Mario De Caro (born 1963) is an Italian

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, professor of

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

at the University of Rome III in Italy. Since 2000, he has also been teaching at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, where he is regularly a visiting professor. He is interested in moral philosophy, the free-will controversy,

theory of action Action theory may refer to: * Action theory (philosophy), an area in philosophy concerned with the processes causing intentional human movement * Action theory (sociology), a sociological theory established by the American theorist Talcott Parson ...

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

, Donald Davidson's and

Hilary Putnam Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist, and figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He contributed to the studies of philosophy of ...

's philosophies, and early modern philosophy. With David Macarthur, he has defended a metaphilosohical view called liberal naturalism.

Career

De Caro spent two years at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

as a visiting graduate student and one as a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He is the editor of ''Interpretations and Causes: New Perspectives on Donald Davidson’s Philosophy'', ''Naturalism in Question'' with David Macarthur, ''Cartographies of the Mind: Philosophy and Psychology in Intersection'', ''Naturalism and Normativity'' (with David Macarthur), ''Philosophy in an Age of Science: Physics, Mathematics and Skepticism'' (with David Macarthur), and ''In Dialogue'', two volumes of philosophical papers by Hilary Putnam by

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. He is associate editor of ''The Journal of the American Philosophical Association'' and ''Ancient Philosophy Today'' and a member of the editorial boards of ''The European Journal of Analytic Philosophy''. He regularly contributes to the cultural pages of ''

Il Sole 24 Ore (; English: "The Sun 24 Hours") is the Italian financial newspaper of record, owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation. is the leading financial daily in Italy. History and profile was first published on 9 November 1965 as ...

'' and has written for the cultural sections of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

'', and ''

Il Manifesto (; English: "the manifesto") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Rome, Italy. While calling itself " communist" and broadly left-wing, it is not connected to any political party A political party is an organization that coordin ...

''. He is the vice president of the Consulta Nazionale di Filosofia (a grouping of Italian academic philosophers) and a former president of the Italian Society of Analytic Philosophy (2010–2012). De Caro has given talks in numerous countries, at academic institutions such as

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, Harvard,

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

, Dartmouth,

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College (Indiana), Case Western Reserve (Ohio),

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, United States. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner ...

University of Massachusetts at Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

, Paris IV-Sorbonne,

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, among others, as well as at over sixty Italian universities. The asteroid 5329 Decaro is named in his honor.NASA entry for 5329
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Caro, Mario 1963 births Living people 20th-century Italian philosophers 21st-century Italian philosophers Boston College faculty Case Western Reserve University faculty Colby College faculty Dartmouth College faculty Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty Academic staff of Heidelberg University Academic staff of Paris-Sorbonne University Princeton University faculty Tufts University faculty University of Notre Dame faculty