Descartes outlined human intelligence as a divine gift, albeit in a system governed by universal laws of physics and mathematics. In the eighteenth century the camaldolite Guido Grandi and Tommaso Ceva, both mathematicians, had a dispute about the interpretation of the Cartesian model of human intelligence. This case provides an opportunity to retrace the path of a speculative techno-philosophical question concerning the human possibility to equipping robots with the ability to experience a self-consciousness.Seppure in un sistema universale regolato da leggi fisiche e matematiche Cartesio delineava l’intelligenza umana come un dono divino. La scena letterario-culturale di una disputa sorta nel XVIII secolo tra il camaldolese Guido Grandi e...