Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bologna. His research interests lie mainly in moral philosophy, ethics, social philosophy and social sciences. He has published several essays and articles on classical pragmatism, especially John Dewey and George Herbert Mead. He is currently working on issues straddling moral and social philosophy and the social sciences, such as the problem of interest, the question of values, and the relationship between conceptual revision and values.
Academic Career
April, 1st 2020- May 2022 - Research Fellowship University of Bologna
October, 1st 2019- March, 31st 2020 Research Fellowship Max Weber Kolleg für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien
September, 1st 2018- August, 31st 2019 Research Fellowship University of Bologna
January, 1st 2016-June, 30th 2016 Visiting PhD Student at Humboldt University (Berlin)
October, 1st 2012-November, 30th 2012 Visiting PhD Student at École Normale Supérieure (Paris)
October, 1st 2010-November, 30th 2012 Visiting Graduate Student at Penn State University (Pennsylvania, USA)
Education
November, 20th 2014-May, 8th 2018 Ph.D. Human Sciences, Science of Communication, and Social Sciences Department of Human Sciences (University of Molise).
Dissertation: John Dewey’s Theory of Interest. Historical Framework, Contemporary Perspectives and Socio-Political Applications
October, 1st 2011- July, 5th 2014 Ph.D. Philosophy Department of Philosophy, Communication, and Arts University of Roma Tre
Dissertation: The Individual and the Social. Between Pragmatism and Sociology
October, 1st 2008-July, 13th 2010 M.A. Philosophy Department of Philosophy, Communication, and Arts University of Roma Tre
Thesis: The Signs of the Unconscious: Sigmund Freud and C.S. Peirce.
October, 1st 2004- February, 20th, 2008 B.A. in Philosophy University of Roma Tre
Selected publications
Edited special issues
2023. Lijoi, F., Petrolini, V., Santarelli, M. (eds.). Therapy and Conflict. Between Pragmatism and Psychoanalysis, European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XV-2.
2017: Roman Madzia, Matteo Santarelli, Pragmatism, Cognitive Sciences and the Sociality of Human Conduct. Pragmatism Today, 8(1).
Edited and translated volumes
2021: Hans Joas, Come nascono i valori, Macerata : Quodlibet (italian translation of H. Joas, Die Entstehung der Werte, Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp, 1996).
Monographs
2026: (with Dreon, R.) John Dewey fra natura umana e democrazia. Una biografia intellettuale, Roma, Carocci.
2024: Gli esercizi di Freud. Pisa: Ets.
2021: La filosofia sociale del pragmatismo. Un’introduzione, Bologna: Clueb.
2019: La vita interessata. Una proposta teorica a partire da John Dewey, Macerata: Quodlibet.
Articles and books chapters
2026. “Common Sense and its Problems. Some Remarks between Philosophy and Anthropology”, Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, 5(1), pp. 67-79.
2025 Oliverio, S., Santarelli, M. 2025. “Principled Normativity or the Genesis of Values. On Critique/Post-critique and Educational Pragmatism”, Educational Reflective Practices, 1/2025, pp. 82-98.
2024 “Dewey’s anthropology of interests – and values”. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XVII-II, 2024
Bruni, L., Santarelli, “The Social Character of the Unconscious. A Cross Reading between G. H. Mead and C. G. Jung”, Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, pp. 1-24.
Mattarollo, L., Santarelli, M. 2024. “Jane Addams and the Limits of Sympathy. Failures, Corrections, and Lessons to be Learned”, Contemporary Pragmatism, pp. 1-22,
2023. Bellucci, F., Santarelli, M. Peirce on Vagueness and Common Sense, "The Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society" 59(2), pp. 127-166.
2022 Improving Concepts, Reshaping Values. Pragmatism and Ameliorative Projects, "Inquiry", pp. 1-19.
2022: Mazzuca C., Santarelli M., Making it abstract, making it contestable: Politicization at the intersection of political and cognitive science”. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, (forthcoming).
2022: Concepts, habitudes et le pragmatisme mal entendu. Une lecture des Principles of Psychology à partir de Durkheim. Revue Philosophique de la France et de l’étranger, 2022/4 (forthcoming).
2022: Santarelli, M., Serrano Zamora, Experts and Citizens in the Times of Covid-19: A Deweyan Perspective. Dewey Studies 6/1 (forthcoming).
2021: Santarelli, M., and Serrano, J. 2021. Populism or Pragmatism? Two Ways of Understanding Political Articulation. Constellations: a Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory 28 (4).
2021: Between Problematization and Evaluation. Some Remarks on Pragmatism and Genealogy. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIII-2.
2021: Values, Valuations, and Power: Re-assessing and Applying Joas’ Theory of Values. Iride, XXXIV, 94.
2020: The Dark Side of Habits. A Pragmatist Account.Lo Sguardo, n. XXXI.
2018: Santarelli, M., and Coccoli, L. Dal volgare all’universale. Un passaggio nella traiettoria moderna del concetto di interesse. Storica XXIV.
2017: Security as Completeness A Peircean Semiotic Reading of the Psychology of Attachment. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, IX – I 2017.
2013: From the Others to the Other: a Psychoanalytical Reading of George Herbert Mead, in F. Thomas Burkeand Krzysztof Piotr Skowronski, George Herbert Mead in the Twenty-First Century, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Linguistic competences:
English: C1
French: B2
German: B2
