Full Professor at the University of Bologna since 2014, his main research field is German and Anglo-American contemporary aesthetics. His studies concern the relationship between perception praxis, form processes and expression practices according to an anthropological conception of the aesthetic. Currently his research regards phenomena of widespread aestheticization and the determination of the aesthetic as a relational field according to the extended mind model.
Higher Education
1987. University of Bologna. M.A. in Philosophy
1993. University of Bologna. PhD in Philosophy (Aesthetics)
Research Scholarships and Fellowships
1993. Ruhr-Universität of Bochum. DAAD Research Scholarship
1994-96. University of Bologna, Department of Philosophy. Postdoctoral Fellowship
1995-97. Scuola Alti Studi “Scienze della Cultura”, Modena. Tutor and Research Assistant Fellowship
Research Stays Abroad
1989. Freiburg i.Br., Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
1989. Bochum, Ruhr-Universität
1992. Bochum, Ruhr-Universität
2004. Brighton
2022. Oxford
Academic Career at the University of Bologna
2000-05. Department of Philosophy. Research Fellow (Permanent Position)
2005-12. Department of Philosophy. Associate Professor
2012-14. Department for Life Quality Studies. Associate Professor
2014-19. Department for Life Quality Studies. Full Professor
2019-24. Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies. Full Professor
2024 –. Department of Philosophy. Full Professor
Academic Commitments at the University of Bologna
2009-12. Director of the B.A.-Level Degree Program in Fashion Cultures and Techniques
2010-12. Assistant Head of the Department of Philosophy
2012-15 and 2015-18. Head of the Department for Life Quality Studies
2017-19. Coordinator of the PhD Program of Science and Culture of Well-being and Lifestyles
2021-24. Head of the Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies
Scientific Partnerships and Memerships
2001 –. Founding Member of the SIE – Società Italiana di Estetica
2001-23. University of Bologna. Supervisor for Erasmus Student-Exchange with the University of Lyon 3 “Jean Moulin”
2004-15. University of Florence. Supervisor (with Fabrizio Desideri) of the Seminario Permanente di Estetica
2006 –. Board of “Sensibilia. Colloquium on Perception and Experience” (Roma Tor Vergata) (www.sensibilia.it/)
2007-23. University of Bologna. Supervisor for Erasmus Student-Exchange with the University of Potsdam
2016-23. University of Bologna. Supervisor for Erasmus Exchange with the Aalto University of Helsinki
2016 –. Board of International Research Centre “Culture Fashion Communication” (https://centri.unibo.it/culturefashioncommunication/en)
2018-21 and 2021-24. President of SIE – Società Italiana d’Estetica (Italian Society of Aesthetics)
2019 –. Coordinator of International Research Centre “almæsthetics” (https://centri.unibo.it/almaesthetics/en/centre)
Collaborations with Journals “fascia A ANVUR”
1992 –. “Discipline Filosofiche” (Quodlibet, Macerata; www.disciplinefilosofiche.it): member of the editorial staff
2008 –. “Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico” (Firenze University Press, Firenze; www.fupress.net/index.php/aisthesis): until 2017 co-editor in chief; since 2017 member of the scientific committee
2008 –. “Rivista di estetica” (Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino; www.labont.it/rivista-di-estetica): member of the scientific board
2015 –. “Studi di estetica” (Mimesis, Milano-Udine; www.mimesisedizioni.it/journals/index.php/studi-di-estetica/index):editor in chief
2016 –. “Aesthetica Preprint” (Mimesis, Milano-Udine; https://mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/aesthetica-preprint): member of the scientific board
2017 –. “Reti, saperi, linguaggi. Italian Journal of Cognitive Sciences” (Il Mulino, Bologna; www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/2279-7777): member of the direction committee
Other editorial collaborations
a) Journals:
2014 –. “ZoneModa Journal” (www.zmj.unibo.it): member of the editorial board
2018 –. “Rivoluzioni molecolari. Percorsi di pensiero critico” (www.rivoluzionimolecolari.it): member of the scientific board
2019 –. “Aisthema” (http://www.aisthema.eu/ojs/index.php/Aisthema/index): membro del comitato scientifico
2020 –. “British Journal of Aesthetics” (Oxford University Press): referee
b) Book series:
1995-2014. “Relazioni e Significati” (Clueb, Bologna): editor; since 2006 series editor
2015 –. “Estetica Mente Linguaggi” (Mimesis, Milano-Udine): member of the scientific board
2015 –. “Culture, moda e società” (Bruno Mondadori, Milano): member of the direction committee
2016 –. “Estetica” (Morcelliana, Brescia): member of the scientific board
2018 –. “New Perspectives in Cognitive Sciences” (Springer, New York): member of the scientific board
2018 –. “Esperienze dell’estetico” (Mimesis, Milano-Udine): series editor
2019 –. “Guardare-attraverso. Studi estetici e filosofia critica” (Castelvecchi, Roma): member of the scientific board
Participations to Funded Research Projects
2003-05. PRIN Research Project “Immagine ed esperienza”
2005-07. PRIN Research Project “Teorie dell’oggetto estetico”
