Analytic Asian Philosophy

I do research in cross-cultural philosophy. More specifically, my research aims at engaging with East-Asian philosophical and religious texts with the purpose of providing analyses of them that are relevant to contemporary philosophical debates, particularly in metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of religion. In moving my analyses, I rely on conceptual and formal machinery from analytic philosophy as well as on empirical research. The ultimate ambition of this research program is to extract from these texts theories and frameworks that can provide productive and yet unexplored alternatives to mainstream views in contemporary philosophy.

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Peer Reviewed Articles:

Forthcoming “Pluralism about Aesthetic Value and Agency in the Zhuangzi.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (with Dominic McIver Lopes) https://philpapers.org/rec/LOPPAA-6

Abstract: This paper offers an interpretation of the theories of aesthetic value and agency in the Zhuangzi 莊子. The first section outlines two claims that articulate an aesthetics that can be found in the Analects: (1) there is a single ideal of aesthetic value, and (2) ideal aesthetic agents are those with the competence to access that ideal. The Zhuangzi rejects both claims. The second section argues, contra (1), that the Zhuangzi embraces a variety of pluralism about aesthetic value. This pluralism is rooted in some of the text’s broader metaphysical commitments. The third section argues, contra (2), that the Zhuangzi portrays ideal aesthetic agents as those with the competence to access what it calls “utmost beauty” (zhimei 至美), the plurality of aesthetic values. As this ideal of aesthetic agency is beyond the reach of ordinary human beings, the concluding section of the paper argues that the Zhuangzi additionally recommends a modified ideal of aesthetic agency that is within our reach.

Forthcoming. “The Metaphysics of Creation in the Daodejing.” Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy https://philpapers.org/rec/ZAPTMO

Abstract: This paper offers an original interpretation of the Daodejing 道德經 as containing a distinctive account of creation. In my reading, the Daodejing envisions the creation of the cosmos by Dao (1) as a movement from the absence of phenomenal forms to phenomenal forms and (2) as a movement from nothingness to existence. I interpret creation as a unique metaphysical operation that explains how (1) and (2) are possible. The paper is organized into two sections. First, I introduce the distinctions between the lack and presence of phenomenal forms (§1.1) and between nothingness and existence (§1.2), using them to map the distinction between Dao and the created world. Then, I propose my account of the Daodejing’s metaphysics of creation (§2.1) and elaborate on its connection with the previously drawn distinctions while answering a potential objection (§2.2). I conclude with some considerations about the connections between the Daodejing’s view of creation and its soteriology.

2024. “Unlimited Nature: A Śaivist Model of Divine Greatness.” Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions 63(3): 553–569 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11841-024-01005-1

Abstract: The notion of maximal greatness is arguably part of the very concept of God: something greater than God is not even possible. But how should we understand the idea of maximal greatness? The aim of this paper is to provide a Śaivist answer to this question by analyzing and discussing the form of theism advocated in the Pratyabhijñā tradition. First, I extract a model of divine greatness, the Hierarchical Model, from Nagasawa’s work Maximal God. According to the Hierarchical Model, God is that of which nothing could be greater in virtue of being better suited than all other beings with respect to certain attributes known as great-making properties (§1). I then offer an analysis of the form of theism advocated in the Pratyabhijñā tradition by discussing passages from the work of Somānanda, the founder of the school, and of Utpaladeva, the most prominent of Somānanda’s disciples, and argue that the Pratyabhijñā theist cannot account for divine greatness in terms of the Hierarchical Model. Briefly, my argument is that the Hierarchical Model requires a comparison between God and other beings that cannot be made with the Pratyabhijñā God (§2). Finally, I develop an alternative and original model, the Unlimited Nature Model, that accounts for God’s maximal greatness in a way that suits Pratyabhijñā’s theism. According to the Unlimited Nature Model, the nature of all ordinary beings is metaphysically limited as a result of realizing only a small portion of the potential of what could be, and God is maximally great because he only has a completely unlimited nature (§3).

