- Vercelli, Piemonte, Italy
- Humanities, Culture, Languages and Linguistics, Human Rights and Natural Law, Just War Theory, Liberalism and Republicanism, and 25 moreJust War, Vattel, Social Sciences, History, History of Political Thought, Republicanism, Popular sovereignty, Philosophy, Intellectual History, Democratic Theory, Natural Law, John Locke, Jean Jaques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, Political Representation, Jean Bodin, Samuel von Pufendorf, Jean Barbeyrac, Emer de Vattel, International Political Thought, General Will, Algernon Sidney, Natural Law Tradition, Prisoners of War, and Utopiaedit
This article explores some neglected aspects of Mandeville’s moral and social theory, and aims to demonstrate the coherence of his polemical tracts, especially An Essay on Charity and Charity-Schools, with his political and philosophical... more
This article explores some neglected aspects of Mandeville’s moral and social theory, and aims to demonstrate the coherence of his polemical tracts, especially An Essay on Charity and Charity-Schools, with his political and philosophical works. Despite his «universalistic» analysis of human nature and the passions, Mandeville is a staunch defender of a hierarchical social order based on the harsh subjection of the «Multitude of laborious Poor». The main contribution of this article consists in highlighting the anti-utopian stance that characterizes Mandeville’s thought at least since the The Grumbling Hive published in 1705 to his later writings. The «utopian» context will allow us to better understand Mandeville’s views on salaries, the poor and the death penalty.
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This article deals with two of the most recent books published in Italy on Beccaria, while focusing on the more general relationship between contractualism and the theoretical foundations of abolitionism. Is the proposal of abolishing... more
This article deals with two of the most recent books published in Italy on Beccaria, while focusing on the more general relationship between contractualism and the theoretical foundations of abolitionism. Is the proposal of abolishing torture and the death penalty a historical and logical consequence of the social contract theory or is it rather related to a certain conception of natural law? The answer to this question will be looked for in the pages of another Italian text, unpublished until last year: Giuseppe Pelli's manuscript against the death sentence. Following Giuseppe Pelli's arguments the Author shows the importance of assumptions of natural law in the formulation of an absolute prohibition on killing human beings.
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Research Interests: Torture and War on Terror
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Les Lettres écrites de la montagne, plus que toute uvre de Rousseau, sont liées à des circonstances précises. Leur publication, à la fin de l'année 1764', intervient au croisement d'une double crise. La... more
Les Lettres écrites de la montagne, plus que toute uvre de Rousseau, sont liées à des circonstances précises. Leur publication, à la fin de l'année 1764', intervient au croisement d'une double crise. La première est déclenchée au printemps 1762 par la publication de l' ...
P r o g r a m m e Monday,
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The Workshop "Migration, Rights and Democracy: Conceptual Reappraisals" is the second of a series of three workshops to be organized by Working Group 3: Concepts of COST Action CA 16211 Reappraising Intellectual Debates on Civic Rights... more
The Workshop "Migration, Rights and Democracy: Conceptual Reappraisals" is the second of a series of three workshops to be organized by Working Group 3: Concepts of COST Action CA 16211 Reappraising Intellectual Debates on Civic Rights and Democracy in Europe (RECAST). This workshop focuses on the concepts and the theoretical frames at work when issues revolving around migration in Europe are concerned. Our departure point is that not only is migration a key issue in European politics but also that discussions about it have implications for re-conceptualizing rights and democracy. The analysis of this topic is of the utmost importance and urgency in Europe, calling for the participation not only of academics, but also policy-makers, as well as political and civil society actors (NGOs, activists). This is clearly shown by the recent refugee crisis and the ethico-political impacts it had in several European Union countries. It spawned not only a self-reflection on Europe as either upholding human rights and hospitality or becoming a closed "fortress", but also a political polarization, fueling in some countries rightwing, exclusionary populism. Indeed, those recent developments have shown how international obligations of states to respect the rights of migrants and refugees have become increasingly contested and challenged in domestic as well as European level politics. While migration, democracy and rights are all political and contested concepts, with different histories, meanings and usages, we are particularly interested in examining the political, legal, institutional layouts and relations of these concepts and the understandings they can imply. The workshop invites conceptual investigations and theoretical (and or practical) explorations on the question. Migration is considered as a locus for conceptual debates and unraveling the tensions between claims, norms, policies and practices related to democracy and rights. Thus we propose a critical reflection on the concepts that are used when migration, democracy and rights are studied or discussed (by scholars, politicians or other social actors) as well as on the historical transformations of these debates-assessing the way we think of migration and aiming to determine whether we are still using today the same conceptual tools and theories as we did in the past, or if significant conceptual and theoretical changes have happened in the last decades.
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Seminario aperto al pubblico e ha validità di aggiornamento e formazione per i docenti partecipanti
Is interdisciplinarity an unavoidable dimension and feature of research nowadays? This points to the ethics of interdisciplinarity. In what way is this concept inspiring research programmes and fostering originality? Should we all... more
Is interdisciplinarity an unavoidable dimension and feature of research nowadays? This points to the ethics of interdisciplinarity. In what way is this concept inspiring research programmes and fostering originality? Should we all necessarily be interdisciplinary, or rather could we still produce high-quality research remaining in traditional niches? Are there specific topics or studies within moral and political philosophy that require or call for interdisciplinary methodologies and approaches? How is the ideal of interdisciplinarity changing the landscape in academia and helping shape humanities disciplines? This relates to the politics of interdisciplinarity. Is interdisciplinarity reshaping humanities to the point that it is not allowed not to be interdisciplinary? If interdisciplinarity is seen as a combination of methods and concepts from two or more disciplines, this might result in an opposition, rhetorically argued to justify new approaches and legitimise innovation and impact. Are differences among disciplines highlighted in order to make interdisciplinarity work? The seminar Humanities at the Crossroads explores the new directions of interdisciplinary research in the humanities generally, and more specifically in moral and political philosophy. It does so by inviting presentations on case studies in moral and political philosophy where interdisciplinarity plays a prominent role. But also by exploring generally the ethics and politics of interdisciplinarity in academia. This seminar examines questions like why and to what extent we should promote interdisciplinarity, the rhetorics of interdisciplinarity, and the topics or fields that particularly demand an interdisciplinary approach in moral and political philosophy. The ethical and political dimensions are therefore understood broadly, as applied both to themes and case studies in ethics and politics, and also as an opportunity to reflect on purposes and methods.
Today, normative philosophy, in all its variants, must take pluralism and populism seriously. If pluralism is a central issue in the different fields of practical philosophy, no less important is the challenge posed by populism or the... more
Today, normative philosophy, in all its variants, must take pluralism and populism seriously. If pluralism is a central issue in the different fields of practical philosophy, no less important is the challenge posed by populism or the growing antiliberalism in political and legal philosophy nowadays. Both issues appear interconnected insofar as populism implies hostility to or rejection of certain forms of social pluralism. In this workshop we want to address both issues in their multiple ramifications and links. For this purpose we propose to examine and discuss these challenges from a number of different angles, such as reflections on the consequences of the rise of populism throughout Europe, the search for principles behind a constitutional democracy for a pluralist society, the relationship between educational principles, the issues of minority rights and immigration, the content and limits of the concept of toleration, and the different ways we can talk about pluralism. As the topic is wide in scope, it will be addressed from a variety of methodological perspectives and philosophical backgrounds. Based on a thematic distribution, the workshop will consist of sections, normally with three participants in each. All participants are expected to read the distributed abstracts, drafts or papers beforehand.