I was born in Florence, Italy. I studied philosophy at the University of Florence, the University of London, and the University of Maryland, College Park. I specialize in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. My main interests are in the philosophy of literature and the philosophy of the visual arts. Currently, I am working on the intersections between artistic value and values of other sorts, on the nature of depiction, and on the imaginative engagement with narratives.

I wrote my PhD dissertation, titled Artistic and Ethical Values in the Experience of Narratives, at the University of Maryland, College Park, under the supervision of Jerrold Levinson.

I am currently a Professor of Philosophy at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania.  Prior to moving to Lafayette, I held appointments at Wayne State University and at Grand Valley State University.

My most recent publications include:

• “Popular Song and Ethics: Ethical Perspectives and Personal Qualities.” British Journal of Aesthetics (forthcoming 2025).
• “The Modes of Sympathy: The Prototype Theory’s Response to Noël Carroll.” Philosophy and Literature (forthcoming 2024).
• Aesthetics: The Key Thinkers (edited).  Second, expanded edition.  New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2021.
• “Portraiture and Portrait-Seeing: From Caravaggio to Digital Selfies.”  In Hans Maes, ed., Portraits and Philosophy (2020).
• “The Finale of A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” Film and Philosophy (2017).
• “Ethical Criticism in Perspective: A Defense of Radical Moralism.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2013).
• “Ethicism, Particularism, and Artistic Categorization.” Ethical Perspectives (2013).
• Aesthetics: The Key Thinkers (edited).  New York and London: Continuum 2012.
• “Cognitive Value and Imaginative Identification: The Case of Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.”  Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2010).
• “In Sympathy with Narrative Characters.”  Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2009).
• “In and Out: The Dynamics of Imagination in the Engagement with Narratives.” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2008).
• “The Ethical Criticism of Art: A New Mapping of the Territory.”  Philosophia (2007).

(A longer list of publications, with links to texts, is posted under the Research link.)