Epistemology

PIs: Annalisa Coliva, Giorgio Volpe
AIs: Walter Cavini, Wolfgang Huemer, Sebastiano Moruzzi, Eva Picardi, Carla Bagnoli
PhD and Master students: Delia Belleri, Alessia Marabini, Eugenio Orlandelli, Michele Palmira, Alessia Pasquali, Iryna Sivertsava, Federica Berdini, Lorenzo Medici, Luca Zanetti.
External researchers: Tito Magri.
 
Visiting Fellows: Fernando Broncano-Berrocal (Logos)
 
Title of the project: Is there immediate justification?
 
Scientific aim of the project
The project in Epistemology focuses on the notion of immediate justification. It deals with

1.  the nature of immediate justifications, and
2. their bearing on different areas of epistemology, such as,

• the justification of our specific beliefs about physical objects in our surroundings;
• the justification of our belief in the existence of an external world and the problem of external world skepticism;
• the justification of our beliefs based on testimony;
• the justification of our beliefs about our own mental states.
• the epistemic status of arguments such as Moore's proof and the related problems of Closure, Transmission failure, Easy Knowledge and Bootstrapping.

The project lies at the intersection between philosophy of mind and epistemology and explores the relevance of the notion of immediate justification for both these domains.
 
Methodology
In the first year, we have worked on the very notion of immediate justification and its bearing on the issue of the justification of empirical beliefs based on perception and testimony. We have had a regular reading group and have hosted research papers by both members of the group and invited speakers. One of our events, detailed below, was partly concerned with the project.

In the second year we have focused on the bearing of these issues on skepticism about the external world, the validity of Closure and the notion of transmission failure. We have had a regular reading group, group members' and visitors' presentations, and two important events detailed below.

This year the group is working on the special issue of Synthese which has stemmed from the conference held at the end of 2010 and is hosting a Visiting Fellow - Fernando Broncano Berrocal (Logos), who will give presentations about his work. We will have also some sessions on Richard Moran's account of self-knowledge.

A pilot subproject will concern the topic of experimental philosophy and another one the nature of peer disagreement.
Group members' and visitors' presentations will be hosted as usual as well as two important events listed below.

Events concerned with the project:
- SIFA graduate conference in the Fall 2009.
- "Skepticism and Justification" conference, December 2010
- Series of Seminars with Ernest Sosa, December 2010
- Series of Seminars with Richard Moran, Spring term 2012.
- Epistemology in Europe Network Meeting, June 2012.

Expected results
Research: the project has already led to individual and joint publications also in international peer-reviewed journals and some more are expected in the near future.
Educational:

• the project gives Master and PhD students a chance to study some of the main themes in current epistemology and to familiarise themselves with discussion in this area of philosophy;
• it is leading towards PhD theses for those students primarily enrolled within this project.

 
Internationalization
We aim to create collaborations with similarly oriented research groups mostly based in Europe.

History of Analytic Philosophy

PIs: Annalisa Coliva, Eva Picardi
AIs: Marilena Andronico, Alberto Emiliani, Wolfgang Huemer, Elisabetta Sacchi, Andrea Sereni
PhD and Master students: Delia Belleri, Beatrice Collina, Filippo Ferrari, Antonio Ferro, Alessia Marabini, Paolo Maffezioli, Giovanni Mascaretti, Fabio Minocchio, Sara Neva, Alessia Pasquali, Iryna Sivertsava.
External Researchers: Francesco Berto, Daniele Mezzadri, Tito Magri, Marco Panza, Ugo Zilioli
 
Title of the project: The forefathers of analytic philosophy
 
Scientific aim of the project
The project in History of Analytic Philosophy will focus on the forefathers of the analytic tradition, in particular Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It will comprise three main subthemes.

1. Philosophy of mathematics (Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein): attention will be devoted to Frege's and Russell's work on the foundations of mathematics, as well as to Wittgenstein's approach to the topic.
2. The unity of the proposition (Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein): attention will be devoted to Frege's, Russell's and the early Wittgenstein's approach to the problem of the unity of the proposition and the related issues of logical form and predication.
3. Scepticism and the epistemology of the mind (Moore and Wittgenstein): we will consider the implications of both Moore's and Wittgenstein's work with respect to the problem of external world scepticism, as well as the relevance of Wittgenstein's later reflections for the epistemology of mind.

 
Methodology
In the second semester of the academic year 2008-2009 the History of Analytic Philosophy group will meet only for a series of research events and for the discussion of research papers by members of the group. In the first semester of the academic year 2009-2010 the History of Analytic Philosophy group will meet on a more regular basis mostly to discuss research papers by members of the group, as well as by invited speakers.
 
Expected results
Research: to foster individual and joint publications in peer-reviewed international journals, as well as the publication of books on the themes researched with established international publishers.
Educational:

• the project will give Master and PhD students a chance to study some of the main authors and themes in the history of analytic philosophy, which, nowadays, are of special interest to the philosophical community. They will also have a chance to familiarise themselves with discussion in this area of philosophy;
• it will lead to PhD theses for those students primarily enrolled within this project;

NB It merits note that the themes on which the present project will focus bear strong relations to the ones researched in the other main projects of the Research Centre. It will thus give students an opportunity to deepen their understanding of those themes by looking more closely at their development within the analytic tradition.
 
