Andrea Borghini

Associate Professor of Philosophy | University of Milan
Director of Culinary Mind

Email

andrea.borghini@unimi.it


Professional Profile

Here a copy of my CV.

My profile on Google Scholar.

My profile on Academia.edu.

For some podcasts discussing my research: What's Burning hosted by Mitchell Davis (#2.14); Dare to Know! hosted by Fabian Corver (#5, food series); WIPOD Page Points hosted by Lise McLeod (#14, Intellectual Property and Food).


We are in the process of hiring 3 postdocs at the University of Milan for two different project, starting as early as February 1, 2025. Details here and here.

Info for PhD Students (Info dottorandi)

I am currently co-supervising 9 PhD projects on a variety of topics in the philosophy of food. I am happy to take on new PhD projects, please do get in touch via email for inquiries.


Info for Students (Info Laureandi)

To inquire about availability for supervision of your thesis, please get in touch via email to schedule an appointment, adding if possible a short presentation of yourself and a proposal. Here a list of undergraduate and master theses supervised/under supervision. Here some essential guidelines for writing your thesis.


Andrea Borghini

In my work I develops theoretical tools to rethink how we represent, sense, and feel about food, eating, and culinary cultures. Though grounded in philosophy, I collaborate with a wide spectrum of scholars in the natural and social sciences, as well as food practitioners.

For a list of events that I recently (co)organized on the philosophy of food and eating, see here.

My early publications focus on core issues in contemporary metaphysics (e.g. possibility and necessity, properties, temporal persistence) and in philosophy of biology (e.g. taxonomies, natural kinds, development and identity).

Previously (2007-2017), I was Associate Professor in Philosophy at the College of the Holy Cross, in Massachusetts (USA). Past visiting faculty appointments include Columbia University, Institute Jean Nicod in Paris, Bryn Mawr College, SUNY Buffalo, University of Turin, and University of Gastronomic Sciences.

I co-founded and later served as Associate Member of the Columbia Society for Comparative Philosophy. I received my Ph.D in Philosophy from Columbia University (2007) and my Laurea in Philosophy from University of Florence (2000).

I used to be (2011-2014) the philosophy guide on About.com (now Thoughtco.com), when the site was owned by the New York Times Company. I am eager to bring philosophy to a general public, especially the philosophy of food.


Books

filosofia della biologia

Filosofia della Biologia

[The Philosophy of Biology], with E. Casetta, Carocci Editore, Rome, 2013, ISBN: 9788843069514

Review by Daniele Bertoletti, Verifiche, December 2014 [in English]
Review by Federico Focher, Almanacco della scienza 9, May 28th 2014
Review by Emanuele Serrelli, Indice dei libri, March 2014: 31
Review by Mario De Caro, Il sole 24 ore, January 19th 2014

Il Genio Compreso. La filosofia di Saul Kripke

Il Genio Compreso. La filosofia di Saul Kripke

[A Genius Understood. The Philosophy of Saul Kripke], with C. Hughes, M. Santambrogio, and A.C. Varzi, Carocci Editore, Rome, 2010, ISBN: 9788843054022

Review by Giorgio Lando, Epistemologia 34 (2011): 159-162
Review by Andrea Iacona, Philosophical News 1 (2010): 119-121
Review by Flavio Basso, Rivista italiana di filosofia analitica junior, November 7th 2010
Review by Armando Massarenti, Il sole 24 ore, May 12th 2009

che cos'e' la possibilita

Che cos'e' la possibilita'

[Possibility: What Is It?], Carocci Editore, Rome, 2009, ISBN: 9788843048045

Some excerpts, Rescogitans, March 29th 2009
Review by Stefano Vaselli, Analytical and Philosophical Explanation 1, January 2010
Review by Michele Paolini Paoletti, Recensioni filosofiche, May 12th 2009
Review by Giorgio Fontana, Il sole 24 ore, February 6th 2009


Articles

Food and Philosophy

'Food and Philosophy'

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, ed. by D. Goldstein (2024)

'Early Conceptual Knowledge About Food'

(with M. Gandolini and J. Lafraire), Review of Philosophy and Psychology (2024)

'Food Justice'

in Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, Springer (2023)

'Stakeholders and Experts in Culinary Cultural Heritage'

(with Andrea Baldini and Matteo Ravasio), Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2023).

