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286Teleology and theology. On the specificity of teleological explanationsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 10 (3): 27-50. 2018.TBA
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283Value, Transcendence and AnalogyEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 10 (2): 105-129. 2018.Current naturalistic accounts of value face the problem of explaining the normative constraints that value impose on agents. Attempts to solve this problem have progressively relaxed the strictness of naturalistic requirements, up to the point of seeking theistic solutions. However, appeals to God are also problematic, since it is questionable that a relevant notion of God is conceivable at all: if God is wholly other He cannot matter for our choices and if He is a being among natural beings He …Read more
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250Mind-world identity theory and semantic realism: Haldane and Boulter on AquinasPhilosophical Quarterly 50 (198): 82-87. 2000.
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85The four faces of omission: Ontology, terminology, epistemology, and ethicsPhilosophical Explorations 9 (3). 2006.In this paper, the ontological, terminological, epistemological, and ethical aspects of omission are considered in a coherent and balanced framework, based on the idea that there are omissions which are actions and omissions which are non-actions. In particular, we suggest that the approach to causation which best deals with omission is Mackie's INUS conditional proposal. We argue that omissions are determined partly by the ontological conditional structure of reality, and partly by the interest…Read more
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65Mind-World Identity Theory and Semantic Realism: Haldane and Boulter on AquinasPhilosophical Quarterly 50 (198). 2000.
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63The simple view of colour and the reference of perceptual termsPhilosophy 77 (299): 87-108. 2002.This essay deals with the problem of the status of colours, traditionally considered as the paradigmatic case of secondary qualities: do colours exist only as aspects of experience or are they real properties of objects, existing independently of human and animal perception? Recently, John Campbell has argued in favour of the simple view of colours, according to which colours are real properties of objects. I discuss the place of Campbell's position in a debated which was started by John Mackie …Read more
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58Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2006.How can the discoveries made in the biological sciences play a role in a discussion on the foundation of ethics? This book responds to this question by examining how evolutionism can explain and justify the existence of ethical normativity and the emergence of particular moral systems. Written by a team of philosophers and scientists, the essays collected in this volume deal with the limits of evolutionary explanations, the justifications of ethics, and methodological issues concerning evolution…Read more
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53Libertarian paternalism and health care policy: a deliberative proposal (review)Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 17 (1): 103-113. 2014.Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler have been arguing for what they named libertarian paternalism (henceforth LP). Their proposal generated extensive debate as to how and whether LP might lead down a full-blown paternalistic slippery slope. LP has the indubitable merit of having hardwired the best of the empirical psychological and sociological evidence into public and private policy making. It is unclear, though, to what extent the implementation of policies so constructed could enhance the capabi…Read more
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35The Simple View of Colours and the Reference of Perceptual TermsPhilosophy 77 (299). 2002.This essay deals with the problem of the status of colours, traditionally considered as the paradigmatic case of secondary qualities: do colours exist only as aspects of experience or are they real properties of objects, existing independently of human and animal perception? Recently, John Campbell has argued in favour of the simple view of colours, according to which colours are real properties of objects. I discuss the place of Campbell's position in a debated which was started by John Mackie …Read more
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33Potentiality, Natural Normativity and Practical ReasonJournal of Value Inquiry 52 (3): 307-326. 2018.
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32Aquinas on Sensible Forms and SemimaterialismReview of Metaphysics 54 (1): 43-63. 2000.IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF HIS BOOK Theories of Cognition in the Later Middle Ages, Robert Pasnau takes a position in a longstanding debate concerning the metaphysical status and the epistemological role of sensible forms in Aquinas’s theory of cognition. His main claim is that Aquinas was a materialist about sensation and developed “a theory of the sort that a modern materialist could love.”
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26Introduction: Natural Normativity and the Normativity of Human ActionJournal of Value Inquiry 52 (3): 239-242. 2018.
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25Normativity, volitional capacities, and rationality as a form of lifePhilosophy and Social Criticism 46 (2): 152-161. 2020.Contemporary neo-Aristotelianism attempts to ground normative constraints on action on the notion of human nature and this opens it to two main objections: Firstly, human nature seems to be too indeterminate to set constraints on action; secondly, it is unclear why knowledge of human nature should motivate agents. This essay considers the contribution that Wittgenstein’s notion of form of life can give in answering these challenges. It suggests that forms of life are not objects of analysis, but…Read more
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24In the past years, the relevance of Thomas Aquinas's theory of cognition for contemporary debates on epistemology has been widely discussed. That theory claims that mind and world are formally identical and that this relationship overcomes various problems associated with scepticism concerning mental representation. The proposal, however, is grounded on the idea that the world can act on the mind through a relation of formal causation. This thesis attempts to develop a Thomistic theory of formal…Read more
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21Substance, Form, and ModalityDiscipline Filosofiche 28 (1): 137-158. 2018.This essay deals with Simon Evnine’s amorphic hylomorphism, and the bearings that considerations about modality might have on it. It is suggested that the assumption of amorphic hylomorphism makes an account of modality extensionally incorrect in the domain of natural, non-organic objects. It is further argued that, in the case of NNOs, the existence of real forms should be accepted and this conclusion is claimed to be consistent with scientific knowledge, on the basis of substance gradualism.
