Dealing with a complex reality

Parallel lecture (P2)

NEW IDEAS ABOUT LIFE, MIND AND LANGUAGE
Prof. Franco FABBRO

To try to understand the world, human beings have always developed theories, that is narratives, visions of the world, starting from the mythological and religious tales of the most ancient civilizations, to the physical and cosmological theories of ancient Greece where philosophy and ancient science, mathematics and geometry were born. In reality, theories come and go: a clear example is the geocentric theory which saw the Earth standing at the center of the universe, later superseded by the heliocentric one thanks to the invention of the telescope by Galileo Galilei. This scientific and experimental evidence gave birth to modern philosophy, where theories, discussions, logic, mathematics are no longer sufficient, but it becomes necessary to "doubt" and subject nature to tests and experiments. This is also how modern physics was born, with contributions from important scientists such as Descartes, Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Einstein, creator of one of the most effective theories, quantum mechanics. However, a further shocking paradigm shift, equal to the discovery of the telescope, occurred in 1953, when Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the "great secret of life", or the ability of organisms to self-replicate thanks to the "information" contained in DNA , information that is neither matter nor energy, but "something else".
Like living beings, language and the psyche are complex systems, based on matter and energy, but with characteristics that place them "beyond physics". This intervention therefore explores the similarities between these complex systems, showing how physics and mathematics are no longer sufficient for reading the world, but it is necessary to find new references in biology, neuroscience and psychology, to understand and face future challenges that will arise for humanity.

RECOGNIZE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN TO SUPPORT VICTIMS
Prof. Patrizia ROMITO

Violence - physical, sexual, psychological and economic, up to feminicide - against women and girls represents an immense problem worldwide, due to its frequency and the very serious consequences on the victims and their daughters and on the whole community. 
These violences find their roots in cultural contexts, albeit to different extents in the various eras and in the various countries, from the disvalue of women and from the discrimination against them and from male domination (UN Resolution 54/134, 2000). For these reasons, they remained invisible for so long: not because they were hidden, but because they appeared as normal, in the "natural" order of things. And so, partner violence was treated as quarrels or conflicts; the killing of women in the family was condoned as "honor killings"; sexual harassment was treated as a joke or courtship; and, as regards rapes, for centuries it was considered that women were lying or that they had provoked them with their behavior.
All over the world, the women's movement has challenged these prejudices, given victims a voice and acted politically to change laws and find resources to help them; Anti-violence centers and shelters concretely support women who have suffered violence. However, even today, social and health workers, law enforcement agencies and magistrates are often unable to recognize violence and the victims find themselves isolated, having to live with the consequences of violence, the fear of retaliation and the unjust shame for what has been done to them.
It is necessary that all those who come into contact with women and girls (or even men and boys) who have suffered violence have the necessary training to avoid "secondary victimisation" and to support victims on their way out of violence and of reconstruction of the self.