People

I am currently the Principal Investigator of a FIS project on the relationship between sound and memory (HeaR) of ca. 1 million €. and a PRIN PNRR 2022 project on how we perceive atmospheres (ATMOS) of ca. 230,000 €. My main research interests are in the philosophy of mind and aesthetics. I also work on several topics in the philosophy of language and philosophy of music. I published extensively on auditory perception, the metaphysics of sound, and the content of perceptual experience.

Before joining the Department of Philosophy and Education Sciences in Turin as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Mind, I spent more than four years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Polonsky Academy at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (Israel). Before that, I held postdoctoral positions at the Italian Academy of Columbia University (NYC), Freie Universität Berlin (sponsored by DAAD), and the University of Turin (sponsored by Franco and Marilisa Caligara Foundation). 

I obtained my Ph.D. in Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Milan) and the Institut Jean Nicod (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris). During my Ph.D. course, I spent research periods at the New York University, as a Fulbright Scholar, and the University of Sydney, as an ARIA (Association for Research between Italy and Australasia) Grantee.

I completed the “High Specialization Course in Music Studies – Solo Violin Performance” at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia (Rome) in 2008. I performed in concerts of classical and jazz music—in solo performances, and chamber and symphonic orchestras—in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Germany, France, Romania, Croatia, and Venezuela. You can find my work on Google Scholar and Academia.

email: elvira.dibona@unito.it

(PhD, 2020, University of Milan) I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turin and is currently involved in the FIS project HeaR led by Prof. Elvira Di Bona. My main field of research focuses on temporal perception, explored in two key aspects: the perception of changes occurring over time and the perception of time's passage itself. And I disagree with my supervisor, prof. Giuliano Torrengo, on both points.

In addition to my work on temporal perception, I have also published on affective states, specifically moods, and dedicated my MA dissertation to mental contents. In 2019, I was a visiting PhD student at the University of Warwick under the supervision of Prof. Christoph Hoerl, and in 2014, I was a visiting student at King’s College London. I am also affiliated with the Centre for Philosophy of Time and part of Torrengo’s TIME-Frame project in Milan.

email: danielemario.cassaghi@unito.it

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Turin (Italy) and part of the FIS project HeaR led by Prof. Elvira Di Bona. My research focuses on philosophy of mind, especially perceptual learning, non-visual sense modalities, and multimodal perception. I have published on spatial perception, and I am the editor of a book in comparative philosophy (Logic and Metaphysics, 2014). I completed a master’s thesis on auditory perception and sound at McMaster University (Canada), and a dissertation on which properties are presented in perceptual experience at Rice University (USA) under the supervision of Prof. Charles Siewert.  

email: donald.oxtoby@unito.it

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turin as part of the ATMOS project. I hold a PhD in German Studies from Cornell University (2023), where I investigated aesthetics of nature configured through the literary trope of Kreatur, while working as a Teaching Assistant (2017–2021) and Research Assistant. I was a DAAD Fellow at Humboldt University in Berlin (2021–2022), Visiting Fellow at the ERC project "An-Icon" at La Statale University of Milan (2022–2023) and lecturer at La Sapienza University in Rome (2024). My publications include The Evil of Nature. Critique of Violence, Literature and Natural History (Mimesis, 2023), Politics of the Creature: Geological Figures of German Modernism (Cornell eCommons, 2024), and studies on Paul Celan, Walter Benjamin, Heinrich von Kleist, Milena Jesenská and others. I am an active translator.

E-Mail: mariaenrica.giannuzzi@unito.it 

I am currently a PhD student at the University of Turin. My primary areas of research include philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of perception and philosophy of emotions. My Phd project investigates how the multimodal interactions between different sense modalities shape the representational content of perception. I obtained my Master's Degree from the University of Italian Switzerland with a thesis on perceptual theories of mindreading.

E-Mail: niccolo.nanni@unito.it 

I am a graduate student at the University of Turin, where I obtained a master's degree in Body and Mind Sciences with a thesis on neural functions explained through autonomy theory. I previously studied Philosophy and Psychological Sciences at the University of Perugia. My background is primarily in philosophy of mind, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Currently, I am interested in philosophy of perception and action and am working on a project exploring the compatibility between the Free-Energy Principle and Embodied Cognition from a developmental perspective.

E-Mail: matteo.lenti@edu.unito.it

I am a Master's student at the University of Turin, where I earned my Bachelor's degree last November. My research focuses on the intersection of phenomenology, metaphysics, and epistemology, with a particular interest in perception, consciousness, and subjectivity. I explore these themes through classical Eastern philosophy, especially Buddhist thought. Currently, my study delves into the nature of knowledge required for and acquired through classical Buddhist meditation practices.