View source for Biography:Achille Varzi (philosopher)

{{short description|Italian-born philosopher (born 1958)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| region = [[Philosophy:Western philosophy|Western philosophy]]
| era    = [[Philosophy:Contemporary philosophy|Contemporary philosophy]]
| image  = File:Achille Varzi - Trento 2013.JPG
| name   = Achille C. Varzi
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|5|8|df=y}}
| birth_place= Galliate
| main_interests =  [[Philosophy:Philosophical logic|Philosophical logic]], [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]]
| institutions   =  [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]]
| alma_mater = [[Organization:University of Toronto|University of Toronto]]<br />[[Organization:University of Trento|University of Trento]]
| school_tradition = [[Philosophy:Analytic philosophy|Analytic]]
| notable_ideas    = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students =
}}
'''Achille C. Varzi''' (born May 8, 1958) is an Italian-born philosopher who is [[Biography:John Dewey|John Dewey]] Professor of [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]] at [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/achille-c-varzi |title=Achille C. Varzi &#124; Philosophy |website=philosophy.columbia.edu |access-date=2022-02-28}}</ref> He graduated from the [[Organization:University of Trento|University of Trento]] and received his PhD in philosophy from the [[Organization:University of Toronto|University of Toronto]]. Varzi is also Bruno Kessler Honorary Professor at the [[Organization:University of Trento|University of Trento]] and, since 2017, Visiting Professor at the University of Italian Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020|title=Professors|url=https://www.usi.ch/en/education/master/philosophy/professors|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001010749/https://www.usi.ch/en/education/master/philosophy/professors |archive-date=2020-10-01 |access-date=November 14, 2020|website=usi.ch - Master in Philosophy}}</ref>

==Work==
Varzi has made notable contributions to the fields of [[Philosophy:Philosophical logic|philosophical logic]] (mainly [[Vagueness|vagueness]], [[Philosophy:Supervaluationism|supervaluationism]], [[Philosophy:Paraconsistent logic|paraconsistency]], formal semantics) and [[Philosophy:Metaphysics|metaphysics]] (mainly [[Mereology|mereology]] and [[Mereotopology|mereotopology]], [[Causality|causation]], [[Philosophy:Event|events]], and issues relating to [[Philosophy:Identity|identity]] and persistence through [[Time|time]]). His first book, ''Holes and Other Superficialities'' (1994, with Roberto Casati), was an exploration of the [[Philosophy:Philosophical realism|realist]] ontology of [[Philosophy:Common sense|common sense]] and naive physics. His more recent work is inspired by a [[Philosophy:Nominalism|nominalist]]-[[Philosophy:Conventionalism|conventionalist]] stance.

Varzi is currently an editor of ''[[Philosophy:The Journal of Philosophy|The Journal of Philosophy]]'' and an advisory editor of the ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''. Varzi is also a prolific writer for the general public and contributes regularly to several Italian newspapers.

Achille C. Varzi is a second cousin of the Italian racecar driver Achille Varzi.

==Books==
* ''Mereology'' (with A. J. Cotnoir), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.
* ''I colori del bene'', Naples: Orthotes, 2015.
* ''Le tribolazioni del filosofare. Comedia Metaphysica ne la quale si tratta de li errori & de le pene de l’Infero'' (with Claudio Calosi), Rome: Laterza, 2014.
* ''Ontologie'', Paris, Ithaque, 2010.
* ''Il mondo messo a fuoco'', Rome: Laterza, 2010. 
* ''Insurmountable Simplicities. Thirty-nine Philosophical Conundrums'' (with Roberto Casati), New York: Columbia University Press, 2006; also translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Greek, Chinese, Korean.
* ''Il pianeta dove scomparivano le cose. Esercizi di immaginazione filosofica'' (with Roberto Casati), Torini: Einaudi, 2006.
* ''Parole, oggetti, eventi e altri argomenti di metafisica'', Rome: Carocci, 2001.
* ''An Essay in Universal Semantics'', Dorrecht, Kluwer, 1999.
* ''Parts and Places. The Structures of Spatial Representation'' (with Roberto Casati), Boston (MA): MIT Press, 1999.
* ''Theory and Problems of Logic'' (with John Nolt and Dennis Rohatyn), New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998.
* ''Holes and Other Superficialities'' (with Roberto Casati), Boston (MA): MIT Press, 1994.

==See also==
*American philosophy
*List of American philosophers

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links==
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~av72/complete.html Complete bibliography]
* [https://philosophy.columbia.edu/content/achille-c-varzi Varzi's personal webpage at Columbia University]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~av72/bio.html Varzi's "negative" biography]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Varzi, Achille}}
[[Category:Analytic philosophers]]

{{Sourceattribution|Achille Varzi (philosopher)}}