Research
My research concerns the history of philosophy and science in the modern age, with special focus on German authors and the work of Emanuel Swedenborg but including connections to ancient philosophy and contemporary philosophical discussions. I have investigated with special attention the relationship between imagination and rational thinking; the role of analogies and metaphors in philosophical thought; the reception of the Platonic traditions; the notion of “life” and balance in the (pre)ecological debate; the concepts of sleep, death, and the mind-body relationship; the study of material and ideal libraries as a tool for the historical-philosophical research.
I achieved my PhD in 2014 at the University of Cagliari (Italy) and the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena (Germany) with a thesis on Emanuel Swedenborg’s reception in late eighteenth century Germany. The controversial role of Emanuel Swedenborg in the history of modern thought is investigated with particular focus on the notions of “origins” (of the world, of life, of knowledge) and the attempt to provide a new world view integrating mechanical dualism and monistic organicism. Swedenborg’s doctrine of series and degrees is analysed in comparison to Johann Gottfried Herder’s and Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling’s natural philosophies.
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During a two-year period at the FSU Jena, I have focused my research on Johann Gottfried Herder’s mature work “Adrastea” (1801-1803) and investigated the notion of “thinking in images” as a fundamental concept in Herder’s philosophical conception. This research was founded by a European Marie-Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship.
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In Barcelona, I surveyed the reception of Plato’s Timaeus in Schelling’s thought, as well as the philosophical, cosmological, and astronomical debated between the second half of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century in Germany. During this period, I translated into Italian Schelling’s early manuscript on Timaeus (1794).
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Together with Silvia De Bianchi, Maria Laura Duarte and Laura Marongiu I created the digital archive Timaeus and Its Legacy to study the reception of Plato’s dialogue Timaeus in the history of philosophy, literature, and science from Ancient Greek up to contemporary age. We started digitising and commenting fundamental texts to understand the impact of this Platonic dialogue both in philosophical and scientific thought.
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