•  2
    ABSTRACT In times of crisis, interpersonal and group solidarity often emerge as people face critical challenges that threaten their survival. However, it remains unclear whether spontaneous solidarity practices are enough to effectively face such crisis situations. In this paper, we argue that to be fully effective, solidarity must be deployed through all its political tiers, from interpersonal and group relationships to institutional and legal normativity. We contend that solidarity relations c…Read more
  •  40
    Thinking After Europe: Jan Patocka and Politics (edited book)
    Rowman & Littlefield International. 2016.
    Jan Patočka, perhaps more so than any other philosopher in the twentieth century, managed to combine intense philosophical insight with a farsighted analysis of the idea and challenges facing Europe as a historical, cultural and political signifier. As a political dissident in communist Czechoslovakia he also became a moral and political inspiration to a generation of Czechs, including Václav Havel. He accomplished this in a time of intense political repression when not even the hint of a unifie…Read more
  •  3
    Facing a New Crisis: Notes on Groundwork of Phenomenological Marxism, by Ian H. Angus (2021) (review)
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 54 (4): 376-388. 2023.
    This review article analyses the topic of phenomenological Marxism, examining its historical formulations, critical contributions, and contemporary re-enactments. It begins with an overview of the works of Enzo Paci and the Milan school of phenomenology, as well as Jan Patočka and Karel Kosík. In addition, it explores the recent work by Ian H. Angus, whose book, Groundwork of Phenomenological Marxism (2021), presents an innovative perspective on the relationship between phenomenology and Marxism…Read more
  •  25
    The Algorithmic Disruption of Workplace Solidarity
    Philosophy Today 65 (3): 571-598. 2021.
    This paper examines the development and technological mediation of the concept of solidarity. We focus on the workplace as a focal point of solidarity relations, and utilise a phenomenological approach to describe and analyse those relations. Workplace solidarity, which has been historically concretised through social objects such as labor unions, is of particular political relevance since it has played an outsize role in the broader struggle for social, economic, and political rights, recogniti…Read more
  •  16
    Epoché and institution: the fundamental tension in Jan Patočka’s phenomenology
    Studies in East European Thought 73 (3): 309-326. 2020.
    This article examines the relation between two key, but seemingly opposed concepts in Jan Patočka’s thought: epoché and the concrete institutional polis. In doing so it attempts to elucidate the inextricable relation between phenomenology and politics in the work of the Czech philosopher, and illustrate more broadly the possibilities for approaching the political from a phenomenological perspective. The article provides a phenomenological interpretation of “care for the soul” as closely linked t…Read more
  •  8
    Digitalisation of health and the use of health data in artificial intelligence, and machine learning (ML), including for applications that will then in turn be used in healthcare are major themes permeating current UK and other countries’ healthcare systems and policies. Obtaining rich and representative data is key for robust ML development, and UK health data sets are particularly attractive sources for this. However, ensuring that such research and development is in the public interest, produ…Read more
  •  2
    Fraternity-without-Terror: A Sartrean Account of Political Solidarity
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 54 (3): 234-248. 2023.
    This article analyses Sartre's conflicting interpretations of human relationality in Critique of Dialectical Reason and Hope Now in order to demostrate two things. First, that the social dynamics leading to the formation of what Sartre calls “fused groups” and “fraternity-terror” are still at play in current manifestations of exclusionary and antagonistic conceptions of identity politics, which we contend constitute a risk for contemporary democracy. Second, that an alternative conception of “fr…Read more
  •  2
    Facing global crisis after Europe
    Metodo. International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy 4 (1): 7-23. 2016.
  •  1
    Sacrifice as a political problem
    Metodo. International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy 6 (2): 71-98. 2018.
    The question arising from this article regards the meaning of sacrifice within the frame of Jan Patočka’s philosophy. Is human sacrifice aimed at reinforcing an institution or state of things as in the case of the Unknown Soldier narrative, or is it rather – as Patočka maintained – an essentially destabilizing deed, which has the power to shatter people’s knowledge and existence? In order to answer this question, I contrast Patočka’s standpoint with those of Émile Durkheim and of the main repres…Read more
  •  1
    Solidarity and Data Access: Challenges and Potentialities
    Phenomenology and Mind 20 118-126. 2021.
    This paper provides an account of the challenges and potentialities of a solidarity-based approach to data access and governance. To do that, it offers an infraethical understanding of solidarity that describes it as a structural moral enabler that can sustain collective action and risk taking. The paper ends with a brief discussion of health data access as a possible case study to test this approach.
  •  3
    Tragic Realism: On Karel Kosík’s Insight into Kafka
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 53 (4): 370-383. 2021.
    The aim of this article is to shed light on the reflections that Czech Marxist philosopher Karel Kosík dedicated to literature, and particularly to the writings of Franz Kafka, from the 1960s to the 1990s. More specifically, this article clarifies whether and how Kafka’s work influenced Kosík’s philosophy of praxis and critique of modern society.
  •  10
    Tragic Realism: On Karel Kosík’s Insight into Kafka
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 53 (4): 370-383. 2021.
    The aim of this article is to shed light on the reflections that Czech Marxist philosopher Karel Kosík dedicated to literature, and particularly to the writings of Franz Kafka, from the 1960s to the 1990s. More specifically, this article clarifies whether and how Kafka’s work influenced Kosík’s philosophy of praxis and critique of modern society.
  •  17
    Justice, emotions, and solidarity
    Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 26 (1): 39-55. 2023.
    This paper discusses Habermas’s argument that justice requires solidarity as its ‘reverse side’, whereby the former provides the necessary global framework for establishing intersubjective solidarity whilst the latter constitutes an important precondition for igniting social and political change in the direction of social justice. In this paper I argue that such a paradigm of reciprocity might be fruitfully complemented by a less apparent yet substantial nexus: that between solidarity and percei…Read more
  •  7
    The aim of this article is to show how both Jan Patočka and Jürgen Habermas, starting from a reinterpretation of the idea of «lifeworld», engaged a critique of modern civilisation, aiming at a redefinition of the concept of political community. In order to achieve this goal, I firstly focus on Patočka’s understanding of modern rational civilisation and its attempt to fix the fracture between «life» and «world». At this stage, I take also advantage of Hans Blumenberg’s distinction between these t…Read more
  •  6
    Jan Patočka and the Heritage of Phenomenology (review)
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 45 (2): 180-185. 2014.
  •  43
    The Risk of Freedom presents an in-depth analysis of the philosophy of Jan Patočka, one of the most influential Central European thinkers of the twentieth century, examining both the phenomenological and ethical-political aspects of his work. In particular, Francesco Tava takes an original approach to the problem of freedom, which represents a recurring theme in Patočka’s work, both in his early and later writings.Freedom is conceived of as a difficult and dangerous experience. In his deep analy…Read more
  •  24
    Phenomenology and the idea of Europe: introductory remarks
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 47 (3): 205-209. 2016.
    Ïntroductory remarks to the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology Special Issue "Phenomenology and the Idea of Europe".
  •  35
    The brave struggle: Jan Patočka on Europe’s past and future
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 47 (3): 242-259. 2016.
    This article proposes to investigate Jan Patočka’s idea of “post-Europe”, in the context of his understanding of European contemporary history. Therefore, I first stress how important it is for Patočka to conceive a “post-European perspective”, i.e. a peculiar insight into historical problems and conflicts that would allow humanity to find a possible path out of the condition that characterizes the twentieth century. Second, I focus on the existential figure that, according to Patočka, is capabl…Read more
  •  16
    The New Demons: Rethinking Power and Evil Today
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 48 (1): 90-94. 2017.