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20Aquinas on Sensible Forms and SemimaterialismReview of Metaphysics 54 (1). 2000.IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF HIS BOOK Theories of Cognition in the Later Middle Ages, Robert Pasnau takes a position in a longstanding debate concerning the metaphysical status and the epistemological role of sensible forms in Aquinas’s theory of cognition. His main claim is that Aquinas was a materialist about sensation and developed “a theory of the sort that a modern materialist could love.”
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19Hylomorphism and substantial gradualismRevista Portuguesa de Filosofia 71 (4): 855-872. 2015.Resumo Recentemente o Hilemorfismo – a visão tradicional, segundo a qual, as substâncias são constituídas pela combinação de forma e matéria – tem sido alvo de renovado interesse. Este artigo centra-se na substância material e sugere que, neste caso, a constituição hilemórfica exige uma noção de forma que deve ser alargada ao conceito de energia, ou ao exercício de uma força. Neste artigo também se defende o gradualismo substancial: se a forma for assim entendida, a substancialidade possui graus…Read more
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18Percezione e realismo diretto in Tommaso d'AquinoIride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica 17 (3): 631-642. 2004.
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16Nature, value, and normativity: An introductionPhilosophy and Social Criticism 46 (2): 113-114. 2020.This brief introduction expounds the reasons behind the collection of essays entitled ‘Nature, Value and Normativity’. Political and social philosophers have usually a hard time finding a role for considerations about nature (and human nature in particular) in their accounts of normativity, due to the risk of committing the naturalistic fallacy and/or running against people’s autonomy. Scepticism about appeals to nature in normative accounts of politics and society, however, seems bound to clash…Read more
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14Theism and the Ontological Ground of Moral RealismIn Mirosław Szatkowski (ed.), Ontology of Theistic Beliefs: Meta-Ontological Perspectives, De Gruyter. pp. 19-38. 2018.
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13The Biology of Human Culture and Ethics: An Evolutionary PerspectiveIn Giovanni Boniolo & Gabriele De Anna (eds.), Evolutionary Ethics and Contemporary Biology, Cambridge University Press. 2006.
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11Authority and the Metaphysics of Political CommunitiesRoutledge. 2020.This book explores the metaphysics of political communities. It discusses how and why a plurality of individuals becomes a political unity, what principles or forces keep that unity together, and what threats that unity can be faced with. In Part I, the author justifies the need for the notion of substance in metaphysics in general and in the metaphysics of politics in particular. He spells out a moderately realist theory of substances and of their principles of unity, which supports substantial…Read more
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10Gine tra Tommaso d'Aquino e Hilary Putnam, Il Poligrafo, Padova, 2001Dialectica 58 (2): 233-237. 2004.
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9L'origine e la meta: studi in memoria di Emanuele Samek Lodovici con un suo inedito (edited book)Edizioni Ares. 2015.
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8Political identity and the metaphysics of polities (edited book)Routledge. 2023.The essays in this volume clarify the notion of political identity by focusing on the metaphysics of polities. By analysing the notion of political identity, they provide the conceptual resources for a deeper understanding of the theoretical and practical debates on populism, on the crisis of sovereignty, on the feasibility of a world government, and on ethical, religious, and cultural pluralism. What is a political community? Any answer to this question lies at the intersection between three fi…Read more
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7Moral Realism and Political Decisions. Practical Rationality in Contemporary Public Contexts (edited book)Bamberg University Press. 2015.Realism has been a central object of attention among analytical philosophers for some decades. Starting from analytical philosophy, the return of realism has spread into other contemporary philosophical traditions and given birth to new trends in current discussions, as for example in the debates about “new realism.” Discussions about realism focused on linguistic meaning, epistemology, metaphysics, theory of action and ethics. The implications for politics of discussion about realism in action …Read more
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7Willing the good: empirical challenges to the explanation of human behavior (edited book)Cambridge Scholars Press. 2012.Science increasingly deals with human behavior: biology, neuroscience, genetics, psychology, evolutionary theory, and ethology all bring new insights into our actions and uncover new facts about our agency. However, what is the philosophical significance of their findings? The answer to this question varies according to one's background philosophical views. On the one hand, the dominant empiricist view contends that the sciences can in principle tell us everything there is to know about human ag…Read more
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4Can There Be Supernaturalism without Theism?In Dariusz Łukasiewicz & Roger Pouivet (eds.), The Right to Believe: Perspectives in Religious Epistemology, De Gruyter. pp. 179-212. 2011.
Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Action, Misc |
Practical Reason |
Metaphysics |
Areas of Interest
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Philosophy of Action, Misc |
Practical Reason |
Justice |
Identity |
Metaphysics |
Freedom and Liberty |
Social and Political Philosophy |