PhD students clycles XLI

Research project title: The Rebis: analysis of the Renaissance alchemical hermaphrodite and its reception in Italian Hermetic movements between the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Rebis, iconographically represented as an alchemical hermaphrodite or androgynous being, first appeared in alchemical works in the late Middle Ages, reaching its peak during the Renaissance. Despite its symbolic significance, the Rebis has lacked extensive and focused study within the field of alchemical studies. In order to fill this gap, this study primarily draws on the alchemical works contained in the Fondo Caprara Collection, housed at the Bologna University Library (BUB), analyzing the divergent iconographic illustrations of the Rebis contained within it. The study then aims to investigate the reception of the figure of the alchemical hermaphrodite in 19th- and 20th-century Italian hermetic movements, examining its proto-scientific, and thus anagogic and hermetic, interpretations. At the same time, the hermetic interpretation of the ars alchemica will be studied using the works of the 19th- and 20th-century Italian hermetists. According to them, alchemy is as an initiatory sacred art, that is, a process of transformation and inner perfection of the individual whose goal is to achieve the ontological-metaphysical status represented and embodied by the Rebis.

Research project title:  AI Companionship: Avatars and New Subjects

This research project investigates contemporary forms of interaction between humans and artificial intelligence systems, focusing on relationships established with avatars and chatbots based on large language models (LLMs). Generative artificial intelligence is here conceived as a relational entity capable of producing instances of enunciation, rather than as a mere tool of simulation or repetition. The theoretical framework draws on semiotics, philosophy of language, and an approach inspired by Actor-Network Theory, which makes it possible to analyze action as the outcome of concatenations between human and non-human actors.

The phenomenon of AI companionship is taken as a site for a semiotic analysis of the new effects of meaning generated through interaction with entities capable of effectively employing human language and of establishing emotionally inflected relationships with users. The central research question concerns how the subjectivities of the actors involved emerge within these interactions, and which new meaning effects are thereby introduced.

From a methodological perspective, the research adopts an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach, combining a semiotic-linguistic analysis of discursive configurations within relevant communities with ethnographic inquiry into narrative and affective practices between users and AI avatars. The study seeks to identify recurring stereotypes and interactional patterns, highlighting the ways in which such practices are integrated into everyday experience.

Overall, the project aims to contribute to an understanding of artificial intelligence that moves beyond anthropocentric models of subjectivity, foregrounding the emergence of new relational configurations. Particular attention will also be devoted to the critical implications of these practices, especially the risks associated with forms of intense and potentially dependency-generating emotional involvement.

Research project title: Dialectics of repetition. Sonic images of de-subjectivation from a critical-theory perspective.

My research project aims to reconstruct the philosophical image of music that emerges from a cross-reading of Walter Benjamin’s and Theodor W. Adorno’s works. By primarily outlining the theoretical antecedents that connect the early thought of the two authors—among Neo-Kantianism, Gestaltpsychologie, Jewish messianism, and musical-aesthetic influences—I propose an analysis of their reflections on language, starting from the concept of repetition. Embodied in sonic forms, this concept becomes a catalyst for the emergence of implications that move from the aesthetic field toward sociological and historical dimensions. The idea of the dialektisches Bild, which for Benjamin represents the static and utopian interruption of the dream of history, while for Adorno implies the enduring fluctuation between the archaic and the new, must be reconsidered through the lens of the theoretically fundamental musical and sonic element. Therefore, I aim to bring to light those aspects of the two authors’ aesthetics of sound that have been almost entirely ignored in Benjamin’s case, or misinterpreted in Adorno’s. A terminological cartography of their fragmented thought will thus be delineated. I will take into account interpretations of the long nineteenth century—the century of Beethoven and the Passagen—which arises from the century of the Trauerspiel and fades into the twentieth-century avant-gardes and contemporary performative art. The outcome of this comparison will highlight the common ground from which the two authors’ intellectual developments spring, as well as their tensions and contradictions.

Research project title: Narratives we live by. A Phenomenological Inquiry into Mind, Meaning and Reality

Research project investigates the role of narrative as an embodied and aesthetic practice of sense-making, aiming to show how narrativity operates as a schema through which experience, action, and meaning are articulated and shared. Moving beyond accounts that restrict narration to linguistic or representational forms, the project approaches narrative as a situated, expressive, and participatory practice, rooted in bodily engagement with the world.

