- Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics in Greek Thought
)
-
Ancient Aesthetics (Theories of Beauty in Plato and
Aristotle).
-Political Philosophy (Multiculturalism and
Normative Theories of Respect and Tolerance)
1) My field of specialisation is Aristotle, particularly his
works on Metaphysics, Ethics and Politics. I work on the
connections between such areas and the Greek ideal of beauty (to
kalon), and also on the relations between political institutions
and ancient theories of happiness. A great deal of my research is
an attempt to answer the following questions: a) Can the human
search for beauty direct the structural tendency of man towards
philosophical knowledge? b) Can beauty itself provide a path
towards the structure and understanding of goodness? I try to show
that beauty, far from representing a static property of objects,
proves itself to be a factor that actively operates in nature, in the moral life and in political agency.
2) I am also committed to a study on Plato and, in particular,
to an investigation of the nature and the role of the philosophical
dialogue in the ethical and intellectual process of education of
the reader. I study the way in which Plato's arguments, although
apparently devoid of references to the issue of philosophical
writing, are able - on closer inspection – to provide precious
clues on the nature of such an art and its practical import in the
life of the reader. To this aim, I concentrate on Plato's
Symposium.
3) I am currently committed to a study of the concept of
“respect” in ancient, modern and political philosophy, with special
concern for its normative worth and connection with social justice.
4) I also
investigate the notion of “toleration” in ancient and modern times,
and some of its conceptual underpinnings: “resistance”, the
expectation of goods which justify resi stance and recognition of
the rational autonomy of those indivduals whose positions are
tolerated.
5) I study the nature of minority rights
(ethnic, cultural and religious), particularly the issue of the
normative justifiabilty of the notion of “group rights”, alongside
the one of “individual rights”.
6) I am currently working on the concept of "solidarity", with particular reference to the way in which such an ideal can shed light on perspectives of political, economical, social and cultural integration in the EU.