'Le jeûne et la faim: perspectives philosophiques'

in Benkheira and de Franceschi (eds.), La dîme du corps, BREPOLS (2023): 917-933.

'Hot Grapes: How to Locally Redesign Geographical Indications to Address the Impact of Climate Change'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), World Development Sustainability, Volume 2 (2023).

'The Justice and Ontology of Gastrospaces'

(with Matteo Bonotti, Nicola Piras, and Beatrice Serini), Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2023).

'Food and Climate Change in a Philosophical Perspective'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), in Pellegrino, G., Di Paola, M. (eds.) Handbook of Philosophy of Climate Change. Springer (2023).

'Food Identity and the Passage of Time'

(with Nicola Piras), Applied Ontology 17 (2022): 443-463.

'Eating Local as Public Art'

(with Nicola Piras), Aisthesis 15(1): 15-27.

'A Deliberative Model for Preserving the Diversity of Lebanese Traditional Fermented Food and Beverages'

(with Nadine Feghali, Nicola Piras, Beatrice Serini, Giacomo Zara, Angela Bianco, and Marilena Budroni), Human Ecology 50: 589-600.

'Defective Food Concepts'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), Synthese 199: 12225-12249 (2021).

'Seven Philosophical Questions About Recipes'

in A. Borghini and P. Engisch, A Philosophy of Recipes, Bloomsbury (2022).

'Eating Local: A Philosophical Toolbox'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), Philosophical Quarterly 72(3): 527-551 (2022).

'Cooking and Dining as Forms of Public Art'

(with Andrea Baldini), Food, Culture, and Society 25(2): 310-327 (2022).

'Introduction: Understanding Hunger'

(with Davide Serpico), Topoi 40(3): 503-506 (2021).

'On Interpreting Something as Food'

(with Nicola Piras), Food Ethics 6.1 (2021).

'Recipes, Their Authors, and Their Names'

(with Matteo Gandolini), Humana.Mente 13.38: 143-162 (2020)

'From Obesity to Energy Metabolism: Ontological Perspectives on the Metrics of Human Bodies'

(with Davide Serpico), Topoi 40(3): 577-586 (2021).

'A Gradient Framework for Wild Foods'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, online first (July 24, 2020) [preprint version here]

'The Philosophy of Food. Recipes Between Arts and Algorithms. Introduction'

(with Nicola Piras), Humana.Mente 13.38 (2020): III-XIII

'Ontological Frameworks for Food Utopias'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), Rivista di estetica 75 (2020): 120-142

'Food and Foods. Toward a Definition'

(with Nicola Piras), Rivista italiana di filosofia del linguaggio 1 (2020), forthcoming

'Ordinary Biodiversity: The Case of Food'

in Casetta, Da Silva, Vecchi (eds.), From Assessing to Conserving Biodiversity: Conceptual and Practical Challenges, New York: Springer, 2019: 415-433

'The Aesthetic Properties of Wine'

in Mogensen and Forsey (eds.), On Taste: Aesthetic Exchanges, Newcastle Upon Time: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019: 101-122

'Hunger'

in Thompson and Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics, Second Edition (2017)

'What Is a Recipe?'

Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 28 (2015): 719-738

'Authenticity in Food'

in Thompson and Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics (2014): 180-185

'Substantial Equivalence'

in Thompson and Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics (2014): 1669-1673

'Metaphysics of Natural Food'

in Thompson and Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics (2014): 1378-1381

'Geographical Indications, Food, and Culture'

in Thompson and Kaplan (eds.), Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics (2014): 1115-1120

'On Being the Same Wine'

Rivista di estetica 51 (2012): 175-192

'Food in the Metaphysical Orders: Gender, Race, and the Family'

Humana.Mente 22 (2012): 1-23

'What Is a True Ribollita? Memory and the Quest for Authentic Food'

in T. Piazza (ed.), Secret and Memory in the Information Age, Afrontamento, Porto, 2010: 95-108

'Il cibo come medicina. Riflessioni su una metafora tra due culture'

['Food as Medicine: Remarks on a Metaphor Between Two Cultures'], in P. Pedrini e M. Borri (eds.), La conoscenza e la cura. Omaggio ad Alessandro Pagnini, Pisa, ETS, 2021: 81-88

'La mente "in cucina": tre nuovi scenari sul gusto, la fame e le ricette'