Drawing on contemporary aesthetics, phenomenology, and enactivist approaches to cognition, the research argues that narrative practices function as scaffolding devices for both individual and collective sense-making, contributing to the formation of subjectivity across the dimensions of the “I”, the “you”, and the “we”. In this framework, narration is not merely a vehicle for conveying pre-existing meanings, but a constitutive practice that shapes horizons of significance, orienting perception, desire, evaluation, and action.

Particular attention is devoted to the aesthetic and political dimension of narrativity, understood as a key factor in the constitution of shared imaginaries, social norms, and collective identities. By analyzing narrative practices as world-disclosing and world-configuring activities, the project aims to clarify how narratives participate in the ongoing formation of social reality, while also addressing the limits of strong narrativist accounts and the role of pre-reflective experience.

Overall, the project proposes a conception of narrativity as an embodied, relational, and normative practice at the core of human sense-making.

Research project title: Amalia Holst and the Redefinition of Feminist Pedagogy in the German Enlightenment

This research project aims to study Amalia Holst (1758–1829), a German thinker at the intersection of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, and to translate her seminal work, Über die Bestimmung des Weibes zur höheren Geistesbildung (1802) (On the Vocation of Women to Higher Intellectual Education). This text stands as one of the earliest philosophical manifestos advocating for women’s education published under a woman’s name in Germany. To elucidate Holst’s original perspective, particularly her redefinition of motherhood as an argument in favor of women’s higher education (Geistesbildung), this project will reconstruct the historical and philosophical context of the German Enlightenment. By comparing her with her contemporary Mary Wollstonecraft, whose approach was more radical and revolutionary, I will highlight Holst’s moderate and pragmatic strategy. Unlike Wollstonecraft, Holst does not openly challenge the patriarchal order but instead transforms traditional female roles, (wife, mother, and housewife), into arguments supporting women’s access to higher intellectual education. She demonstrates how the education of mothers is essential for realizing the Enlightenment’s vision of a society founded on virtue and citizenship. The project will explore Holst’s "internal critique of the Enlightenment", through which she exposes the gendered nature of concepts such as Bildung (education) and Bestimmung (vocation), revealing how these were used to justify women’s exclusion from intellectual spheres. By contesting the theories of Rousseau and the Philanthropists, she argues that higher education is not at odds with women’s "natural destiny" but is instead a prerequisite for fulfilling their social duties. The goal of this research is to demonstrate how Holst, despite operating in a more conservative context than her English counterparts, offered an original perspective on the relationship between equality and gender difference. In doing so, she examines the contradictions of the Enlightenment and its legacy for modern feminist theories.

Research project title: Balancing Expectations and Reality: How Decision-Making Style Influences Free Will

The capacity to make voluntary decisions is central to the human experience of free will. Traditionally addressed within philosophy, this topic entered neuroscientific debate following Libet’s seminal studies, which showed that neural activity related to action preparation precedes conscious awareness of the intention to act. These findings fostered the idea that free will might be an illusion, yet this interpretation has been increasingly questioned. In particular, more recent research has emphasized a crucial distinction between arbitrary decisions, which lack purpose and consequences, and deliberate decisions, which are reasoned and goal-directed, showing that their neural signatures differ depending on the type of choice. In parallel, predictive coding models describe decision-making as the result of the integration of prior knowledge and sensory evidence, suggesting the existence of different decision-making styles along a continuum that characterizes both the general and the clinical population. This Ph.D. project aims to investigate free will in the context of perceptual decision-making, focusing on how the balance between expectations and sensory evidence influences the emergence of volition and the perception of control over action. The primary objective is to clarify whether, and in what way, different decision-making styles shape the moment at which intentions become consciously accessible and their relationship with action execution. By adopting an integrative approach that combines behavioral and electrophysiological measures, as well as non-invasive neuromodulation, the project seeks to link the subjective experience of free will to underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of decision-making. The expected outcomes will contribute to theoretical debates on the role of consciousness in voluntary decisions and offer new perspectives for understanding alterations of the sense of agency in clinical conditions.

Research project title: Leibniz’s Conception of Life and Organism: A Study in Early Modern Natural Philosophy

The concepts of life and organism occupy a central position in Leibniz’s philosophy and play a crucial role within his broader metaphysical system. In early modern natural philosophy, the tension between mechanistic accounts and vitalist perspectives represents a key line of inquiry, while the reconciliation and occasional conflict between mechanism and teleology also feature prominently in metaphysical debates. This research aims to provide a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of Leibniz’s natural philosophy, focusing particularly on his notions of life and organism and their theoretical implications.

