-
28The Moral Psychology of Shame (edited book)Moral Psychology of the Emotions. 2023.Few emotions have divided opinion as deeply as shame. Some scholars have argued that shame is essentially a maladaptive emotion used to oppress minorities and reinforce stigmas and traumas, an emotion that leaves the self at the mercy of powerful others. Other scholars, however, have argued that the absence of a sense of shame in a subject--their shamelessness--is tantamount to a vicious moral insensitivity. As the twelve original chapters in this collection attest, however, shame scholars are e…Read more
-
7Anger, Hatred, Prejudice. An Aristotelian PerspectiveIn Anna Bortolan & Elisa Magrì (eds.), Empathy, Intersubjectivity, and the Social World: The Continued Relevance of Phenomenology. Essays in Honour of Dermot Moran, Degruyter. pp. 389-412. 2022.
-
10The Dramatic Setting of the GorgiasThe Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 3 132-139. 1998.I analyse the dramatic setting of the Gorgias by contrasting it with that of the Protagoras. The two dialogues are closely related. In the Gorgias Socrates states that the rhetorician and the sophist are basically indistinguishable in everyday life. In both the Protagoras and the Gorgias, his confrontation with his interlocutors is metaphorically related to a descent to Hades. However, while the events in the Protagoras are narrated by Socrates himself, the Gorgias has readers face the unfolding…Read more
-
23Envy and its objectsHumana Mente 12 (35). 2019.The paper critically discusses the thesis, originally put forth by Taylor, that there is a form of envy whose target is the good possessed by someone else. Section 2 analyzes the distinction between object-envy and state-envy, discusses the connection between object-envy and benign envy, and develops the ethical consequences that follow from the thesis that envy is never benign. Section 3 presents a thought experiment with five variations developed from the basic elements of object-envy: an agen…Read more
-
20Inconsistencies in Glaucon’s Account of JusticePolis 24 (1): 43-69. 2007.This paper identifies major inconsistencies in the threefold argument that Glaucon presents in defence of Thrasymachus in the second book of Plato’s Republic. Specifically, the paper argues for three claims. Firstly, it argues that in his account of the origin of justice Glaucon treats the consequences of justice as necessary, while in the test case he merely emphasizes incidental consequences. Secondly, the paper argues that in setting up the test case of the perfectly unjust man and the perfec…Read more
-
93Love of the Good, Love of the WholeEpoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 (2): 267-290. 2009.Diotima criticizes, but does not refute, Aristophanes’ thesis that love is desire for completeness. Her argument incorporates that thesis within a more complextheory: eros is desire for the permanent possession of the good, and hence also desire for immortality. Aristophanes cannot account for the aspirations entailed in the desire for fame or in the desire for knowledge. Such aspirations can be understood only with reference to the good. However, the paper shows how time plays a fundamental rol…Read more
-
41The Myth of the Last Judgment in the "Gorgias"Review of Metaphysics 54 (3). 2001.AT THE END OF A VERY LONG DISCUSSION with interlocutors who grow angrier and angrier with him, Socrates tells a story about the judgment of souls in the afterlife. He addresses the myth to Callicles, his final interlocutor, in the explicitly stated belief that the young man will not take it any more seriously than he would take a bunch of old wives tales. Socrates prophecy about Callicles response is likely to be correct. What is surprising, however, is that it also turns out to describe well th…Read more
-
What Is Political Philosophy? The Strauss-Kojeve Debate On Tyranny. On TyrannyRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 66 (2): 231-247. 2011.
-
Seeing with the eyes of the soul-the wings of the soul in socrates palinode in plato'phaedrus'Verifiche: Rivista Trimestrale di Scienze Umane 24 (1-2): 125-144. 1995.
-
Time, desire, generation. Diotima and Aristophanes in Plato's' Simposio'Rivista di Storia Della Filosofia 63 (1): 1-27. 2008.
-
21Why is thePhilosophy and Rhetoric 33 (1): 39-58. 2000.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Why Is the Gorgias so Bitter?1Alessandra FussiMihi in oratoribus irridendis ipse esse orator summus videbatur.-Cicero, De Oratore 1.471. The hand of an apprentice?Commentators have often responded with uneasiness to Plato's Gorgias. E. R. Dodds speaks of the "disillusioned bitterness" of the criticisms leveled against Athenian politics and politicians and of the tragic tone of the dialogue's last part, which culminates in a predictio…Read more
-
37Tempo, desiderio, generazione: Diotima e Aristofane nel simposio di PlatoneRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 63 (1). 2008.
-
Vedere con gli occhi dell’anima: la funzione dell’ala nella Palinodia di SocrateVerifiche: Rivista Trimestrale di Scienze Umane 24 (1-2): 125-144. 1995.
-
49Plato's symposium: The ethics of desireInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2 (2): 209-211. 2008.
