Alberto Burgio (born in Palermo 1955) graduated in Modern
Literature at the University of Pavia in 1978 and in Philosophy at
the Università Statale in Milano in 1983.
In 1989 Research Fellow, with tenure in History of Philosophy at
Faculty of Sciences of Education of the University of Urbino.
In 1993 Associate Professor in History of Philosophy at the
Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna, where he is
since 2000 Full Professor.
2006-2008 Member of the Parliament of the Italian
Republic.
2009-2011 Director of the Department of Philosophy of the University
of Bologna
2016-2018 - Member of the Commission for National Scientific Qualification in the Disciplinary Sector 11 / C5 (History of Philosophy).
Since 2011 Member of the Academy of Sciences of the University of Bologna.
Lectures, seminars, courses held at colleges and other universities:
2002 -2006 “History of Racism” for the I-Level Master in
«Socio-educational Strategies of Interculturality» at the Faculty
for Science Education at the University of Bologna;
2005-2010 «Images of Race in Scientific Literature» as Teaching
Fellow at the Faculty for Science Education of the University “Suor
Orsola Benincasa” in Napoli.
1992-2012 Seminars at the Istituto di Studi filosofici di
Napoli.
He mainly dealt with the history of political philosophy and the philosophy of history with studies on Rousseau and modern contractualism, Kant and German idealism, the theory of history between Adam Smith and Marx, Italian Marxism (with particular reference to Antonio Labriola and Gramsci), racism and Nazism. During forty years, his research has developed in multiple directions, but on the basis of a unitary assumption: the idea that is possible to read the modern and contemporary philosophical debate, between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries, as a conscious discussion on modernity and its evolutionary logics: on the genesis, characteristics, potentials and pathologies of the modern world. Hence the studies on the theories of the social contract, read as an analysis of the dialectic of individualism; the research on the history and logic of racist ideologies, studied as manifestations of the discomfort (of the unconscious sense of guilt) generated by the tension between universalistic principles and discriminatory practices; the study of the interactions between philosophical reflection and economic-political investigation; the historical-critical analysis of the Marxist macro-text and its antecedents in the context of "German classical philosophy"; the rereading, finally, of the philosophy of history in 18th and 19th century in the background, on the one hand, of the crisis of the providentialist paradigm and, on the other, of the increasingly clear awareness of the impact of systemic (economic-social) dynamics and of the conscious and unconscious paths of the collective mind.
Review Membership of Chief and/or Scientifical Board:
«marxismo oggi»; «Studi settecenteschi»; «Dianoia. Annali di
storia della filosofia del Dipartimento di filosofia
dell'Università di Bologna»; «Rivista sperimentale di freniatria»;
«Studi sulla questione criminale»; «Critica marxista»;
«Psicoterapia e scienze umane»; «Historical Materialism»;
«Characteristica Universalis Journal»; «Minority Reports. Cultural Disability Studies».
Member of the Scientific Committee of National Critical
Edition of the Works of Antonio Labriola (in the framework of which he edited the critical edition of the first and of the third essay on the materialistic conception of history) and of the italian edition of the Complete Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
He founded the «Labirinti» series of the DeriveApprodi publishing house in Rome in 2012 and co-directed it until 2024; he fuonded and is co-director of the «La corda pazza» series of the Milieu publishing house in Milan.
He is member of the scientific committee of the series «Lavoro critico» of the Quodlibet publishing house in Rome; of the Claudio Sabattini Foundation; of the management, editorial and scientific committees of several journals, including: «dianoia» (journal of the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna), «Rivista sperimentale di freniatria», «Studi sulla questione criminale», «critica marxista», «Psicoterapia e scienze umane», «Historical Materialism», «Characteristica Universalis Journal», «Minority Reports. Cultural Disability Studies»; «La Revue Rousseau».
Awards:
2007 international prize “Giuseppe Sormani” of the Istituto
Gramsci Piemonte
2007 prize “Luigi Salvatorelli” for History of Contemporary
Political Thought.
2008 prize “FestivalStoria” for Racial Studies.
