peer-reviewed articles

A contribution to the debate on the aesthetics of human environments, particularly the concept of urban beauty, drawing from phenomenology and classical Chinese philosophy.

A comparative analysis of the “body politic” metaphor in the corpus and the argumentative style of coeval thinkers from Medieval Britain and Song dynasty China.

A proposal for the definition of a new genre in contemporary Italian cinema, which is inspired by the imaginary of the fairytale, and expressive of urgent sociological and generational concerns.

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research projects

Irony and Play in Chinese Buddhism. The Chan/Zen tradition is notorious for its penchant for irony, humor, paradox, and absurdity, and for the playful and agonistic spirit that animates the practices of screaming, beatings, role-playing games, poetry contests, foul language, and creative improvisation. This research sheds light on why this tendency is so marked in the Chinese tradition of Buddhism, and especially-but not only-in Chan/Zen.

Rethinking Alienation with Daoism. A Daoist contribution to contemporary debates on alienation (Entfremdung) as interpreted in the tradition of critical theory, intended as a broad philosophical and sociological analytics of power provided with three dimensions: diagnostic (identifying the problems of society), explanatory (explaining the causes and factors generating these problems) and emancipatory (identifying solutions to these problems).