Selected Publications
Selected articles
“Pragmatic Aspects of Legislative Intent,” The American Journal of Jurisprudence, vol. 64, no. 1 (2019): 125-138.
“The Opacity of Law: On the Hidden Impact of Experts' Opinion on Legal Decision-making,” Law and Philosophy, vol. 40, no. 5 (2021): 509-543.
“Legislative Intentions and Counterfactuals: Or, What One Can Still Learn from Dworkin's Critique of Legal Positivism,” Ratio Juris, vol. 36, no. 1 (2023): 26-47.
“Scenario Analysis in Karlsruhe: Exploring New Argumentative Steps of the Federal Constitutional Court,” German Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 5 (2024): 707-725.
Books
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En busca de lo implícito
This volume brings together philosophical-legal essays written over the course of twenty years. Despite variations in interests, language, and style, they share a common thread: investigating what remains implicit in the discourse of law and about law—that is, the background of theoretical and philosophical assumptions that gives meaning to the words of the legislator, of legal practitioners, and of scholars themselves. The central claim is that every legal discourse—the lawyer's opinion, the judge's reasoning, the official's administrative act, the jurist's analysis—presupposes, often unconsciously, answers to the classic questions of the philosophy of law: what law is, its origin and purpose, and how it relates to morality and politics. In doing so, each person takes on metaphysical, epistemological, metaethical, or political-theoretical commitments. Making these commitments explicit and critically discussing them is, for the author, an essential philosophical task: it allows for a clearer awareness of what law is for us and, at the same time, opens up the possibility of conceiving it differently.
The Planning Theory of Law. A Critical Reading
A collection of essays that grew out of a 2009 workshop at Bocconi with Scott Shapiro on his "planning theory of law." Writing first on a draft and then on the published version of Legality, the authors offer a critical reading that highlights both the merits of the theory and its problematic aspects, bringing out the differences between the continental/civil law and common law perspectives, and covering, on the whole, Shapiro's theory in its entirety.
Per una filosofia inferenzialista del diritto. Ragionamento e interpretazione giuridica
The essays collected here outline an inferentialist conception of legal reasoning, based on the idea that linguistic content arises from a "game of giving and asking for reasons." The volume offers an alternative account of the content of normative texts, the indeterminacy of norms, the limits of judicial discretion, and the distinction between express/unexpressed norms and extensive interpretation/analogy, with the aim of making explicit what is implicit in legal practice.
Conflitti pratici: Quando il diritto diventa immorale
What happens when the law imposes behaviors or denies opportunities that citizens perceive as unacceptable, in conflict with their own ultimate reasons for action? The book examines conflicts between law and morality that touch the personal sphere—the body, identity, emotional relationships, life projects—analyzing their structure through paradigmatic cases such as euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty, in order to help the reader build their own critical position.
La giustificazione della decisione giudiziale
In contemporary legal systems, judicial decisions must be justified through legal reasons, not merely a psychological account of the decision-making process. The book analyzes the logical aspects of legal argumentation, presenting the model of the judicial syllogism and the distinction between internal and external justification. It discusses both evidentiary arguments (concerning the reconstruction of facts) and interpretive arguments (concerning the norms applicable to the case).
Critical Thinking. Un’introduzione
Critical Thinking teaches how to distinguish good arguments from bad ones, drawing on logic, psychology, and the theory of argumentation and probability. The book introduces the role of reasoning in concrete contexts, and is organized in three parts: the definition and types of argument; deductive arguments (conditionals, counterfactuals); and non-deductive arguments (statistical and probabilistic reasoning, inference to the best explanation, analogy). Finally, it emphasizes how reasoning well helps in evaluating claims and making choices with greater awareness.
Book Chapters
“Legislative Intent, Collective Intentionality and Fictionalism.” In Routledge (45–68), ed. by T. Marquez, C. Valentini. 2021.
“Legal Reasoning.” In Jurisprudence in the Mirror (417–444), ed. by L. Burazin, K.E. Himma, G. Pino. Oxford University Press, 2024.
“A Contrario Arguments (with G. Tuzet).” In Research Handbook on Legal Argumentation (213–226), ed. by L. Duarte d’Almeida, R. Chang, L. Bermejo-Luque, E. MacDonald, F. Perin Shecaira. Elgar, 2025.
“Inferential Authority in Practical Reasoning.” In Law and the Unity of Practical Reasoning (187–199), ed. by D. Dei Vecchi, S. Figueroa Rubio, P. Rapetti, M.C. Redondo. Hart, 2025.