Alfredo Vernazzani

My name is Alfredo Vernazzani, and I am a philosopher of mind & perception.

Starting from the 2019/2020 academic year, I am the Managing Director and Student Consultant of the Msc in Cognitive Science at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum with Prof. Albert Newen.

My main object of research is visual perception, with particular emphasis on the nature and structure of appearances. My approach to philosophical issues is broad, and I seek to find balance between recent scientific advancements and insights from metaphysics, aesthetics, and the history of philosophy. This brings me to pay close attention to issues in the philosophy of cognitive science (especially the problem of intertheoretic integration, and the problem of scientific explanation and neural mechanisms), visual aesthetics, and more recently the epistemology of understanding.

I am strongly interested in the history of philosophy, and especially the history of mind, perception, and the concept of appearance (on the importance of an historical perspective is nicely expressed by Putnam here and also in his "How Old is the Mind?" here). Among the classics, I keep returning on these philosophers: Aristotle, the Stoics, St Augustine, Nicolas of Cusa, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, Goodman, Sellars, Cavell, Putnam, McDowell, Conant, and Elgin.

In September 2019, and in March 2020, I have been Visiting Scholar at Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, under supervision of Prof. Catherine Elgin.

I've been awarded my PhD in Philosophy from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (supervisors: Prof. Tobias Schlicht and Prof. Marcin Milkowski). Previously, I have spent two terms at the University of Cambridge as Visiting PhD student (sponsor, Prof. Tim Crane). I have received my MA degree in Philosophy from the Humboldt-Universität, and my BA from the University of Naples «Federico II». See the page CV for further details.

Besides philosophy, I have a bunch of other interests, especially Literature and Poetry (including literary criticism), History and Historiography, Art history, Art music and prog rock. I have been politically active as anti-fascist (for the German section of the ANPI).