Science and 'Human Sciences'

It is undeniable that there is a wide gap today between the scientific - or, better, scientifist - culture and the so-called culture of analogy. "Scientifist" is a term coined by the Italian philosopher Raffaello Franchini to indicate the absolute deterioration of the scientific thought, luckily confined to a cultural minority, that uses science as if it were a weapon. Opposing this is the so-called culture of analogy, which is not closely linked to standards that can be assessed instrumentally, but which is based, on the contrary, on the ideal or analogical connection between two or more elements that are represented in almost all the so-called Human Sciences. Such dichotomy derives mainly from the media misinformation that, in recent years, has celebrated the notion whatever is "scientific" deserves salvation, while whatever is not, must be thrown away. Hence, as Franchini points out, the pretension of making people "burp and copulate in a scientific way", with all the distortions deriving from this misrepresentation. The Authors of this short volume, the result of a day-long "chat", intend to present their Readers with some questions marks on the topic of Epistemology - but not exclusively. They will in fact present them with many question marks and very few exclamation marks in order to stimulate a desirable and fruitful debate on this topic.