Internationalization
We aim to create collaborations with similarly oriented research groups and, in particular, with the various Wittgenstein Societies both in Europe and world-wide.

Philosophy of Language

PIs: Paolo Leonardi, Sebastiano Moruzzi
AIs: Massimilano Carrara, Walter Cavini, Annalisa Coliva, Elisabetta Lalumera, Vittorio Morato, Eva Picardi, Elisabetta Sacchi, Marco Santambrogio, Marina Sbisà, Giuseppe Spolaore, Giorgio Volpe.
PhD and Master students: Delia Belleri, Carlotta Capuccino, Daria Mingardo, Alessia Marabini, Andrea Marino, Favio Minocchio, Sara Neva, Filippo Ferrari, Antonio Ferro, Eugenio Orlandelli, Michele Palmira, Iryna Sivertsava.
External researchers: Francesco Berto, Richard Dietz, Daniele Mezzadri, Dag Westerståhl
 
Title of the project: Predication, Context and Relativism
 
Scientific aim of the project
The project in Philosophy of Language will focus on the problem of predication, on contextualism and minimalism in semantics and on whether the concept of truth requires a relativistic treatment. More specifically it will consider:

•  The nature of predication:
• how to account for the unity of the sentence;
• truth and predication.
• Context dependence and shared content:
• how far parameters related to the context of use impact on the semantics of natural languages?
• is semantic invariantism (minimalism) the only proper response to the problem of shared content?
• what is the impact of semantic invariantism on metaphysics?
• Relative truth:
• how forms of truth-relativism are there?
• what are the arguments in favour of truth-relativism?
• is truth-relativism a stable position?
• How is semantic relativism connected to the classical doctrine(s) and related problem(s) of relativism?
• What is the role of semantics in assessing classical philosophical problems such as skepticism or the idea that truth is perspectival?

Methodology
In the second semester of the academic year 2008-2009, the section of Philosophy of Language group based in Bologna will hold twice a week a reading group and a research seminar until end of June (reading list). The research seminar will host research papers by both members of the group and invited speakers (list). The entire group will meet with a flexible cadence in intensive one or two-days seminars where it will be discussed the papers of some of the members.
 
In February 2010 the group will host a major event on truth-relativism (programme and dates tba).

Expected results

Research:

to foster individual and joint publications in peer-reviewed international journals, as well as the publication of books on the themes researched with established international publishers.

Educational:

• the project will give Master and PhD students a chance to study some of the main themes in current philosophy of language and to familiarise themselves with discussion in this area of philosophy;
• it will lead to PhD theses for those students primarily enrolled within this project.

 
Internationalization
We aim to create collaborations with similarly oriented research groups mostly based in Europe.

Philosophy of Mathematics and Philosophy of Logic

PIs: Marco Panza, Andrea Sereni (Philosophy of Mathematics), Massimiliano Carrara, Vittorio Morato (Philosophy of Logic)
AIs: Francesca Boccuni, Giovanna Corsi, Guido Gherardi, Pierdaniele Giaretta, Enrico Martino, Sebastiano Moruzzi, Eva Picardi, Giuseppe Spolaore.
PhD and Master students: Delia Belleri, Eugenio Orlandelli, Michele Palmira, Matteo Plebani
External researchers: Tatiana Arrigoni, Francesco Berto, Valeria Giardino, Federico Perelda, Alfredo Tomasetta.

Scientific aim of the project
The project will focus on fundamental issues in the Philosophy of Mathematics and the Philosophy of Logic. On the one hand, seminars and workshops will be dedicated to the epistemological problems concerning mathematical truth and mathematical objects, to the debate between mathematical platonism and various forms of nominalism, to foundational issues, and to most recent debates in the subject, such as mathematical explanation, naturalism in mathematics, and mathematical practice. On the other hand, attention will be devoted to the main themes in the philosophy of logic (with particular attention to the notions of "logical consequence", "logical form" and "logical constant") and the main branches of philosophical logic (with particular attention to modal and temporal logics, and paraconsistent logics).

The interaction between the two disciplines, both as concerns epistemological, formal and foundational problems is among the main aims of the project.

Methodology 
The project started with a pilot seminar (in the academic year 2009-2010, see http://cogito.lagado.org/node/450) dedicated to the epistemological problems for mathematical platonism first posed by Benacerraf’s works, and to recent responses to them (logicism, structuralism, fictionalism).

In the academic year 2010-2011, seminars and workshops will be held on the history and foundation of set-theory and on the notion of logical consequence.

Expected results 
Research
The project will lead to individual and joint publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

Educational
the project will give Master and PhD students a chance to study some of the main themes in the relevant areas and to familiarise themselves with discussion in these areas of philosophy, and will give PhD students the opportunity of concentrating on the researched topics in their final theses.

The project bears strong connections with other projects of the Research Centre, especially with those in Epistemology and in History of Analytic Philosophy, thus allowing students to deepen their understanding of the relations among different areas of philosophy.

Internationalization 
We aim to create collaborations with similarly oriented research groups mostly based in Europe, and to invite scholars at international levels to contribute to events such as workshops and seminars series.