The research unit gathers the contributions from scholars of philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, phenomenology, hermeneutics, philosophy of medicine, bioethics, philosophy of psychology and cognitive sciences.
The research work is dedicated to the analysis of the qualitative ontology and has two purposes:
a) From a philosophical perspective, it aims at defining the qualitative dimension of experience, its nature and its characteristics;
b) From a “practical” perspective, it aims at identifying those fields in which the need for a rigorous inquiry of the qualitative element eminently emerges.
The research develops on three intertwined levels:
● A philosophical and methodological level which aims at revaluating and rethinking the qualitative dimension. By following a descriptive approach, the research intends to trace the modalities of experience in its various aspects (such as perceptual, emotional, etc., including also the concept of “quality of life”).
● A modelling of the qualitative ontology. In order to offer a description of the structure of the qualitative dimension of experience, the research group aims to provide a Lexicon of qualitative ontology by adopting a web application based on a semantic web standard, Skos (Simple Knowledge Organization System). Skos is used to represent lexicons, glossaries and thesaurus as graphs of concepts connected by three kinds of relationship: "more / less specific of", "associated with", "equivalent to". By means of this, the group will be able to map the qualitative dimension of experience and show the dynamic inner articulation that characterizes it.
● A practical-applied level. Skos enables the modeling and mapping of the qualitative dimension and opens the possibility to express in computational terms part of the results obtained within the research of the lexicon of the qualitative ontology. This will allow the research to provide a “measurement" of the qualitative elements, through machine learning techniques that make possible a dialogue with the business world. For this part of the project, the group will collaborate side by side with computer scientists and other specialists of the field.
Scientific Coordinator: Roberta Lanfredini
Research unit members:
External Members:
Last update
03.01.2024