By situating Leibniz’s thought within the historical context of early modern Western philosophy, the study also seeks to investigate the influence of his philosophical framework on contemporary natural sciences. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which Leibniz attempts to harmonize mechanistic explanations with vitalist or teleological considerations, exploring the theoretical possibilities and limits of such reconciliations within his system.

Methodologically, this project combines close textual analysis of Leibniz’s key writings and correspondence with conceptual mapping, tracing the interplay between metaphysical principles and natural philosophical reasoning. The research aims not only to clarify Leibniz’s treatment of life and organism but also to contribute to broader discussions on the integration of mechanistic and teleological approaches in early modern philosophy. Ultimately, this study will provide a nuanced understanding of Leibniz’s philosophical system and its relevance for ongoing debates in the philosophy of biology and metaphysics.

Research project title: Thinking with Theatre: Philosophical Genealogies and Modernist Transformations.

The project investigates the deep relationship between philosophy and theatre in the 19th and 20th centuries, showing how the theatrical transformations of the early 20th century were not merely aesthetic innovations, but genuine conceptual devices capable of influencing philosophical reflection. Through a genealogical perspective, the research reconstructs the theatrical revolutions that, redefined the categories of actor, spectator and stage, placing them in dialogue with aesthetic and sociological analyses. At the centre of the investigation is Walter Benjamin’s thought, examined in his lesser‑known role as a theatre critic. From his allegorical reading of baroque Trauerspiel to his reflections of epic theatre and the political role of art, to the conceptual constellation of Passagenwerk: theatre emerges as a privileged space for experimentation and criticism, in which scenic form and philosophical thought intertwine productively. The research then intends to relate this line of thought to an antithetical perspective too, exploring the Adorno/Beckett connection as a radical counterpoint to Brechtian political theatre. Overall, the project aims to show how theatre, far from being a simple object of aesthetic analysis, operates as a conceptual laboratory capable of generating forms of philosophical thoughts.

Research project title: Entangled Performances: Exploring the Co-Creation of Meaning through Bodies, Objects, and Materials in Theatre

My research project examines how theatre and physical performance, especially in corporeal and object-based forms, can create a space where bodies, puppets, and materials co-construct meaning beyond language and cognition. I investigate the entanglement of living performers with inanimate objects, arguing that their interaction fosters a dynamic, pre-cognitive mode of meaning-making centered on gesture, sensation, and materiality. This process challenges human-centered paradigms in performance studies by positioning all elements as active, equal agents.

The theoretical framework combines phenomenology—focusing on embodied, sensorial experience—with New Materialist perspectives on material agency. This synthesis supports a view of performance as an egalitarian network where humans and non-humans collaboratively shape perception and meaning.

To ground this theory, the research analyzes contemporary theatre practices. Case studies include Italian companies like Teatropersona and Zaches Teatro, French ensembles such as Mots de Tête, and UK-based groups like Gecko. These companies exemplify how puppets, objects, and installations can disrupt hierarchical relationships and foster a collaborative performance ecology. Through this analysis, the project highlights a shift toward theatre where all elements, human and non-human, are interdependent contributors to the artistic event.

Research project title: Devitalization in Modern Medicine

Research proposal undertakes a genealogical inquiry in which modern medicine — characterized primarily by the biomedical model and dominated methodologically by Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) — is presented as a process of devitalization of the living body. This process manifests as an epistemological reduction, as seen in medical imaging and statistics (A. Quetelet), which “flattens” the clinical body into two-dimensional graphics; and as a decontextualized translation, converting the lived experience of illness into a set of standardized norms and probabilistic data. Within this framework, the body is no longer perceived as an organism endowed with intentionality and intrinsic normativity, but rather as a devitalized object whose truth resides solely in its numerical and visual reproducibility (I. Hacking; A. Mol). Drawing on French historical epistemology and its critiques of medical rationality (G. Bachelard; G. Canguilhem; M. Foucault; F. Dagognet; F. Duchesneau; A. Fagot-Largeault), my research aims to reconstruct the conceptual and technical conditions that made this form of objectivity possible. Historically, it follows the 17th–18th-century rapprochement between philosophy and physiology-medicine, tracing how their shared concepts of mechanism, function, and norm prepared the ground for the contemporary medical gaze. Ultimately, this study aims to provide the history of science with an explanatory path regarding “body devitalization”, while further incorporating this analysis into a general critique of modernity