Matteo De Benedetto

I am an Assistant Professor (RTD-A) of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the “IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca”, where I am part of the “Models, Inferences, and Decisions (MInD)” group within the “Molecular Mind Laboratory (MoMiLab)” research unit.

My research lies at the intersection of general philosophy of science, logic, epistemology, and cognitive science. I work primarily on conceptual change and scientific methodology, developing abstract models to study how scientific concepts evolve and how scientists reason. I work on topics such as scientific change, epistemic values, theoretical concepts, epistemic norms in scientific inquiry, and the psychology of concepts. My historical work examines figures such as Carnap and Kuhn, exploring how their methodological insights can inform contemporary debates in philosophy of science.

I received my Ph.D. in Philosophy (2022) from the “Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy”, where I remain an external member. Before joining IMT, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Ruhr University Bochum in the Emmy-Noether research group “From Perception to Belief and Back Again”.

Articles in Journals:

• (Forthcoming) “Conceptual Progress in Science: Cognitive Enhancement and Pragmatic Optimization”. Ergo: An open access journal of philosophy.

 

• (Forthcoming) “Cognitive Modelism” (with Lorenzo Rossi). Philosophia Mathematica.

 

• (2025) “Truthlikeness and the inclusion fallacy” (with Gustavo Cevolani and Davide Coraci). Thinking and Reasoning.link (preprint)

 

• (2025) “Epistemic Niche Construction and Non-Epistemic Values:
  The case of 19th Century Craniology” (with Michele Luchetti). European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 15(20).link   (open access)

 

• (2025) “Bootstrapping Concepts via Hybridization: A step-by-step guide” (with Nina Poth). Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 16, 783-803.link   (open access)

 

• (2025) “The Open Texture of ‘Algorithm’ in Legal Language” (with Davide Baldini). AI & Society, 40, 1643-1654. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “Patches, Patchworks, and Epsilon Terms: A Neo-Carnapian Account Of Theoretical Terms In Science” (with Elio La Rosa). Journal of Philosophical Logic, 53, 1495-1517. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “Theoretical Concepts as Goal-Derived Concepts”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 107, 82-91. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “Logical Norms as Defeasible Obligations: Disentangling sound and feasible inferences” (with Alessandra Marra). Inquiry. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “Theory Choice as Niche Construction: The feedback loop between scientific theories and epistemic values” (with Michele Luchetti). Philosophy of Science, 91(3), 741-758. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “What Conceptual Engineering Can Learn From The History of Philosophy of Science: Healthy Externalism and Metasemantic Plasticity”. HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 14(1), 1-24.link (preprint)

 

• (2023) “Lakatosian and Euclidean Populations: A pluralist account of conceptual change in mathematics”. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 13: 37.link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “Carnap’s Geometrical Methodology: Explication as a transfer principle”. Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy, 11(4). link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “Specialisation by Value Divergence: The role of epistemic
  values in the branching of scientific disciplines” (with Michele Luchetti). International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 36(2), 121-141. link   (preprint)

 

• (2022) “Taking Up Thagard’s Challenge: A Formal Model Of Conceptual Revision” (with Sena Bozdag). Journal of Philosophical Logic, 51, 791-824, link.(open access)

 

•  (2022) “Explicating ‘Explication’ via Conceptual Spaces”. Erkenntnis, 87, 853-889, link. (open access)

 

•  (2021) “Taming Conceptual Wanderings: Wilson-Structuralism”. Synthese, 199, 13225–13246 , link. (open access)

 

•  (2021) “Explication as a Three-Step Procedure: the case of the Church-Turing Thesis”. European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (1): 21, link. (open access)

Chapters in Books:

• • • (Forthcoming) “Higher-Order Evidence in Philosophy of Science” (with Peter Broessel). In Shan, Y. (Ed.), Integrating Philosophy of Science and Epistemology, Springer, Cham.
• • • (2024) “Worlds, Algorithms, and Niches: The feedback-loop idea in Kuhn’s philosophy” (with Michele Luchetti). In Shan, Y. (Ed.), Rethinking Thomas Kuhn’s Legacy, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, Springer, Cham, 103-120, link. (preprint)

Dissertation:

• • (2022) “Frameworks, Models, and Case Studies: A new methodology for studying conceptual change in science and philosophy”. LMU München: Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and the Study of Religion, link. (open access)

Here you can download my full CV.

Employment:

•  (2024-)
  Assistant Professor (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca)
  Member of the Models, Inference, and Decisions (MInD) group.

 

•  (2025-)
  National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as Associate Professor of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science.

 

•  (2022-2024)
  Postdoctoral Researcher (Ruhr-University Bochum)
  Member of the Emmy-Noether Research Group “From Perception to Belief and Back Again”.

 

Education:

• (2017-2022)
  PhD in Philosophy (MCMP, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)
  Ph.D. Thesis: Frameworks, Models, and Case Studies: A New Methodology for Studying Conceptual Change in Science and Philosophy.
  Supervisor: Hannes Leitgeb                                                                                         Examiners: Hannes Leitgeb, Leon Horsten, Kärin Nickelsen

 

• (2014-2017)
  M.A. in Logic, Philosophy and History of Science (University of Florence)

 

• (2011-2014)
  B.A. in Philosophy (University of Florence)

 

Here are some of the courses I taught. For a full list of my teaching experience, see my CV.

•  Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Social Sciences
• Philosophy of Cognitive Science
• Values in Science
• Scientific Progress .
• Scientific Revolutions
• Epistemology
•  Concepts: from philosophy to cognitive science.
• Consistency, Incompleteness, and Undecidability.

 

You can write me an email at:  mtt.debenedetto[at]gmail.com

 

IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
Piazza S.Francesco, 19
55100 Lucca (Italy)
matteo.debenedetto[at]imtlucca.it