Eva Picardi

Eva Picardi, born on January 16, 1948, in Reggio Calabria, was a prominent Italian philosopher whose work significantly contributed to analytic philosophy and linguistics. She pursued her higher education at the University of Bologna, graduating in 1970 under the guidance of Alberto Pasquinelli. Her academic journey continued at Somerville College, Oxford, where she obtained her PhD in 1984 with a dissertation focusing on assertibility and truth, supervised by Michael Dummett. Her academic career included postdoctoral studies as a Von Humboldt Fellow in Erlangen/Nürnberg and visiting professorships at the University of Helsinki in 1986 and the University of Bielefeld. In 2009, she was honored as a visiting fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University. Picardi passed away on April 23, 2017, in Bologna. She played a crucial role in the dissemination of analytic philosophy within Italy. This was achieved through her translations and editorial work on seminal texts by contemporary philosophers such as Donald Davidson, Paul Grice, Hilary Putnam, and Michael Dummett. Notably, she edited the Italian version of Dummett's 'The Logical Basis of Metaphysics' and translated his lectures on 'The Origins of Analytic Philosophy.' Picardi maintained a close intellectual relationship with Michael Dummett, even assisting him in finding a venue for playing Tarocchi, a detail relevant to Dummett's extensive work on the subject. Her influence extended to her students, many of whom became academics in Italy, England, Finland, and the United States. Picardi's research attracted citations from distinguished philosophers including Donald Davidson, Saul Kripke, and Michael Dummett. Her academic affiliations included membership in the editorial committees of prominent journals like 'Lingua e stile,' 'European Journal of Philosophy,' and 'Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy.' She also served as president of the Italian Society for Analytic Philosophy from 2000 to 2002 and was the director and principal investigator of the Cogito Research Centre in Philosophy. Her contributions were recognized with membership in the Bologna Academy of Sciences. Her published works include 'Assertibility and Truth: A Study of Fregean Themes' (1981), 'Linguaggio e analisi filosofica' (1992), 'La chimica dei concetti' (1994), and 'Le teorie del significato' (1999).