Email

ndolcini@um.edu.mo

Tel

(853) 8822 8806

Office

E21-4104

Consultation Hours

Mondays and Wednesdays, 15:00-16:00

DOLCINI, Nevia

I am an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Macau, where I also serve as a Primary Faculty member of the Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Institute of Collaborative Innovation, and as Programme Coordinator of the MA in Philosophy. My research lies at the intersection of philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of psychology, and I also have broader interests in epistemology, aesthetics, metaphysics, and cognitive science. I am especially drawn to interdisciplinary work, as I believe many of the most interesting questions about mind and knowledge require perspectives that cut across disciplinary boundaries.

I pursued my studies in Italy, earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Macerata, an MRes in Cognitive Sciences and Philosophy of Mind from the University of Siena, and an MRes in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Macerata, where I had also completed my BA/MA in Philosophy magna cum laude. Before joining UM, I held teaching and research positions at the University of Macerata and at the University of Iowa. I have been a Visiting Scholar at institutions including the University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of the Marche, and the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa.

More information can be found on my ResearchGate page and ORCID profile.

Teaching and Supervision

I have taught a wide range of courses, both at the University of Macau and previously at institutions in Italy and the United States. At UM, my regular teaching includes undergraduate courses such as Introduction to Western Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, and Philosophy of Mind, as well as postgraduate courses including Mind and World and Research Writing.

I am open to supervising potential PhD students with a strong background in analytic philosophy, as well as candidates with training in psychology who are interested in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of philosophy and the cognitive sciences.

Recent Publications

  • [in press]. The Pursuitworthiness of Experiments in Neurolinguistics. European Journal for Philosophy of Science (with Jap, B. A., Wa, K. C., & Politzer-Ahles, S.). Pre-print available at: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26711
  • 2025. Affect and Human Electrophysiological Research (with Jap, B. A., & Alimu S.). Neuroethics 18(1), 2. doi.org/10.1007/s12152-024-09572-3 
  • 2024. Heroines in the East and the West: A Comparative Semiotic Study of Female Imagery in the Anti-Pandemic Discourse in Italy and China (with Valle, V.). Chinese Semiotic Studies 20(4): 647-666. doi.org/10.1515/css-2024-2031
  • 2024. Beyond Cognition and Affect: An Analysis of Anorexia Nervosa within the Framework of Addiction. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. doi.org/10.1007/s13164-024-00745-w
  • 2024. Philosophy as Dia-philosophy: Hector-Neri Castañeda’s Theoretical Defense of Pluralism. Metaphilosophy 00: 1–16. doi.org/10.1111/meta.12681
  • 2023. Gottlob Frege and Gongsun Long in Dialogue: An Exploration of Two Classical Paradoxes from the East and the West (with Carlo Penco). Asian Studies 11 (1): 267-295. doi.org/10.4312/as.2023.11.1.267-295

Monographs:

Dolcini, N. (2012). This is not a Book: Essays on Fictionality. Eum, Macerata.

Dolcini, N. (2009). Le parole e i sensi. Una teoria degli indicali basata sulla percezione [Words and Senses. A perception-based theory for indexical reference]. Eum, Macerata.

Journal Articles & Book Chapters:

Piazza, M. & Dolcini, N. (2020). Possibilities Regained. Neo-Lewisian Contextualism and Ordinary Life. Synthese, 197(11), 4887–4906. (Q1 Philosophy). DOI: 10.1007/s11229-015-0963-2

Dolcini, N. (2018). Moral Beliefs and Cognitive Homogeneity. Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 9(1), 89–94.

Gozli, G. D., & Dolcini, N. (2018). Reaching into the Unknown: Actions, Goal Hierarchies, and Explorative Agency. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 266. DOI: doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00266

Dolcini, N. (2016). The Phantasmatic ‘I’. On Imagination-based Uses of the First-Person Pronoun Across Fiction and Non-fiction. Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 7(3), 321–337.

Dolcini, N. (2016). Philosophy made Visual: an Experimental Study. In L. Magnani and C. Casadio (Eds.), Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology. Logical, Epistemological, and Cognitive Issues. Berlin: Springer, 101–118.

Dolcini, N. (2016). The Pragmatics of Self-Deception. In L. Felline et al. (Eds.), New Directions in Logic and the Philosophy of Science. Cambridge: College Publications, 67–76.

