Mattia GERETTO

(LAST UPDATE: December 2023)

EDUCATION AND PRESENT OCCUPATION

I graduated in philosophy from the University of Padua on March 12th, 1999, and took a Ph.D in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Perugia on January 20th, 2004. During my doctorate in Italy (November 1st, 1999 – October 31st, 2003) I spent four semesters abroad: two in Germany (Berlin, Münster and Hannover, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Poser), and two in Paris (at Paris IV–Sorbonne, under the supervision of Prof. Michel Fichant). In 2001 I obtained the Teaching Certificate in Philosophy and History for Italian Secondary Schools, passing a public competition (class of competition A037 (now - A019): Philosophy and History). I have been employed as a permanent teacher at secondary school since 2010. At present I am in service at Liceo Classico “A. Manzoni”, in Milan.

 From 2004 to 2010 I started working in secondary school as a temporary teacher and I could continue my research thanks to two post-doctoral fellowships: (1) in 2006, I obtained a 4-month DAAD post-doctoral fellowship in Berlin (November 2006 – February 2007); (2) in 2009/2010 I spent a 6-month post-doctoral fellowship at the “Herzog August Bibliothek”, Wolfenbüttel (August 2009- January 2010).

 In July 2011 I was appointed as research assistant (“cultore della materia”) in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage at the University of Ca’ Foscari, Venice, with Professor Luigi Perissinotto. In Venice I have been part of the research group for the project “The Problem of Vagueness. Meaning, Knowledge, Action” (P.R.I.N. Competition 2015 – Principal Investigator: Prof. Luigi Perissinotto. PRIN action: 2016-2019).

 On July 11th, 2017 I obtained the National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor in an Italian University (sector of competition: 11/C5 - History of Philosophy).

At the Utrecht Summer School I have attended the last two editions of the intensive program on posthuman studies held by Prof. Rosi Braidotti: “Posthuman Knowledge(s)”, Utrecht, 19 August – 23 August 2019; “Posthuman Convergences: Theories and Methodologies”, Utrecht, 12 August – 21 August 2020 (online edition).

MEMBERSHIPS

I have been a member of the Leibniz Gesellschaft since 2001 and am also a co-founding member of the Italian Sodalitas Leibnitiana. Since 2018 I have been a member of the European Academy of Religion. I recently joined the Posthuman Italian Network (see: https://www.posthumans.org/posthuman-italian-network.html) and the Società Filosofica Italiana.

 I am a member of the editorial board of the journal Filosofia e Teologia (North-Eastern section), and a member of the editorial board of the journal JOLMA (The Journal of Philosophy of Language, Minds and the Arts - Ca' Foscari University Press).

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS:

I have studied music since I was a child (with Francesco Lovisotto and Maria Puxeddu - piano), obtaining a Piano diploma in 2002 and a French horn diploma in 2005 (with Alessio Benedettelli – horn), both at the Conservatory of Music “C. Pollini”, Padua.

EXPERTISE AND SPECIFIC INTERESTS

METAPHYSICS AND PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION: metaphysics; questions of theodicy; angelology.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY:

- Early Modern Period (Leibniz)

- Renaissance Period (Pico della Mirandola; Bruno)

- European philosophy in the early 20th century (Nietzsche; Bergson; Scheler; Varisco; d’Ors)

- Contemporary philosophy: Deleuze; Transhumanism and Posthumanism.

SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGES

English (C.A.E. – March, 23rd 2018); German; French.

TEACHING EXPERIENCES (1) (SECONDARY SCHOOL)

School year 2017– now: Liceo A. Manzoni – Milan.

School year 2016–2017: Liceo G. Berchet – Milan.

School year 2015–2016: Liceo G. Natta – Milan.

School year 2014–2015: Liceo G. Berchet – Milan.

School year 2012–2013 and 2013–2014: Liceo G. Parini – Milan.

School year 2011–2012: Liceo A. Manzoni – Milan.

School year 2010–2011: Liceo Duca degli Abruzzi – Treviso.

I was employed in the above schools as a teacher of history and philosophy. The history syllabus deals with European and most significant international history from the Middle Ages up to the end of the 20th century. The philosophy syllabus deals with the history of philosophy from Thales up to five significant philosophers of the 20th century. (I usually teach some elements of the philosophy of Bergson, Freud, Gentile, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Weil, Scheler, Popper, and Deleuze).

TEACHING EXPERIENCES (2) (ACADEMIC TEACHING)

Academic Year 2005–2006: Conservatory “C. Pollini” – Padua. (20-hour Course on Aesthetic Musical Elements in Classical German Philosophy). The syllabus of this course dealt with the aesthetics of music of philosophers such as Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Wackenroder.

