Thesis title:
Is music perception special? An analysis of the varieties of auditory perception
Listening to music is a paradigmatic kind of auditory perception. It also is one of the less explored areas of philosophical study in the field of sensory perception. The focus of my thesis is to develop an account of the perception of music, and in particular to answer the question of whether music perception is ‘special’: does listening to music involve a distinctive kind of auditory perception, or can it be understood as continuous with everyday auditory perception?
Key to answering this question is to understand the way in which listening to music, in contrast to everyday listening, is a distinctive activity with distinctive goals; and to understand what is distinctive about music as an object of musical listening in contrast to the bangs, crashes, squeaks and so on, that are among the objects of everyday listening.
Research Area
Publications
Conferences
Selected presentations I gave in the past years - send me and email if interested in receiving an updated list with some more past and forthcoming presentations
Invited talk:
2018 - “Sounds in a vacuum: a defence of O’Callaghan’s theory”
International Conference “To Be in One’s Senses?” - University of Koblenz- Landau (Campus Landau), Germany – 27 & 28 September
Talks as contributing speaker:
2019 - “Thinking the imperceivable: thought experiments in philosophy of auditory perception”
9th Conference of the Spanish Society for Analytic Philosophy - IX SEFA 2019 Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain – 21/22/23 November
2019 - “Sounds in a vacuum: perceiving the audible temporal borders of sounds”
93rd Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association – Open Session - Durham University, UK – 19/20/21 July
2018 - “Can a physical account of sounds provide a good foundation for the understanding of listening to music?”
9th Salzburg Conference for Young Analytic Philosophy 2018 - SOPhiA 2018
University of Salzburg, Department of Philosophy (KGW), Austria – 12/13/14 September
2018 - “Listening and Reading: Temporalities of Musical Performance and Notation”
6th World Congress and School on Universal Logic - workshop “Logic and Music”, Vichy, France – 25 June
Talk in my University:
2019 -Reply to the paper “Peacocke’s “Metaphorically-As” theory of perceiving music” by Alice Harberd
London – Warwick Mind Forum (autumn term) - London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK – 28 November
Public Engagement & Impact
2020 - “Listening to music: what kind of experience is it?”
3MinutesThesis (3MT) Competition – Organised by the Doctoral College
University of Warwick - finalist - online event on 17th of June 2020
2020 - What’s special in the perceptual experience of listening to music?
Pint&PhD - Warwick University Library Online Event – 12 August
Education
2016 - 2017 - MA in Philosophy (= Laurea Magistrale in Scienze Filosofiche) at State University of Milan, Italy, Mark: 110/110 cum laude (2 years MA -120 cfu)
2014 - 2016 - Master in Music in French Horn (= Diploma Accademico di II livello in Discipline Musicali: Corno) at I.S.S.M. Conservatorio “G. Cantelli”, Novara, Italy (2 years MA -120 cfu)
2006 - 2014 - Degree in Music in French Horn (= Diploma di Vecchio Ordinamento in Corno) at I.S.S.M. Conservatorio “G. Cantelli”, Novara, Italy
2011 - 2014 - BA in Philosophy (= Laurea Triennale in Filosofia) at University of Bergamo, Italy, Mark: 110/110 cum laude
Teaching
Teaching Assistant/Cultore di Materia:
2019 - Philosophy of Mind (MA 1st and 2nd year) University of Bergamo - marking only
2019 - Theories of Mind and Language (MA 1st year) University of Bergamo – marking only
2018 - Philosophy of Language (BA 2nd year) University of Bergamo - marking only
Guest Lecture:
2019 Intentionality - Module in Philosophy of Mind - Master Programme in Comparative Modern Culture (Modern Philology) – University of Bergamo - 2 hours