Lorenzo Magnani

Lorenzo Magnani (born 1952), is an Italian philosopher who teaches philosophy of science^[1] in the Department of Humanities, Philosophy Section, at the University of Pavia, full professor and director of the Computational Philosophy Laboratory^[2] and, since 2023, is also professor on contract of Artificial intelligence and knowledge, a course sponsored by Collegio Cairoli and Collegio Giasone del Maino, Pavia. He has been (2006/2012) visiting professor at the Sun Yat-sen University in China. In the event of the 50th anniversary of the re-building of the Philosophy Department of Sun Yat-sen University in 2010,^[3] an award was given to him to acknowledge his contributions to the areas of philosophy, philosophy of science, logic, and cognitive science.^[4]

Magnani's primary research interests are the philosophy of science, logic, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and philosophy of medicine. His historical research has centered on 19th- and 20th-century geometry and the philosophy of geometry.^[5]

Currently he is studying the processes of conceptual innovation and change in science also in the perspective of abductive reasoning. A major objective of his research is to create a working synthesis between epistemological and historical perspectives and investigations of representations and reasoning in cognitive science. Recently he addressed the problem of the relationships between morality and technology and the problem of violence in a philosophical and cognitive perspective.^[6][7][8]

His previous positions include visiting researcher (Carnegie Mellon University, 1992; McGill University, 1992–93; University of Waterloo, 1993; and the Georgia Institute of Technology, 1995 and 1998–99) and visiting professor (visiting professor of Philosophy of Science and Theories of Ethics at Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999–2003; Weissman Distinguished Visiting professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, 2003).^[9]

He has directed and directs many international academic programs in collaboration with the US, EU, and China.^[10][11]

Since 1998, initially in collaboration with Nancy J. Nersessian and Paul Thagard, created and promoted the MBR Conferences on Model-Based Reasoning.

A Doctor Honoris Causa degree was awarded to Lorenzo Magnani by the Senate of the Ştefan cel Mare^[12] University, Suceava, Romania. The award ceremony took place at the University Campus on March 16, 2012.^[13] In 2015 Lorenzo Magnani has been appointed member of the International Academy for the Philosophy of the Sciences (AIPS).^[14]