Dolcini, N. (2015). The Mixed-Blessing of Psychological Explanations. Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 6(2), 335–340.

Dolcini, N. (2014). A ‘Kind of Glue’: Castañeda on Fiction. In Adriano Palma (Ed.), Castañeda and his Guises: Essays on the Work of Hector-Neri Castañeda. Berlin-Boston: de Gruyter, 25–38.

Dolcini, N. (2012). The World and Other Stories. Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 483–491.

Dolcini, N. (2011). The Phenomenological Words. In Tymieniecka A.-T. (Ed.), Transcendentalism Overturned. Dordrecht: Springer, 663–674.

Dolcini, N.  (2010). Minding the Developmental Gap: A Theoretical Analysis of the Theory of Mind Data. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 17(7-8), 37–46.

Dolcini, N.  (2010). Is the migration of ficta fiction? In Raspa V. (Ed.), The Aesthetics of the Graz School. Berlin: Ontos Verlag-de Gruyter, 237–260.

Dolcini, N.  (2010). Indexicals and Perception. Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio, 2, 19–41.

Dolcini, N. (2008). The Attribution of Intentional States in Preverbal Children. Gestalt Theory, 30(4), 419–424.

Dolcini, N. (2007). The Analytic/Continental Divide: Entities and Being. Soochow Journal of Philosophical Studies, 16, 283–302.

Dolcini, N. (2007). La comprensione degli enunciati indicali [The Comprehension of indexical terms]. In D. Femia, R. Petrilli (Eds.), Il filo del discorso. Intrecci testuali, articolazioni linguistiche, composizioni logiche. Roma: Aracne, 125–139.

Dolcini, N. (2006). Implicare e tradurre [Translating implicatures]. In Pititto, R., Venezia S. (Eds.), Tradurre e comprendere. Pluralità dei linguaggi e delle culture. Roma: Aracne, 503–510.

Dolcini, N. (2006). La traduzione e le implicature conversazionali [Translation and Conversational Implicatures]. Heteroglossia, 9, 179–198.

Dolcini, N. (2005). Gli indicali come strumento del discorso. Semantica e pragmatica degli indicali nelle teorie di Reichenbach e Benveniste [Indexicals as discourse tools]. Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università di Macerata XXXVIII, 397–409.

Dolcini, N. (2005). Personaggi fittizi e ‘coefficienti di concretezza’ [Fictional Characters and ‘degrees of concreteness’]. Rivista di Estetica 30 (3): 238–243.

Dolcini, N., & Orilia, F. (2005). Il pronome ‘Io’. Dati protofilosofici [The ‘I’: Protophilosophical data]. In L’io allo specchio. Macerata: Edizioni Simple, 61–75.

Dolcini, N. (2005). Borges e il problema dell’identità [Borges and the Problem of Identity]. In Ricci N. G. (Ed.), Borges: Identità, Plurilinguismo, Conoscenza. Milano: Giuffrè, 167–175.

  • MYRG2025-00141-FAH: Language and Consciousness: on subject-less self-reference (PI).
  •  MYRG-GRG2023-00097-FAH: Testimonial Beliefs: Do We Trust Humans and Machines Alike? (PI).
  • MYRG2022-00200-FAH: Mapping the interface between language and music: an fMRI study (Co-I).
  • 2021-24 ICI-CCBS research grant: Neurocognitive Investigation of Executive Functions in Cross-lingual Processing, Brain and Language Cognition Group, CCBS, ICI (CRG member).
  • MYRG 2020-21: Sensing Without Perceiving: on the Metaphysics of Hallucination (PI).
  • 61/DCCT/DSES/2020 FES External Research Fund: The Moral Roots of Quarantine: a comparative study of the moral dimension of quarantine in pandemics across East and West (PI).
  • 2018-20 MYRG: Self-Deception Across East and West (PI).
  • 2017-20 MYRG: Literary Analysis, Analytical Philosophy, and the Historical Novel (Co-I).
  • 2017-18, Special Research Funding: Irrational Thoughts (PI).
  • 2015 Conference Fund Grant & FTREF: The Roots of Fiction: Imagination and Possibilities.
  • 2015 Conference Fund Grant & FTREF: 2nd International Conference on Natural Cognition: Rationality and its Rivals.
  • 2011-16 MYRG: The Logic of Meta-Cognition (PI).
  • 2011-12 Start-Up Research Grant: Indexicals in Fiction (PI).
  • 2007-10 Italian Research Project of National Interest (PRIN): Metaphysics and Science (Co-I).

