Understanding Homo Individualis

Contemporary Views on Individual and Individuality

Conference
In-person
Save the date: 24 to 26 September 2025

Keynote Speakers

Kristina Musholt

José Luis Bermúdez

Guido Baggio

Wenjing Cai

 

 

 

 

 

Organizers

Claudia Cavaliere

Filippo Nobili

Celia Cabrera

Pierluigi D’Agostino

 


Download UHI Booklet


 

 

About the Conference

The research project “Understanding Homo Individualis” takes homo individualis to stand for a conceptual structure accounting for the intrinsic individuality of human beings, this individuality being essentially irreducible to physical, biological, mental, or sociological determinations. The purpose of the conference is to stimulate discussion among scholars of a variety of philosophical orientations regarding the consciousness of one’s own individuality, thereby contributing to the current theoretical and practical debates.


Conference Program

24 September 2025

Sala delle edicole

14:00 – 15:00

Registration

15:00 – 15:30

Opening Ceremony

15:30 – 16:45

Kristina Musholt

(University of Leipzig)

On Learning to Think about Oneself: From Quasi-Predicates to Spatially Grounded ‘I’-Thoughts

Moderator: Claudia Cavaliere

———-

16:45 – 17:00 – Coffee Break

———-

17:00 – 18:15

José Luis Bermúdez

(Texas A&M University)

What Would Count as a Theory of the Self?

Moderator: Celia Cabrera

25 September 2025

10:00 – 11:15

Sala delle Edicole

Guido Baggio

(Roma Tre University)

The Gestural Genesis of the Self

Moderator: Filippo Nobili

———-

11:15 – 11:30 – Coffee Break

———-

11:30 – 13:00

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Stan Pilischenko (University of Würzburg)
Becoming King of China: Parfit Revisited through Leibniz’s and Locke’s Lenses

Cristiano Leone (Sapienza University Rome)
Sidgwick (and Parfit): Personal Identity and Egoism

Francesco Catanzaro (Ca’ Foscari University)
Selfless agents. The Missing Link Between Individuality and Intersubjectivity in Buddhist Philosophy

Moderator: Andrea Altobrando

Aula AIS2

Paulina Alejandra Morales Guzman (Leiden University – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
The Uniqueness of Expression as the Fulfillment of Singularity and the Deconstruction of Individuality in Merleau-Ponty

Sabrina De Biasio (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Jyväskylä University)
Gender Atmospheres: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Gender Identity, Affectivity, and Constraint

Necdet Yildiz (Anadolu University)
The Lost Self and the Other: Singularity, Friendship, and Digital Dissociation

Moderator: Marco Deodati

———-

13:00 – 14:15 – Lunch Break

———-

14:15 – 15:15

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Cristina Cristea (University of Bucharest)
Affective Singularities: Narrative Identity and the Affective Structure of Self-Other Relation

Markus Pawelzik (RWTH Aachen University)
On Homo Individualis as a Psychological Subject Matter

Moderator: Joshua Bergamin

Aula AIS2

Francesca Casciotta (University of Jena)
Self, Consciousness, and Attention in Husserl’s Ideas I

Celia Cabrera (University of Padua)
Husserl on Individual Vocation and the Idea of an Individual Categorical Imperative

Moderator: Laura Oppi

———-

15:15 – 15:30 – Coffee Break

———

15:30 – 16:30

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Claudia Cavaliere (University of Padua)
Self-Knowledge from the Outside In: A Non-Givennist Account

Simon Skempton
Haecceity and Subjectivity

Moderator: Filippo Nobili

Aula AIS2

Riccardo Valenti (Ca’ Foscari University; Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Becoming Person(s): Enzo Paci’s Philosophy of Right and Political Science

Eric John Russell (University of Louvain)
Homo Opinicus: Toward a Critical Theory of Opinion

Moderator: Benedetta Cogo

———-

16:30 – 17:00 – Coffee Break

———-

17:00 – 18:15

Sala delle Edicole

Wenjing Cai

(Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

Shame and Freedom Revisited: A Phenomenological Perspective

Moderator: Antonio M. Nunziante

26 September 2025

10:00 – 10:45

Visit to Bo Palace

11:30 – 12:30

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Li Yingkai (Capital Normal University)
The Paradox of Self and Other: Kojève’s Resolution

Elena Billwiller (University of Padua)
Work and the Constitution of Individuality

Moderator: Stan Pilischenko

Aula AIS2

Lucas de Dietrich (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Homo Pluralis. Against a Common Misconception of the Individual

Dominika Dziurosz-Serafinowicz (Warsaw University of Life Sciences)
In Defense of Individualism: A Case of Lying

Moderator: Claudia Cavaliere

———-

12:30 – 14:00 – Lunch Break

———-

14:00 – 15:00

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Benedetta Cogo (University of Wollongong)
Getting Personal in the Philosophy of Psychiatry

Shiho Sugiura (Hokkaido University)
From Individual Identity to Relational Co-Authorship: Rethinking Authenticity in Trauma

Moderator: Giulia Lanzirotti

Aula AIS2

Joshua Bergamin (University of Vienna)Playing with Style: Authenticity and Individual Subjectivity in Musical Improvisation

Xu Zhao (University of Padua)
Finitude as Origin: Individuality, Style, and Creative Expression in the Age of Dance Standardization

Moderator: Ilaria Iannuccilli

———-

15:00 – 15:15 – Coffee Break

———-

15:15 – 16:15

Parallel Sessions

Aula Film

Laura Oppi (University of Copenhagen)
‘No One Mourns the Wicked’ . How Solitary Confinement Erodes Personal Identity

Luca Zanetti (University of Bologna; University of Verona)
Heteronymy and Existential Suffering in Fernando Pessoa

Moderator: Celia Cabrera

Aula AIS2

Francesco Azzarone (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa)
Social Aesthetics and the Understanding of Modern Individuality

Diego Díaz Hormazábal (University Diego Portales; University of Padua)
Nietzsche’s Ich and Selbst: Between Self-Consciousness and Responsibility for Oneself

Moderator: Elena Billwiller

———-

16:15 – 16:30 – Coffee Break

———-

16:30 – 18:00

Sala delle Edicole

Andrea Altobrando, Marco Deodati, Alice Pugliese

(Homo Individualis Research Directors)

The Idea of Homo Individualis and its Horizons


Keynote Speakers

Kristina Musholt

Professor of Cognitive Anthropology in the Department of Philosophy at Leipzig University

José Luis Bermúdez

Texas A&M University

Professor, Philosophy & Humanities

Samuel Rhea Gammon Professor, Liberal Arts

Guido Baggio

Professor of Theoretical Philosophy

Roma Tre University

Wenjing Cai

Professor of Philosophy

Shanghai Jiao Tong University


Venue

Palazzo del Capitanio, piazza Capitaniato 3, Padova

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EyjUkvWjhP4N2P2Z7

Transportation

The nearest international airport is Marco Polo Airport of Venice. You can reach Padua from Marco Polo Airport of Venice by bus (Timetables are available here). Travel time is about 70 minutes. Tickets can be bought at the airports. You can also reach Padua with Taxi Air Service (www.airservicepadova.it). Travel time is about 40 minutes.

The train station is about 1.6 km from conference venues. Local buses and taxis are available outside the station. For taxis, call Radio Taxi (+39 049 651333 – www.taxipadova.it)

Padova is temporarily undergoing significant traffic disruption due to implementation works on the tram line. Besides general discomfort, some bus stops have been moved and you may get confused. Almost everything in the city centre is within walking distance, so we suggest to prefer walking anytime you can!