News
Save the Date | Theorizing Gender Inequality: Renaissance and Early Modern Perspectives
International Workshop | 21-22 May 2026
The two-day workshop aims to explore Renaissance and early modern accounts of the genesis of gender inequality. It will take place in the Aula Mario Baratto and online via Zoom (hybrid). To attend, please fill out the registration form. Contributions examine how feminist writings explained the emergence of gender-based injustice and patriarchal oppression against women and other non-hegemonic genders.
ARCHIVIO. Keynote Lecture by Dayanita Singh
On Tuesday, April 28, Ca' Foscari University of Venice will host a keynote lecture by photographer and artist Dayanita Singh, scheduled for 3:30 pm in the Aula Magna Silvio Trentin at Ca' Dolfin. The lecture, part of the public program for the ARCHIVIO exhibition at the State Archives of Venice, will be held as a conversation with professors Cristina Baldacci and Stefania Portinari, along with curator Andrea Anastasio, and will conclude with an open discussion with the audience. At the heart of the meeting is Singh’s practice in relation to the archive, understood not only as a space for preserving memory, but also as a site for the production of meaning and future possibilities, at a time when the modern model of the archive is undergoing profound rethinking.
Call for Applications | Summer School of Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy: What is alive and what is dead in phenomenology?
Deadline: 1 May 2026
The SSPPP2026 Summer School invites participants to reflect on the role and significance of phenomenology in contemporary philosophy and culture. The programme explores why phenomenology remains a vital philosophical current today, its place among the expanding fields of contemporary research, and whether its most radical project (Husserl’s transcendental investigation into the foundations of knowledge) still holds philosophical relevance. More broadly, the school considers how phenomenology, in its many developments since Husserl, can help address the pressing questions raised by science and technology and the challenges of the present historical moment. Applicants should send a CV and a sample of writing (optional) to phenomenologysummerschool@gmail.com
Anthropocene in Venice - MOOC Registrations Open
The Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in collaboration with NICHE / the UNESCO Chair “Water Heritage and Sustainable Development”, is proud to announce a new MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) devoted to Venice as an emblematic case of the climate crisis and the Anthropocene.
Our research
Research areas
The Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage (DFBC) encompasses four main research areas: philosophical science, art history, social science, and education.
Each of these areas contributes to the building of knowledge that is interdisciplinary, international, and characterised by critical thinking. Such knowledge embraces the various branches of philosophy (theoretical philosophy, the philosophy of logic, moral philosophy, political philosophy, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of science), as well as history of the arts (architecture, art, museum studies) and performing arts (music, theatre, dance, cinema, audiovisual media). It also engages with various pedagogical perspectives regarding education, and with the complex and profound changes happening in society, which require new and sustainable models of governance and development.
Our Department among the top Departments in Italy in terms of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funding in the fields of arts and humanities. We also host 9 European Research Council grantees. The decidedly interdisciplinary approach of our research makes the Department an ideal platform for project design at a national, European and international level.
P-AGE - Social Defence. Uncovering the Transnational Epistemology of the Punitive Age.
Principal Investigator: Xenia Manuela Chiaramonte
Length: 60 months (from 1/06/2025)
UnMaP - The Uncharted Margins of Philosophy: An AI-Enhanced Material History of Arabic Logic Across Time (12th-19th c.) and Frontiers (from Spain to India)
Principal Investigator: Silvia Di Vincenzo;
Length: 60 months (from 1/03/2025)
I-STREAM - Islands in the Stream: Climate-related Disasters and the Rhythms of Caribbean Music
Principal Investigator: Ofer Gazit;
Length: 60 months (from 1/11/2024)
The publications of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage reflect the heterogeneous interests of its community. Most of the publications regard philosophy, art history, social sciences and education.
The Department also publishes articles on history, psychology, architecture, chemistry, mathematics and law, thanks to the expertise of some staff members. Publications are often interdisciplinary. The Department’s international outlook is resulting in the publication of an increasing number of articles in languages other than Italian. T
he bibliographic information regarding the Department’s publications can be accessed through ARCA, Ca’ Foscari’s open-access archive.