 

  • Fiction and the Unity of Experience, Peking University, Beijing, 28 May 2025.
  • The Pursuitworthiness of Experiments in Neurolinguistics, Nankai University, Tianjin, 27 May 2025.
  • Mental Images: Philosophical Challenges and Contributions to Cognitive Neuroscience, NeuroTalk Salon, CCBS-ICI, University of Macau, July 9, 2021.
  • On Being Foolish: A Pragmatic Analysis of Self-Deception, Bentobox Lecture Series, FAH, University of Macau, December 16, 2020.
  • Self-Deception and Communication, philosophy seminar, Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, 5 June 2019
  • ‘Indiscernibility’ and ‘Unlikeness’ in the Study of Hallucinations, philosophy seminar, University of Macerata, Macerata, 15 May 2019.
  • States of Hallucination: a Reflection between Philosophy and Science, Marche Polytechnic University, Department of Medicine, Ancona, 14 May 2019.
  • ‘Indiscernibility’ and ‘Unlikeness’ in the Study of Hallucinations, philosophy seminar, University of Trento, 8 May 2019.
  • Self-Deception and Communication, philosophy seminar, University of Genoa, 3 May 2019.
  • On Being Foolish: A Pragmatic Account of Self-Deception, LLC (Logic Language Cognition Center) seminar, University of Turin, 2 May 2019.
  • On Love and Beauty: An Italian Journey, EU Lectures, Moon Chun Memorial College, University of Macau, 13 November 2018.
  • Neo-Lewisian Contextualism and Ordinary Life, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, 13 April 2015.
  • A Robust Sense of Fiction, Hong Kong University, September 2012.
  • Indexicals and Phantoms, University of Urbino, May 2012.
  • Fictional Objects and Existence, University of Chieti-Pescara, October 2010.
  • Indexicals and Consciousness: Contributions from Phenomenology, Alpen-Adria University, Klagenfurt, 6 March 2010.
  • Comments to Simone Gozzano’s “Scientific Essentialism and the Mental”, Continuity and Discreteness between Science and Metaphysics Università di Urbino, 17-19 November 2009.
  • Is the Migration of Ficta a Fictum? Serious Metaphysics Group, University of Cambridge, 26 November 2008.
  • Indexicals and Perception. Northern Illinois University (NIU), DeKalb, April 2008.
  • Indexical gestures and the Theory of Mind, Lecture at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), Centre for Philosophical Psychology, October 2007.
  • The Comprehension of Indexicals: The salience-based model for a semantic theory of indexicals. Lecture at the University of Iowa, Iowa, U.S.A., March 2007.
  • Indexicals:  The Salience-based Model. Lecture at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, U.S.A., March 2007.
  • The salience-based model: Semantic and epistemological aspects of indexicals (in Italian). Seminar on Analytic Philosophy, University of Bologna, May 2006.
  • Il ragionamento clinico: deduzione, induzione e abduzione nella diagnosi clinica [Clinical Reasoning: deduction and abduction in clinical diagnosis]. Seminar (in Italian) on Medicine and Philosophy, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, 2005.
  • Madame Bovary è concreta come una donna o astratta come una legge?, Comments to Carola Barbero. Congress: Il pregiudizio a favore del reale. La teoria dell’oggetto di Alexius Meinong fra ontologia e epistemologia, University of Urbino, 2004.
  • Concepts and Context, Comments to Akeel Bilgrami, Concepts, Self and Consciousness, University of Macerata, 2004.