-
Lasciare tracce, controllare il mondoRivista di Estetica 50 275-286. 2012.In this paper I discuss some moral implications of Ferraris’ theory of documents. I address, firstly, his theory of knowledge and its relationship with the concepts of freedom and responsibility; secondly, the notion of “leaving trace” in its connection with memory, identity, and the desire for honour and recognition. Finally, I surmise that the anthropological basis of “leaving trace” is the desire to gain control over the environment (as in animals marking their territory) as well as over the …Read more
-
14Che cos’è la filosofia politica? Il dibattito fra Strauss e Kojève sulla tirannideRivista di Storia Della Filosofia 66 (2): 231-247. 2011.On Tyranny, by Leo Strauss and Alexander Kojève, is now available in Italian. The article examines the debate between the two philosophers, focussing primarily on their respective views of political philosophy and the opposition between ancients and moderns concerning such issues as the role of luck, the gap between theory and practice, and whether or not history is meaningful, teleologically oriented, able to prove political theory or, on the contrary, itself subject to theoretical judgment. Th…Read more
-
26Commentary on GersonProceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 15 (1): 254-262. 1999.
-
28Literary Form and Philosophical Discourse: The Problem of Myth in the Platonic DialoguesInternational Journal of the Platonic Tradition 7 (2): 221-228. 2013.A DISCUSSION OF: CATHERINE COLLOBERT, PIERRE DESTRÉE, FRANCISCO J. GONZALEZ , PLATO AND MYTH: STUDIES ON THE USE AND STATUS OF PLATONIC MYTHS. MNEMOSYNE. SUPPLEMENTS, 337. LEIDEN/BOSTON: BRILL, 2012. PP. VIII + 476. ISBN 9789004218666. $222.00
-
20Leo Strauss on CollingwoodIdealistic Studies 44 (2-3): 149-162. 2014.Strauss’s invitation to understand Greek authors as they understood themselves was attacked by influential scholars as anti-historical. In the first part of the paper, I argue that the charge is due to a misunderstanding of Strauss’s position on the respective role of interpretation and criticism in historicism. In the second part, I highlight Strauss’s view of the tension between scientific history as the manifestation of a certain age, and scientific history as the culmination of historical pr…Read more
-
10Inconsistencies in Glaucon’s Account of JusticePolis 24 (1): 43-69. 2007.This paper identifies major inconsistencies in the threefold argument that Glaucon presents in defence of Thrasymachus in the second book of Plato's Republic. Specifically, the paper argues for three claims. Firstly, it argues that in his account of the origin of justice Glaucon treats the consequences of justice as necessary, while in the test case he merely emphasizes incidental consequences. Secondly, the paper argues that in setting up the test case of the perfectly unjust man and the perfec…Read more
-
Le lezioni di Strauss sul Simposio di Platone: breve storia di una lettura mancataVerifiche: Rivista Trimestrale di Scienze Umane 37 (4): 395-432. 2008.
-
4Lasciare tracce, controllare il mondoRivista di Estetica 50 275-286. 2012.In this paper I discuss some moral implications of Ferraris’ theory of documents. I address, firstly, his theory of knowledge and its relationship with the concepts of freedom and responsibility; secondly, the notion of “leaving trace” in its connection with memory, identity, and the desire for honour and recognition. Finally, I surmise that the anthropological basis of “leaving trace” is the desire to gain control over the environment (as in animals marking their territory) as well as over the …Read more
-
1Images of the Soul in Plato's GorgiasDissertation, The Pennsylvania State University. 1997.This dissertation is a study of the images of the soul in the Gorgias. I analyze the relationship between power and omnipotence in the conceptions of the soul defended and/or exemplified by the characters of the dialogue. ;In chapter 1 I focus on the dramatic setting of the Gorgias, which lacks clear temporal and spatial indications. I show that the three conversations are dramatically linked to the last myth of judgment. My hypothesis is that Gorgias and his followers are seen by Socrates as th…Read more
-
69Love of the Good, Love of the WholeEpoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy 13 (2): 267-290. 2009.Diotima criticizes, but does not refute, Aristophanes’ thesis that love is desire for completeness. Her argument incorporates that thesis within a more complextheory: eros is desire for the permanent possession of the good, and hence also desire for immortality. Aristophanes cannot account for the aspirations entailed in the desire for fame or in the desire for knowledge. Such aspirations can be understood only with reference to the good. However, the paper shows how time plays a fundamental rol…Read more
-
49Callicles’ Examples of ϙὄπρζ ς ζ ιὔωηθζ in Plato’s GorgiasGraduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 19 (1): 119-149. 1996.The Gorgias has been delivered to us in medieval manuscripts with the subtitle ἢ περὶ ‘ρητορικῆσ. As a matter of fact, the starting point of the dialogue is the question concerning the nature of rhetoric. In the course of the dialogue, however, this question gives rise to a more fundamental inquiry: how should one live? By the time Callicles starts his long speech the theme of εὐδαιμονία has already been introduced by Polus. Callicles takes a radical stand by reducing εὐδαιμονία to a choice betw…Read more
-
9Callicles’ Examples of ϙὄπρζ ς ζ ιὔωηθζ in Plato’s GorgiasGraduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 19 (1): 119-149. 1996.The Gorgias has been delivered to us in medieval manuscripts with the subtitle ἢ περὶ ‘ρητορικῆσ. As a matter of fact, the starting point of the dialogue is the question concerning the nature of rhetoric. In the course of the dialogue, however, this question gives rise to a more fundamental inquiry: how should one live? By the time Callicles starts his long speech the theme of εὐδαιμονία has already been introduced by Polus. Callicles takes a radical stand by reducing εὐδαιμονία to a choice betw…Read more