PUBLICATIONS

RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS

• Humans, Angels, and Cyborgs Aboard Theseus’ Ship. Metaphysics, Mythology, and Mysticism in Trans-/Posthumanist Philosophies . Cham: Palgrave-Macmillan (forthcoming).

• L’essere e le sue determinazioni. Sulla monadologia di Bernardino Varisco, Mimesis, Milano 2016. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788857533681

• L’angelologia leibniziana, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2010. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788849825398

L’angelologia leibniziana was reviewed by:

- Prof. Patrick Riley: “The Leibniz Review”, 20, 2010, pp. 81-83.

- Prof. Mario Micheletti: “Giornale di Filosofia della Religione”, June 2010, (www.aifr.it).

ARTICLES

• Freedom and Responsibility in Leibniz’s “Mith of Sextus” and Plato’s “Myth of Er”, in W. LI, C. WAHL, S. ERDNER, B.C. SCHWARZE, Y. DAN (Eds), “Proceedings of the XI International Leibniz Congress”, Hannover 31st July-4th August 2023, (Band I), pp. 525–537. (In English).

ISBN: 9783988590145

• The Philosophical-Angelological Summa in Dante’s Paradiso, Canto XXIX in MEDIOEVO. RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA MEDIEVALE (XLVI), La Filosofia nelle Opere di Dante/ Philosophy in Dante’s Works, Il Poligrafo, Padova 2021, pp. 283–306. (In English).

ISBN: 9788893871983 - ISSN 0391-2566

• Further Considerations On The Question Of Deleuze’s Neo-Leibnizianism, in T. DETCHEVERRY, A. LALANDE (Eds), Spinoza et Leibniz: réception et usages croisés dans la pensée moderne et contemporaine, lumières, 37/38, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Bordeaux 2021, pp. 179-195. (In English).

ISBN: 9791030007220

• On Leibniz’s Christocentric Thought, in W. LI, H. RUDOLPH (Eds.), Leibniz im Lichte der Theologien, Studia Leibnitiana–Supplementa 40, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2017, pp. 149-161. (In English).

ISBN: 9783515114653

• Leibniz in Early Twentieth-Century Spanish philosophy: d’Ors, Ortega y Gasset, Zubiri, in W. LI (Ed.), “Proceedings of the X International Leibniz Congress”, Hannover 18th-23rd July 2016, (Band VI – 2017), pp. 441–454. (In English).

ISBN: 9783487154398

• “I Think That in the Universe Nothing Is Truer Than Happiness, and Nothing Happier or Sweeter Than Truth”. On the Relationships between Happiness, Truth and Generosity in Leibniz’s Philosophy”, in W. LI (Ed.), “Proceedings of the X International Leibniz Congress”,  Hannover 18th-23rd July 2016, pp. 617–632. (In English).

ISBN: 9783487154282

• Natural language, locutio angelica and characteristica universalis, in W. LI (Ed.), Einheit der Vernunft und Vielfalt der Sprachen. Beiträge zu Leibniz’ Sprachforschung und Zeichentheorie, Studia Leibnitiana–Supplementa 38, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2014, p. 99–110. (In English).

ISBN: 9783515108843

• Christus Θεάνθρωπος [Causa Dei, § 49]. Principes leibnizienne de la christologie, in H. BREGER, J.HERBST, S.ERDNER (Eds.),“Proceedings of the IX International Leibniz Congress“,  Hannover 26 September–1 October 2011, pp. 378–387. (In French).

ISBN: 9783980816748

• The importance of the concept of “Glory of God” in Leibniz’s metaphysics, in H. BREGER, J. HERBST, S. ERDNER (Eds.), “Proceedings of the VIII International Leibniz Congress”, Hannover 24–29 July 2006, pp. 248–255.

ISBN: 3980816710

The above article was quoted by Francesco Piro (“Die ethische Gemeinschaft der Geister mit Gott (§§ 84-90)” in: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Monadologie, Herausgegeben von Hubertus Busche, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2009, pp. 253 and 258.

• Angeli e monadi, in B.M. D’IPPOLITO, A. MONTANO, F. PIRO (Eds.), Monadi e monadologie. Il mondo degli individui tra Bruno, Leibniz e Husserl. Atti del congresso internazionale di Salerno, 10–12 Giugno 2004, Rubbettino, 2005, pp. 269–280. (In Italian).

ISBN: 8849812469

The above article was quoted by Hans Poser (“Innere Prinzipien und Hierarchie der Monaden (§§ 8-29, 82 f.))” in: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Monadologie, Herausgegeben von Hubertus Busche, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2009, pp. 91 and 94.