  • Perspectival Consciousness (with Chu Kin-lok), CoRN 2025 (Consciousness Research Network), Bangkok, Thailand, 5-8 August 2025.
  • Deception: Self, Others, and the Digital World. Opening Remarks, Natural Cognition 4th International Conference, University of Macau, 22 November 2024.
  • Animacy Processing in Chinese (with Bernard Jap, Chu Kin Lok, and Yu-Yin Hsu), 2024 CCBS Symposium, University of Macau, 30 November 2024.
  • Beyond Cognition and Affect: An Analysis of Anorexia Nervosa within the Framework of Addiction, XXV World Congress of Philosophy, La Sapienza, Rome, 1-8 August 2024.
  • Perspectival Consciousness (with Kin-Lok Chu), ASSC27 Satellite Symposium on Embodied and Phenomenological Perspectives on Consciousness, Hokkaido University, 8-10 July 2024.
  • Through the Looking Glass: The Phantom of Reality in Hallucinations, 23rd Symposium “Perception and Reality”, Académie du Midi, Alet-les-Bains, France, 11 June 2024. (Keynote)
  • On Thierry Meynard’s From Matteo Ricci to the Chinese Rites Controversy:  a historical and theological analysis, Macau Ricci Institute, University of Macau, 3 January 2024.
  • This and That. A critical assessment of distance and space in Bühlerian views of spatial deixis, The 8th ICCTI, Chongqing University, 2-4 June, 2023.
  • ‘Italian Heroes’: the role of gender-specific images in the public discourse around the COVID-19 pandemics in Italy (with Veronica Valle),INTERFACEing 2021 “Pandemics & Plagues, Languages & Literatures”, National Taiwan University, October 1-2, 2021.
  • Possibilita’ e Credenze [Possibilities and Beliefs], conference “David K. Lewis: Quale Eredità?”, University of St. Andrews/Arché- University of Milan-University of Bologna, September 10, 2021 (on Zoom). (Keynote)
  • Rationality and Self-Knowledge, Book Launch, Bortolotti L, Miyazono K., Philosophy of Psychology: an Introduction, Polity Press 2021, University of Birmingham, 28 June 2021 (on Zoom). (Keynote)
  • Women at War: the War Metaphor and the Italian Power Structure in Covid-19 Pandemic (with Veronica Valle), Workshop on Forms of Patriarchy, SWIP-Italy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, 15 January 2021 (on Zoom).
  • On Philosophical Method and “Pluralism”, Lisbon-Macau Philosophy Symposium, University of Lisbon, 11-12 December 2019. (Keynote)
  • Liars and Self-Liars: a Pragmatic Analysis of Self-Deception, Analytic Philosophy Roundtable, 2019 Philosophy Forum, University of Peking, 29 Nov-1 December 2019. (Keynote)
  • The intersection of Neuroscience and Philosophy: the case of Hallucinations, 1st Annual Workshop in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, CCBS, University of Macau, 21 September 2019.
  • On Philosophical Method and Pluralism, Singapore – Hong Kong – Macau Symposium on Chinese Philosophy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 24-25 May 2019. (Keynote)
  • Data & Theories: a Reflection on Philosophical Method, Methods Philosophy Forum, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 12-14 April 2019. (Keynote)
  • Self-Deception and Action, Tokyo Workshop on Agency and Cognition 2019, Tokyo, 16-20 February 2019. (Keynote)
  • On Being Foolish, 24th World Congress of Philosophy “Learning to be Human”, Peking University, 17 August 2018.
  • Neural and Phenomenal Level of Cognition: the Case of Indiscernibility, Midterm Conference AISC (Italian Association for Cognitive Science) 2018 “Levels of Cognition”, University of Genoa, Genoa, 27 June 2018.
  • The Moral Significance of Memory Performances, Symposium “Authenticity and Representation”, Hong Kong Poly U & Confucius Institute of Hong Kong, 13 March 2018. (Keynote)
  • Indexical Uses and Context: a Bühlerian Account of Indexical Reference, ECAP 9 European Congress of Analytic Philosophy, LMU Munich, 21-26 August 2017.
  • Reaching into the Unknown: Explorative Agency and Indeterminate Goals, ISTP 2017, The 17th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology, Tokyo, 21-25 August 2017.
  • Vacuous Perceptions. Bridging Possible and Actual Hallucinations, SILFS 2017 (Triennial International Conference of the Italian Society for Logic and Philosophy of Sciences), University of Bologna, Bologna, 20-23 June 2017.
  • Irrational Beliefs and Collective Emotions, 31st International Congress of Psychology, Yokohama, July 24-29 2016. (Keynote)
  • Knowledge and the Imagination of (Actualized) Possibilities, The Roots of Fiction: Possibilities and Imagination, University of Macau, 5-6 December 2015.
  • Philosophy made Visual: an Experimental Study, MBRO’15 (Model Based Reasoning in Science and Technology), University of Pavia, Sestri Levante, 25-27 June 2015.