['Minds in the Kitchen: Three Emerging Scenarios for Taste, Hunger, and Recipes'], in P. Bucci e M. Galletti (eds.), Il futuro della mente. Da Leonardo alla società della conoscenza, Pisa, ETS, 2020: 265-275

'Dimmi da dove viene e ti diro' che cos'e'' (with Andrea Baldini)

['Tell Me Where It Is From and I Will Tell You What It Is'], Allegoria 25 (2013): 168-183

'Gustare la natura: riflessioni estetiche tra gastronomia e biologia'

['Tasting Nature: Aesthetic Considerations Between Gastronomy and Biology'], in N. Perullo (ed.), Cibo, estetica e arte [Food, Aesthetics, and Art], ETS, Pisa 2014: 33-46

'I confini di un taglio'

['The Boundaries of a Cut'], in E. Casetta and V. Giardino (eds.), Mettere a fuoco il mondo. Conversazioni sulla filosofia di Achille Varzi, Isonomia, Vol. 4, 2014: 13-22

'Geni, ricette e integrazione'

[Genes, Recipes and Cultural Integration], in M.A. Toscano (ed.), Zoon Politikon 2010 - Volume I. On Democracy and Social Integration, Florence: Le Lettere, 2010: 369-378

'I marchi di origine e i miraggi del nominalismo legislativo'

[Geographic Indications And The Mirage of Legal Nominalism], Rescogitans 5.2.2008

Metaphysics

'Learning from COVID-19: Public Justification and the Ontology of Everyday Life'

(with Matteo Bonotti, Nicola Piras, and Beatrice Serini), Social Theory and Practice, online first

'Mob Rules. Towards a Causal Model of Social Structure [preprint]'

(with Marco Nathan), American Philosophical Quarterly 59(1): 11-26 (2022)

'Recombination for Combinatorialists'

in F. Calemi (ed.), Metaphysics and Scientific Realism: Essays in Honour of David Malet Armstrong, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2015: 177-192

'Mereological Monism and Humean Supervenience'

(with Giorgio Lando), Synthese 197 (2020): 4745-4765

'Natural Properties and Atomicity in Modal Realism'

(with Giorgio Lando), Metaphysica 16 (2015): 103-121

'The Metaphysics of the Thin Red Line'

(with G. Torrengo), in F. Correia and A. Iacona (eds.), Around the Tree, Synthese Library, Dordrecht, 2013: 105-125

'The Adverbial Theory of Properties'

Metaphysica 13 (2012): 107-123

'Natural Properties, Supervenience, and Mereology'

(with G. Lando), Humana.Mente 19 (2011): 79-104

'Universalism and the Argument From Indifference'

in A. Hall and G. Klima (ed.), The Demonic Temptations of Medieval Nominalism, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle, 2011: 25-37

'Generals and Particulars'

in The Analytical Way: Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference of Analytic Philosophy, College Publications (King's College), London, 2010: 379-395

'Dispositions and Their Intentions'

in G. Damschen, R. Schnepf, and K.R. Stueber (eds.), Debating Dispositions: Issues in Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Mind, DeGruyter, Berlin, 2009: 204-219

'A Dispositional Theory of Possibility'

(with N.E. Williams), dialectica 62 (2008): 21-41

'Why I Am Not A Tropist'

in M. Okada and B. Smith (eds.), Proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary Ontology Meeting (InterOntology08), Tokyo, 2008: 93-98

'Event Location and Vagueness'

(with A.C. Varzi), Philosophical Studies 128 (2006): 313-336

'Counterpart Theory Vindicated: A Reply to Merricks'

dialectica 59 (2005): 67-74

'Essere (categoricamente) e poter essere e non essere'

[On Being (categorically) and Being Potentially and Not Being], Verità. Annuario e bollettino della Società italiana per la filosofia analitica 2010, Milano: Mimesis, 2011: 251-259.

'David K. Lewis'

Aphex 2 (2010)

'Esistono proprieta' intrinseche?'

[Are There Intrinsic Properties?], Rivista di Estetica 43 (2010): 231-245

'Generale e particolare'

[General and Particular], Chora V, 14 (2007): 27-36

'Introduzione: percha' i mondi possibili?'

[Introduction: A Plea for Possible Worlds] (with Nicola Ciprotti and Vittorio Morato), Annali del Dipartimento di Filosofia (dell'Università di Firenze) xii (2007): 173-180

'Virtù e vizi del concretismo'

['Virtues and Vices of Concretism'], Annali del Dipartimento di Filosofia (dell'Università di Firenze) xii (2007): 181-193

'Quante cose ci sono in Piazza dei Miracoli?'