• Leibniz e l’angelologia cosmopolitica in POLITICA E RELIGIONE (2007), Angeli delle nazioni. Origine e sviluppi di una figura teologico-politica, Morcelliana, Brescia 2007, pp. 205–218. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788837221089

• Harmonikotaton. Unendlichkeit der Natur und Schicksal der Zivilisation, in H. POSER (Ed.),“Proceedings of the VII International Leibniz Congress“, Berlin 10–15 September 2001, pp. 392–400. (In German).

ISBN: 3980097897

ENTRY IN ENCYCLOPEDIA

• Angels and Demons in the Renaissance, in Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Marco Sgarbi Ed.

Springer, Cham

   Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

   DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4

REVIEWS

• Paul Rateau (Ed.), Lecture et interprétations des Essais de Théodicée de G.W. Leibniz, “Studia Leibnitiana“, Sonderhefte (40), Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2011 (in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 68, 2/2013, pp. 405–408).

ISSN: 03932516

• Paul Rateau, Leibniz et le meilleur des mondes possible, Classiques Garnier, Paris 2015 (in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 71, 2/2016, pp. 343-345.

ISSN: 03932516

• Arnaud Lalanne (ed.), Principia Rationis. Les principes de la raison dans la pensée de Leibniz, in «Lumières», 29, 2017 (in “Rivista di Storia della Filosofia”, 1/2020, pp. 139-143).

ISSN: 03932516

PUBLICATIONS AS EDITOR

• M. FAVARETTI, M. GERETTO, L. PERISSINOTTO (Eds.), Theodicy and Reason. Logic, Metaphysics, and Theology in Leibniz’s Essais de Théodicée (1710), Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice 2016. (In English).

ISBN: 9788869690846 (printed edition) / ISBN: 9788869690839 (ebook)

• M. GERETTO, A. MARTIN (Eds.), Teologia della follia, Mimesis, Milano 2013. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788857516219

PUBLICATIONS/TRANSLATIONS OF PUBLISHED OR UNPUBLISHED SOURCES

• E. D’ORS, Sull’esistenza e l’assistenza degli angeli. L’angelologia in cinquecento parole, (M. Geretto – Ed.), Morcelliana, Brescia 2012. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788837226169

A short commentary on this book has been published on the website “Nouvelle Revue Théologique”

(http://www.nrt.be/fr/Sull'esistenza-e-l'assistenza-degli-Angeli.-L'angelologia-in-cinquecento-parole,-%C3%A9d.-M.-Geretto-recension-10876).

• E. D’ORS, IN CINQUECENTO PAROLE. La Storia Del Mondo, La Filosofia, L’Igiene, (M. Geretto – Ed.), Mimesis, Milano 2015. (In Italian).

ISBN: 9788857526355

CHAPTERS IN COLLECTIVE VOLUMES

• Preface to M. FAVARETTI, M. GERETTO, L. PERISSINOTTO (Eds.), Theodicy and Reason. Logic, Metaphysics, and Theology in Leibniz’s Essais de Théodicée (1710), Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice 2016, pp. 9-13. (In English). ISBN: 9788869690846 (printed edition) / ISBN: 9788869690839 (ebook)

• The “Sanctity” of Reason and “Complementarity” of Revelation in the Essais de Théodicée, in M. FAVARETTI, M. GERETTO, L. PERISSINOTTO (Eds.), Theodicy and Reason. Logic, Metaphysics, and Theology in Leibniz’s Essais de Théodicée (1710), Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice 2016, pp. 183-196. (In English). ISBN: 9788869690846 (printed edition) / ISBN: 9788869690839 (ebook)

•  Introduzione (Introduction), M. GERETTO, A. MARTIN (Eds.), Teologia della follia, pp. 11–16. (In Italian). ISBN: 9788857516219

•  Bruno e Nietzsche: la furiosa esaltazione della terra in M. GERETTO, A. MARTIN (Eds.), Teologia della follia, pp. 85–102. (In Italian). ISBN: 9788857516219

INVITED OR ACCEPTED PRESENTATIONS TO PEER-REVIEWED, INTERNATIONALLY ESTABLISHED CONFERENCES

• Rome (2024): The XXV World Congress of Philosophy, Rome, 1-8 August, 2024. I will chair a Round Table entitled “The Role of Religion between AI and Virtual Reality: the Trans-/Posthumanist Point of View” (https://wcprome2024.com/round-tables/). The title of my paper in the Round Table is: The Potential Religious Role of AI and the Metaverse. (In English).