2009-10. PI of the International Research Project “1909-2009. Un secolo di moda. Milena Pavlovic Barilli e René Gruau”, funded by Regione Emilia-Romagna and Centre Culturel Français in Belgrade
2011-13. PRIN Research Project “Estetica e naturalismo”
Teaching Activities
2001 –. Lecture Courses in Aesthetics and Contemporary Aesthetics at the University of Bologna
2001 –. Teacher and Supervisor in PhD Programs at the Universities of Bologna, Lyon, Palermo, Paris (EHESS), Parma, Potsdam, Rome, Turin, València
PhD Programs
2001-10. University of Bologna. Member of the Scientific Board of the PhD Course in Philosophy: Aesthetics and Ethics (from 2009 onwards: Philosophies of Culture)
2009-12. University of Bologna. Director of the B.A.-Level Degree Program in Fashion Cultures and Techniques
2010-13. SUM (Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane), Firenze. Member of the Scientific Board of the PhD Course in The History of Ideas: Philosophy and Science
2012-18. University of Bologna, Department for Life Quality Studies. Head of the Department
2014-17. University of Bologna. Member of the Scientific Board of the PhD Course in Architecture
2017-19. University of Bologna. Coordinator of PhD Program of Science and Culture of Well-being and Lifestyles
2019-20. University of Bologna. Member of PhD Program of Science and Culture of Well-being and Lifestyles
2020-22. University of Roma Tor Vergata. Member of PhD Program of Philosophical-Social Sciences and History
2022 –. University of Bologna. Member of PhD Program of PhiloPhilosophy, Science, Cognition, and Semiotics
Teaching Activities as Visiting Professor
2000-01. Université Jean Moulin, Lyon
2006-07. Universität Potsdam
2010-11. Universitat de València
Awards
2008. Excellence Teaching Award, University of California
2020. (National Award for Philosophy) Premio Nazionale Frascati Filosofia “Elio Matassi” (XII edizione)
Main Lectures and Participations to International Conferences as Invited Speaker
1996. Bochum, Dilthey-Forschungsstelle: Conference “Der Philosoph Georg Misch” (Georg Misch und die Logik des Ästhetischen)
2000. Rome, Università Roma Tre and Goethe-Institut: Conference “Dilthey e l’estetica dell’esperienza vissuta” (Dinamica della forma ed estetica del vissuto)
2004. Lyon, Université Jean Moulin: Seminaire International d’Esthétique (L’image comme figuration du sens)
2007. Florence, Cral-EHESS Paris and Seminario Permanente di Estetica: Conference “Le fait esthétique: entre émotion et cognition” (Fattori estetici nella costituzione della simbolicità)
2007. Dresden, Max-Scheler-Gesellschaft and Helmuth-Plessner-Gesellschaft: Invited Keynote Speaker at the Conference “Was ist der Mensch?” (Plessners und Schelers Stellung zum Cartesianismus)
2011. Meran: Invited Keynote Speaker at the Conference “Anthropologie und Geschichte. Wilhelm Dilthey zum 100. Todestag” (Das anthropologische Geflecht Erlebnis-Ausdruck-Verstehen vor dem Scheideweg zwischen geschichtlicher Welt und Lebensformen)
2012. Paris, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne: Conference “L’art à l’état vif” (L’expérience esthétique en tant que praxis anthropologique)
2013. Florence, Seminario Permanente di Estetica: Conference “Aesthetic preferences, language games and form of life: from Ludwig Wittgenstein” (Rhetoric of the Ineffable and Practice of Understanding)
2015. University of Birmingham: Invited Keynote Speaker at the Conference “A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Ever” (Practices of Beauty)
2016. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis: Invited Keynote Speaker at the Conference “Global Adorno” (Turning aestheticization into aesthetic form of life: With a little bit help from Adorno)
2018. Maribor, ESA – European Society for Aesthetics: Invited Keynote Speaker at the International Conference “Art and Life” (The (aesthetic) extended mind: From experience-of to experience-with)
2019. Locarno, Fondazione Max Horkheimer: Invited Keynote Speaker at Incontri internazionali Max Horkheimer “Che cosa significa pensare dopo Auschwitz?” (L’estetico come apparenza musicale del senso in Adorno)
2022. Pisa, Università degli Studi: Invited Keynote Speaker at the International Conference “Pragmatist Aesthetics in Dialogue” (Pragmatism’s Challenge to Aesthetics)
Among his main publications are the following volumes: Dilthey: Das Ästhetische als Relation (Würzburg 2004), Filosofia ed estetica del senso (Pisa 2005), Il sapere estetico come prassi antropologica (Pisa 2010), L'artificio estetico (Milano 2012), Il sensibile rimosso (Milano 2015), Philosophical Perspectives on Fashion (London 2016, ed. with Stefano Marino), Estetica della moda (Milano 2017), Estetica e natura umana (Roma 2019). He edited the Italian translation of classical works of contemporary aesthetics (Dilthey, Estetica e poetica, Milano (1992) 2005; Cassirer, Tre studi sulla forma formans, Bologna 2003; Dewey, Art as Experience, Palermo 2007; Adorno, Ästhetische Theorie, Torino 2009, with Fabrizio Desideri; Langer, Problems of Art, Palermo 2013; Wollheim, Art and Its Objects, Milano 2013, Berleant, The Aesthetic Field, Milano-Udine 2021) and collective books about various issues (analytic aesthetics, anthropology of images, nature of the emotions, everyday aesthetics, pragmatism, critical theory).