[How Many Things Are There in Piazza dei Miracoli?], Rescogitans, 12.17.2005

'Un mondo di possibilita'. Realismo modale senza mondi possibili'

[One World of Possibilities. Modal Realism Without Possible Worlds], Rivista di Estetica 26 (2004): 87-100

'Oggetti possibili e oggetti esistenti. La teoria di David K. Lewis'

Kykeion 7 (2002): 67-77

Philosophy of Biology

'Realismo/antirealismo e biologia'

(with Marco J. Nathan), in R. Campaner e C. Gabbani (eds.), Realismo e antirealismo nelle scienze, Carocci (2023): 80-89

'Exploring Darwinian Worlds. From Darwin to the Extended Synthesis. Essay Review of T. Heams, P. Huneman, G. Lecointre and M. Silberstein (eds.), Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences'

(with Elena Casetta), Acta Biotheoretica 65 (2017): 87-94

'Development and Natural Kinds: Some Lessons from Biology'

(with Marco J. Nathan), Synthese 191 (2013): 593-556

'Lessons from the Scientific Butchery'

(with Matthew H. Slater), in J. Campbell, M. O'Rourke and M.H. Slater (eds.), Carving Nature at Its Joints. Topics in Contemporary Philosophy. Vol. 8, MIT Press, Cambridge (MA), 2011: 1-32

'Quel che resta dei generi naturali'

(with Elena Casetta) [Natural Kinds: What's Left], Rivista di estetica 49 (2012): 247-273

'Tratti, sessi e generi. Un dialogo'

(with Elena Casetta) [Traits, Sexes, and Genders. A Dialogue], Rivista di bioetica 19 (2011): 35-53

'Ermes e Afrodite. Un dialogo'

(with Elena Casetta) [Hermes and Aphrodite. A Dialogue], Rescogitans, 11.7.2010

'La durata naturale di un genere naturale'

[The Natural Time of a Natural Kind], Rivista di Estetica 39 (2008): 87-99

Other Papers

'When a Soccer Club Becomes a Mirror'

(with Andrea Baldini), in E.T. Richards (ed.), Soccer and Philosophy, Open Court, Chicago, 2010: 302-316

'Onesta intellettuale e globalizzazione: come cambiera la filosofia?'

[Intellectual Honesty and Globalization: How Philosophy Is Going to Change], Rescogitans, 1.24.2008

Reviews

'Review of A. Hazlett, A Critical Introduction to Skepticism'

Australasian Journal of Philosophy 93 (2015): 408-409

'Review of P. Monaghan, Property Possession as Identity'

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2012.6.38

'Review of Y. Dolev, Time and Realism'

Humana.Mente 8 (2009): 173-176

'Review of Jan Westerhoff, Ontological Categories'

2R 3 (2006-2007): 113-124

'Review of S. Morini and P. Perconti, Chattando sulle email filosofiche'

Rivista di Estetica 32 (2006): 129-131

Magazine Articles

'Il cibo come campo di ricerca in filosofia'

(with Nicola Piras and Beatrice Serini), La meraviglia del possibile 3 (2022): 39-45

'COVID-19 in Everyday Spaces: Social and Political Considerations'

(with Matteo Bonotti, Nicola Piras, Beatrice Serini, and Steven Zech), ABC News: Ethics and Religion (June 17, 2020)

'Dwelling in Times of Quarantine'

(with Min Kyung Lee), Platform (April 6, 2020)

'The Philosophy of Food'

, Holy Cross Magazine 50.4 (Fall 2016): 60-61

'Meno male che l'OGM c'e'

['Glad GMOs Are Here'], Intelligence in Lifestyle 37 (January 2012): 148-49

'Ribollita metafisica'

['A Metaphysical Ribollita'], Intelligence in Lifestyle 36 (December 2011): 170

'Lezioni di macelleria scientifica'

['Lessons of Butchery and Science'], Intelligence in Lifestyle 35 (November 2011): 216-18

'Cibo, per piacere'

['Food, for Pleasure'], Intelligence in Lifestyle 34 (October 2011): 216

'Il cibo e il suo rimosso geografico'

['Food and Its Geographical Discharge'], Alfabeta2 11 (2011): 28