2023. “Towards a Buddhist Theism.” Religious Studies 59(4): 762-774. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034412522000725

Abstract: My claim in this article is that the thesis that Buddhism has no God, insofar as it is taken to apply to Buddhism universally, is false. I defend this claim by interpreting a central text in East-Asian Buddhism – The Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna – through the lenses of perfect being theology (PBT), a research programme in philosophy of religion that attempts to provide a description of God through a two-step process: (1) defining God in terms of maximal greatness; (2) inferring the properties or attributes that God must have in virtue of satisfying the definition. My argument comprises two steps. First, I argue that, since PBT is a method for providing a description of God starting from a definition of God, any text that contains a PBT ipso facto contains a notion of God. Second, I argue through textual evidence that The Awakening articulates a PBT, concluding that it contains a notion of God. Since the method of PBT leaves open what descriptions are to be inferred, my argument allows me to conclude that a text contains a notion of God without previously committing to any particular conception of the divine, which makes it particularly versatile and powerful.

Encyclopedia Entries and Similar

2025. Zhuangzi 莊子. Database of Religious History. https://religiondatabase.org/browse/2488/

This entry provides an overview of the doctrinal content of the Zhuangzi 莊子, a post-mid Warring States text purportedly written by Zhuang Zhou 莊周 and his followers. The received version of the text, which was compiled by Guo Xiang 郭象, is composed of 33 chapters: chapters 1-7 are called "inner chapters" (nei pian 內篇), chapters 8-22 are called "outer chapters" (wai pian 外篇), and chapters 23-33 are called "miscellaneous chapters" (za pian 雜篇). Among those, the inner chapters are typically believed to be closer to the thought of the alleged author of the text and the most likely to have been actually written by him. Together with the Daodejing 道德經 or Laozi 老子, the Zhuangzi has been considered one of the core texts of Philosophical Daoism (dao jia 道家), as distinct from Religious Daoism (dao jiao 道教), the institutionalized religious tradition that emerged from millenarian movements during the late Han Dynasty (1st and 2nd centuries CE). However, the distinction has been subject to wide criticism, and the very classification of the Zhuangzi (or, for that matter, the Laozi) as "Daoist" is anachronistic insofar as such classification does not come from the texts themselves but from the attempt to provide a classification of earlier texts by Han Dynasty librarians, among whom it is notable the name of Sima Tan 司馬談. Also, the Zhuanzi and Laozi, together with the Yi Jing 易經 or Zhou Yi 周易, were regarded by the commentators of the Xuan Xue 玄学 (i.e., "Obscure Learning" or "Study of Mystery") tradition to be one of the Three Mysteries (san xuan 三玄), a corpus of texts believed to contain profound insights into the nature of reality. From the perspective of content, the Zhuangzi proposes an ideal of agency that consists of attaining the capacity to be perfectly flexible, spontaneous, and adaptive in a world of constant change. The person who has reached such an ideal is variously called "Sacred Person" (shengren 聖人), "Spirit Person" (shenren 神人), "Utmost Person" (zhiren 至人), or "True Person" (zhenren 真人). According to the text, such an ideal is reached, at least partially, by performing practices aimed at emptying one's mind of its contents. For example, Chapter 6, "The Great Source as a Master" (da zong shi 大宗師), refers to the practice of "sitting and forgetting" (zuo wang 坐忘). Relatedly, Chapter 4, "The Human World" (ren jian shi 人間世), and Chapter 19, "The Full Understanding of Life" (da sheng 達生), talk about the practice of quieting the mind by means of fasting (zhai 齋/齊).

2021. “Ingegneria concettuale.” APHEX 23 (1). Link.

Abstract: Conceptual engineering is a branch of philosophy characterised by a normative approach towards representation. The fundamental assumption of it is that our representational devices can be defective. Conceptual engineering is then the activity consisting of identifying the defects of such devices and putting in place ameliorative strategies. This paper illustrates the fundamental issues for a theory of conceptual engineering: what does this activity consist of? How can we implement it? What mechanisms regulate the formation of representational devices? Can we have an influence over those mechanisms? Moreover, it will be presented an objection to conceptual engineering and various responses to it.

Public Philosophy Articles