Quaestio

Today some scholars consider Descartes a virtue epistemologist. In my paper, I examine this position, making a positive contribution to his claim. After (1) a brief clarifying premise about the meaning and scope of virtue epistemology, I present two major theoretical positions that argue, in a different way, that Descartes can be considered a virtue epistemologist: (2) that of Ernest Sosa, usually acknowledged as virtue reliabilism; (3) that of Richard Davies, more inclined towards a so called responsibilist virtue epistemology. Finally, (4) I deal myself directly with some specific Cartesian texts, especially from the Discours de la méthode, in order to draw elements for strengthen and deepen the previous positions, thanks mostly to the passion virtue of generosity.

This article aims at reconstructing some of the conceptual premises that explain the origin of Kant’s Transcendental Aesthetics, by focusing on Christian Wolff’s synthesis of two different traditions. The first one is the new geometry of the situation created by Leibniz and the second one emerges from the metaphysics of the Spanish philosopher Francisco Suarez. Although Kant strongly criticizes Leibniz’ and Wolff’s ‘intellectualism’, his own conception of space and time would not have been possible without the transformation introduced by Wolff in the concepts of similarity, order, space and time.

The article analyses and comments on the collective volume entitled Storia della metafisica, edited by Enrico Berti. The author goes through the various contributions dedicated to a prominent metaphysician or a metaphysic current and lets emerge the different recalibration experienced by the concepts of ‘transcendence’ and ‘transcendental’. Berti’s preliminary choice is indeed to include in a history of metaphysics only those metaphysicians who have considered transcendence particularly relevant in their philosophical enterprises. From this survey, it is possible to assert the good health of metaphysics in the contemporary Italian debate.