Lorenzo Magnani

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Lorenzo Magnani (born 1952), is an Italian philosopher who teaches logic and epistemology in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pavia, where he directs the Computational Philosophy Laboratory. He is a visiting professor at the Sun Yat-sen University in China.

Magnani's primary research interests are the philosophy of science, logic, and artificial intelligence. His historical research has centered on 19th and 20th century geometry and the philosophy of geometry.

Currently^{[citation needed]} he is studying the processes of conceptual innovation and change in science. A major objective of his research is to create a working synthesis between epistemological and historical perspectives and investigations of representations and reasoning in the cognitive sciences.

His previous positions have included visiting researcher (Carnegie Mellon University, 1992; McGill University, 1992-93; University of Waterloo, 1993; and the Georgia Institute of Technology, 1995 and 1998-99) and visiting professor (visiting professor of Philosophy of Science and Theories of Ethics at Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999-2003; Weissman Distinguished Visiting Professor at Baruch College, City University of New York, 2003).

He has directed and directs many international academic programs in collaboration with USA and China.^{[citation needed]}

Lorenzo Magnani has served as chair at the following International Conferences:^{[citation needed]}

MBR 98: Model-based reasoning in Scientific Discovery, with Nancy J. Nersessian and Paul Thagard
MBR 01: Model-Based Reasoning: Scientific Discovery, Technological innovation, Values, with Nancy J. Nersessian,
MBR 04: Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Engineering, Abduction, Visualization, and Simulation
MBR 06: Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Medicine, with P. Li, in China.
E-CAP 2004: Italy - Computing and Philosophy

He also edited seven new books (two in Chinese) and many special issues deriving from the international conferences indicated above.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Books

In Italian

Non-Euclidean Geometries (1978)
Applied Epistemology (1991)
Textbook of Logic: Classical Logic and Logic of Common Sense (1997)

In English

A computational Model of Diagnostic Reasoning (1989)
Abductive Reasoning: Philosophical and Educational Perspectives in Medicine (1992)
Introduction to Computational Philosophy (1997)
Abduction, Reason, and Science. Processes of Discovery and Explanation (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 2001);
Philosophy and Geometry. Theoretical and Historical Issues (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2001)
Morality in a Technological World. Knowledge as a Duty (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) develops a philosophical and cognitive theory of the relationships between ethics and technology in a naturalistic perspective. The book describes how modern technology has brought about consequences of such magnitude that old policies and ethics can no longer contain them.