•  48
    Animal Ethics Based on Friendship: An Aristotelian Perspective
    Journal of Animal Ethics 12 (1): 76-88. 2022.
    This article examines Aristotle's views concerning the possibility of friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. The suggestion that he denies this possibility is rejected. I reassess the textual evidence adduced by scholars in support of this reading, while adding new material for discussion. Central to the traditional reading is the assumption that animals, in Aristotle's view, cannot be friends in virtue of their cognitive limitations. I argue that Aristotle's account of animal cog…Read more
  •  21
    Philia: the biological foundations of Aristotle’s ethics
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 43 (4): 1-27. 2021.
    This article is the first one to offer an investigation, from a biological perspective, of “natural philia” or “kin-based” philia in Aristotle’s practical philosophy. After some preliminary considerations about its place in Aristotle’s ethical treatises, the discussion focuses on Aristotle’s biology. Here we learn that natural philia, couched in terms of a biological praxis rather than a trait of character, is widespread in the animal kingdom, although in different ways and to varying degrees. T…Read more
  •  16
    Plato’s Medicalisation of Ethics
    Apeiron 54 (3): 287-316. 2021.
    I argue for the view that the scientific model which Plato consistently had in mind when sharpening his main ethical theory was medicine. Moreover, I ascribe to Plato a “medical model of ethics”. A careful examination of this model reveals how Plato appropriates several medical concepts and ideas by employing two central methodological devices in his thought: dialectical transposition and analogical characterisation. In discussing them, I identify different kinds of medical references in the dia…Read more
  •  37
    Plato’s Anthropocentrism Reconsidered
    Environmental Ethics 43 (2): 119-141. 2021.
    Plato’s ideas on the value of nature and humankind are reconsidered. The traditional suggestion that his thought is ethically anthropocentric is rejected. Instead “Ethical Ratiocentrism” (ER) is the environmental worldview found in the dialogues. According to ER, human life is not intrinsically valuable, but only rational life is. ER is consistent with Plato’s holistic axiological outlook but incompatible with ethical anthropocentrism.
  •  16
    The Analogies of Justice and Health inRepublic IV
    Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 102 (4): 556-587. 2020.
    This paper provides a new interpretation of Plato’s account of justice as psychic health in Republic IV. It argues that what has traditionally been considered to be one single analogy is actually a more complex line of reasoning that contains various medical analogies. These medical analogies are not only different in number but also in kind. I discuss each of them separately, while providing a response to various objections.
  •  24
    Madness and vice in Plato’s Republic
    British Journal for the History of Philosophy 29 (3): 373-393. 2021.
    This paper reconsiders some controversial aspects of Plato’s characterization of justice as psychic health. It rejects three prevailing interpretations of Plato’s ‘medicalization of justice’, while providing a new reading that exonerates Plato from the charges raised by his critics. I argue that Plato’s account articulates an unprecedented theory of mental health in the history of Western philosophy and medicine. This account is put forward as an alternative to the bio-medical model of mental he…Read more
  •  2
    La concepción aristotélica del continuum. Un análisis comparativo de Física V 3 y VI 1, 231 a 21 - 231 b 18
    Philosophica -- Revista Do Departamento de Filosofia da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa 35 211-227. 2009.
    El objetivo de este artículo es explicar las características básicas de la concepción aristotélica de la continuidad sostenida a lo largo de su Física. Tal como intentaré mostrar, es imposible comprender realmente qué entiende Aristóteles por “continuidad” si no se comienza por dilucidar la particular posición que tiene la continuidad junto a otros términos, dentro del marco de su teoría física, tales como “sucesión”, contigüidad” y “contacto”. En este punto, mostraré cómo una correcta aproximac…Read more