• Palermo (2024): The 7th International Annual European Academy of Religion (EU.A.RE.) Conference, May 20-23, 2024. I will chair a panel entitled “Reflections on Vattimo’s Philosophy of Religion” (https://www.europeanacademyofreligion.org/it/accepted-proposals). The title of my paper in the panel is: Farewell to Truth VS Necessity of Metaphysics. (In English).

• Hannover (2023): XI International Leibniz Congress, Hannover 31 July - 4 August, 2023 (see ARTICLES for the participation to other edition of the International Leibniz Congress).

• Münster (2023): The Political and the Demonic: Imaginations of Subject and Collectivity in Abrahamic Traditions – International Conference at Münster University, Münster 9-11, February 2023 (Invited by Dr. Samuel Pomeroy to give a paper on the topic “Leibniz’s Cosmopolitical Angelology). (In English).

• Bologna (2022): The 5th International Annual European Academy of Religion (EU.A.RE.) Conference, June 20-23, 2022. Inside the Conference, I chaired a panel of 6 speakers entitled Finding Room for Religion and Mysticism in Trans-/Posthuman Philosophies. A paper entitled  Posthuman Instances in St. Francis’ Canticle of Creatures and in Meister Eckhart’s Conception of “Nothingness” was my personal contribution to the panel. (In English).

• Münster (2021): The 4th International Annual European Academy of Religion (EU.A.RE.) Conference, August, 30 – September, 2 2021. In that edition I chaired a panel of 7 speakers entitled “Posthumanism, Mythology and Religion in Contemporary Society”. The title of my paper in the panel was: Mythology and Religion in Trans-/Posthuman Philosophies. (In English).

• Roma (2019): I.L.I.E.S.I. (C.N.R.) – Università “La Sapienza”. Giornate di Studio. 28-29 November 2019. Leibniz e l’Italia. (Invited speaker. Invited by Dr. Roberto Palaia to give a paper on the topic “Monadologie in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento: Rosmini, Corleo, Varisco”). (In Italian).

• Bordeaux (2019): Université Bordeaux Montaigne. Colloque International, 12-13 November 2019. Réception et usages croisés de Spinoza et Leibniz. (Invited speaker. Invited by Prof. Arnaud Lalanne to give a paper on the topic “Considérations sur la question du “Néo-leibnizianisme” de Deleuze”). (In French).

• Fribourg (CH) (2019): Université de Fribourg. Journée d’études en philosophie médiévale, 23-24 October 2019. Sur les traces de l’angélologie médiévale à l’époque modern: Descartes et Leibniz. (Invited speaker – invited by Prof. Tiziana Suarez-Nani to give a paper on the topic “La réception de l’angélologie médiévale chez G.W.Leibniz”). (In French).

• Lille (2019): The 11th Beyond Humanism Conference. Critical Posthumanism & Transhumanism. The Posthuman Paradigm Shift, 9-12 July 2019. (Accepted presentation on the topic Angelic nature, human nature and “trans-/posthuman beings”. Ancient and new paradigms for understanding the differences between Transhumanism and Posthumanism. (In English).

• Bologna (2019): The 2nd International Annual European Academy of Religion (EU.A.RE.) Conference, 4-7 March 2019. (Invited speaker in the “philosophy of religion” panel. Invited by Prof. Giovanni Cogliandro to give a paper on the topic “The question of religious experience in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and in the development of contemporary posthuman studies”). (In English).

• Wrocław (2018): The 10th Beyond Humanism Conference. Cultures of the Posthuman. University of Lower Silesia, 18-21 July 2018. (Accepted presentation on the topic An inquiry into the limits of a trans-/post-/human interpretation of the “Theseus’ship paradox”). (In English).

• Lyon (2016): International Congress on “Leibniz et l’harmonie”, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 10-12 March 2016. (Accepted presentation on the topic “Sur les multiples significations de la doctrine leibnizienne de “l’harmonie préétablie””). (In French).

• Paris (2014): Sorbonne, 12th March 2014. (Invited by Prof. Paul Rateau and “Groupe de recherche sur Leibniz” to present the monograph L’angelologia leibniziana (2010)). (In English).

• Hannover (2013): Internationale Konferenz on “G.W. Leibniz im Lichte der Theologien”, 25–28 September. (Invited speaker on the topic “On Leibniz’s Christocentric thought”). (In English).

• Padua (2013): University of Padua, 10th April 2013. (Invited by Prof. Gianfranco Frigo to present the edition/translation “E. D’ORS, Sull’esistenza e l’assistenza degli angeli. L’angelologia in cinquecento parole, (M. Geretto – Ed.), Morcelliana, Brescia 2012”). (In Italian).