa presentazione ha l’obiettivo di riflettere sui processi di gruppo che consentono la trasformazione del ruolo, svolto dal bambino, nel copione transgenerazionale della famiglia. L’esperienza, fino ad oggi condotta con i gruppi in età evolutiva, ci ha portati infatti a constatare come i miti ed i nodi non risolti attraverso le generazioni riemergano attraverso rappresentazioni simboliche, grafiche o basate sull’azione, che sintetizzano la struttura dei vincoli relazionali delle famiglie di appartenenza. In particolare, un indicatore che evidenzia la posizione occupata da un bambino nel copione familiare riguarda il modo di rappresentarsi e di relazionarsi con lo sguardo del gruppo. L’attività clinica psicodrammatica attraverso la messa in scena non solo dei ruoli socialmente espressi, ma anche dei ruoli interni precocemente inscritti nella mente del bambino, favorisce lo sviluppo della capacità di riaffrontare queste prescrizioni interne e con esse tutte le configurazioni mitiche interiorizzate ad esso connesse. L’evoluzione nella capacità di reggere lo sguardo degli altri e di esprimere le proprie emozioni restituisce, cioè, al bambino la possibilità di diventare un interprete più libero dei contenuti che legano la sua vita psichica a quella delle generazioni precedenti..

The existing literature studying the income elasticity of health care spending has dealt with two main issues: the lack of attention to the time-series structure of the data and the distinction between the impact of an autonomous deterministic trend upon real expenditure of health care and the growth of real per capita income. We use Italian regional data to estimate the income elasticity of the demand for private health care. By adopting a technique designed to cope with the above two issues, the results of our analysis suggest that the trend is a statistically significant variable to be included amongst the determinants of health care spending and that it produces an impact independent of the effect of real income. Furthermore, our results show that both in the Northern and Central Italian regions the income elasticity is approximately lower than one and substantially less than the estimated values reported in other studies. On the other hand, in the Southern area health care expenditure presents the characteristics of a luxury good and the long-run elasticity is greater than one independent of the effect of the trend. We provide also an explanation of these findings.

Turin’s Ruling Élite ABSTRACT: The transition of Turin from one-company town to a postindustrial city has been led by an urban ruling élite (ECG), whose members have been identified through a combination of positional and reputational methods. Network analysis and qualitative research on the members of the group allow to outline the élite relational structure and its social and political profile, that looks pluralistic and policentric. By selecting a core group inside the network and analysing its social and political attributes some hypotheses emerge on the urban regime and the capability of this ruling élite to act like a collective actor.

Fifty years after the first publication of Charles Wright Mills’ The Power Elite (1956), certainly one of the most important works in American political and social sciences, the essay offers a retrospective about its fortune in western culture. Widely discussed by leading sociologists such as Dahl, Parsons, Bell and Sweezy, The Power Elite greatly contributed to the debate between elitism and pluralism in the Fifties and the Sixties and influenced also the New Left movement, particularly SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). Then, from the end of the Seventies to the mid-Eighties, the analysis of Mills’ papers and unpublished writings gave new impulses to the study of his works. After a quite long period of sharp indifference, the new contributes of the last years show a return of interest in his work and in Mills’ ability in revealing (to reveal?) the contradictions of the American dream.

The Unsuccessful Elite. Roman Bourgeoisie and Papal States (1847-1870) (by Marco De Nicolò) - The essay analyses the role of the Roman bourgeoisie in the last decades of the Papal power and it affords the questions if it was an elite or not. The social and political context in which the Roman bourgeoisie grew and made its choices did not allow it more that narrow margins of action because the productive structure did not spur investments in landed properties and because the administrative institutions open to laymen allowed only poor initiative. In addition the Papal power, hostile to modernization and timorous of innovations, restrained every possible political and social development. The conclusion is that the Roman bourgeoisie was weak, with a poor political and cultural conscience of itself, so that it was not able to play an elite’s role.

Fino all’ottobre del 1973 il mondo non annoverava, tra le sue preoccupazioni, quella del prezzo del petrolio. Ciò perché il mercato era bilanciato tra domanda ed offerta. L’OPEC (Organizzazione dei Paesi produttori) si manteneva neutra in materia di livelli di produzione e conseguenti prezzi del greggio. Un atteggiamento non esente da possibili bruschi mutamenti. Ma, fino ad allora, tranquillizzante sia per produttori che per consumatori. Tale quiete aveva termine nel ricordato autunno del 1973. A quel momento lo Sciah di Persia, minacciato da una rivoluzione interna (motivata dal suo eccessivo laicismo e pro-occidentalismo) cercava di riconquistare popolarità grazie ad un gesto di estremo nazionalismo. Convinceva, cioè, l’OPEC a quintuplicare di colpo il prezzo del petrolio. Prestigio che lo salvava solo per breve tempo dalla successiva rivolta popolare e dal trionfale ritorno in Iran dell’Ajatollah Komeini.