  • Indexical Utterances: referential mechanisms and situational constraints, 1ST International Symposium on Cognitive Research on Translating and Interpreting, Centre for Studies of Translation, Interpreting, and Cognition, University of Macau, 11-12 December 2014.
  • Is Self-Deception Deceptive?, International Congress of Philosophy, PYTT14, Singapore, 24 November 2014.
  • Workshop on Analytical Philosophy and Contemporary Philosophy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, November 14-16 2014. (Keynote)
  • Context, Indexical, and Perception, Symposium on the Biological Foundations of Language, University of Macau, 9-10 November 2014.
  • Self-Deception without Deception, SILFS 2014 (Triennial International Conference of the Italian Society for Logic and Philosophy of Sciences), Rome, 18-20 June 2014.
  • The Evolution and Function of Reasoning, 1st International Conference on Natural Cognition: Logic Evolution, Organisms, University of Macau, 13-14 December 2013.
  • The Problem of Unconscious Phenomena in Phenomenological Practices, 62nd International Congress of Phenomenology, Lucernaire Centre National d’Art et d’Essai, Paris, 8-10 August 2012.
  • Indexicals and Phantoms, University of Urbino, May 2012. (Keynote)
  • Crossing the Boundaries between Fiction and Reality, ECAP 7 (European Congress of Analytic Philosophy), University of Milan, 1-6 September 2011.
  • Fictional Objects and Existence, Workshop, University of Chieti-Pescara, October 2010. (Keynote)
  • Meta-representational Thinking in Young Children. An analysis of experimental data, ECN 2009 Education, Cognition, Neuroscience, University of Trento, 1-2 October 2009.
  • Minding the Developmental Gap: an Analysis of the Theory of Mind’s Data, International Summer School: “The Social Self”, University of Sassari, Alghero, 24 September 2009.
  • Consciousness: is it wordless? TSC (Towards a Science of Consciousness) Conference, PolyU Hong Kong, 13 June 2009.
  • The Concept of Other Minds: is it innate? Conference: Social Approaches to Consciousness, PolyU Hong Kong, 9 June 2009.
  • Stati Mentali e Comportamento: Problemi di Interfaccia (Mental States and Behavior: the Interface Problem), Congress: Science and Metaphysics, University of Macerata, 5-6 February 2009.
  • The Role of Pre–Linguistic and Linguistic Indexicals in the Theory of Mind, XV Convegno della Società di Filosofia del Linguaggio: Origini e sviluppo del linguaggio, fra teoria e storia, Università della Calabria, Cosenza, 15-17 September, 2008.
  • Music, Time, and Mind. Conference: Science and Culture, Department of Mathematics, University of Pisa, 21 April, 2008.
  • Self-consciousness and Inter-subjectivity in Young Children. Toward a Science of Consciousness 2008, Tucson, University of Arizona, 8-12 April 2008.
  • Meta-representationality and Indexical Thinking. Early Analytic Philosophy Conference, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 4-5 April 2008.
  • Implicit Communication, Conference: La comunicazione come questione antropologica, University of Macerata, November 2007.
  • A Theory of Indexicals based on Perception. First SIFA Graduate Conference: Language, Knowledge, and Metaphysics, 10-12/09, University of Padua, 2007.
  • The Analytic/Continental Divide: Entities and Being. Conference: Early Analytic Philosophy, 19-23 June, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2007.
  • The Attribution of Intentional States in Preverbal Children. GTA (Gestalt Theory and its Applications) International Congress, 24-27/05, University of Macerata, 2007.
  • La comprensione degli enunciati indicali [The comprehension of indexical terms], Convegno della Società Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio: Il filo del discorso, Viterbo, 2006.
  • Aspetti semantici delle implicature [On Semantic Issues of Conversational Implicatures], Convegno della Società di Filosofia del Linguaggio: Tradurre e comprendere. Pluralità dei linguaggi e delle culture, Piano di Sorrento, 2005.
  • How to Single out Things with Words and the Auto-Performativity of the ‘I’. DGS-Kongress (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Semiotik): Stil als Zeichen, Frankfurt/Oder (Germany), 2005.
  • Il corpo e il segno [The Body as a Sign], in Italian. ADI Congress: La Nutrizione Clinica, Ascoli Piceno, 2004.
  • Approccio neuropsicologico agli aspetti della multimedialità [A Neuropsychological approach to multimediality], Conference: Approcci semiotico-testologici ai testi multimediali, University of Macerata, 2000.