Publications

Books

1. Im Anfang war die Tat! Handlungen, Wissensproduktion und das Problem der Philosophiemethode. Schwabe Verlag. Forthcoming (2026).

2. "Biorobotik". Junius Verlag, Zur Einführung 2024.

3. "The Architecture of Evolution: The Science of Form in Twentieth-Century Evolutionary Biology". University of Pittsburgh Press 2023.

• Reviewed in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, The British Journal for the History of Science, Isis, H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews

4. “Entgrenzung. Die Biologisierung der Technik und die Technisierung der Biologie”. Blaue Reihe, Meiner Verlag 2022.

• Reviewed in FAZ, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Scienza e filosofia, Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie 2023/2, Philosophische Rundschau (PhR) 

5. "Technikphilosophie. Neue Perspektiven für das 21. Jahrhundert“. Wbg Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2023 (with Kevin Liggieri and Olivier del Fabbro).

6. “The Constitution of Paleontological Data” Heidelberg: HeiDOK (2015).

Edited Journal Special Issues

1. "New Paths in the Philosophy of Imitating and Learning from Nature”. Proposal accepted in Philosophies (with Henry Dicks). Link

2. “Forma e filosofia: Un dialogo tra scienza, tecnologia ed estetica [Form and Philosophy: A Dialogue between Science, Technology and Aesthetics]”, Scienza e Filosofia 30, 2023,111–273. Link

3. "Morphogenesis – “The Riddles of Form” in Twenty-First-Century Science”. Perspectives on Science 29, no. (5): 559–680. Link

4. "Twentieth-Century Desire for Morphology" Journal of the History of Biology 54, no. 2 (2020): 211–309. Link

5. “Technische und organische Form”. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 68, no. 5 (2020): 705–785 (with Mathias Gutmann). Link

6. "Darwin and the Reception of Evolutionary Theory in Paleontology - A Transnational Perspective" Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences Part C 66, no.4 (2017) (with David Sepkoski). Link

7. “Life Sciences in 20th-Century Italy”. Under review. History and Philosophy of Life Sciences (with Elena Canadelli).

8. “Robots and living organisms: new historical and philosophical perspectives”. In press. Studies in History and Philosophy Science (with Edoardo Datteri). Link

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

1. "Sustainability of AI and robotics: towards a unified framework for intelligence biosystems”. Ai & Ethics (2025).  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-025-00830-5  - Open Access

2. "Homo Translator: Concretizing the Human-in-the-Loop in Bio-Inspired Technologies” Topoi (2025).  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-025-10208-1  - Open Access 

3. “The Ethics of Bioinspired Animal-Robot Interaction: A Relational Meta-Ethical Approach”. Journal of Responsible Technology (2025): 100116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100116 - Open Access  

4. “The Epistemology of Bio-Inspired Disciplines: Unpacking Modelling in Biorobotics”. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science (2025): 38(1), 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/02698595.2024.2447979 - Open Access  

5. “Exploring the transition: biology, technology, and epistemic activities”. Synthese 204, 27 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04675-z - Open Access

6. “The Epistemic Grammar of Bioinspired Technologies: Shifting the Focus from Nature to Scientific Practices”. Technology in Society 78 (2024) 102626 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102626 - Open Access

7. “From Biomimicry to Robotic Co-creation: Rethinking the Boundaries Between Nature and Technology”. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 19, 2 (2024): 10.1088/1748-3190/ad1b2a

8. “Biotechnics and Politics. A Genealogy of Nonhuman Technology”. History of Science (2023) Online first (with Matthew Vollgraff) https://doi.org/10.1177/00732753231187676 - Open Access  

9. “Philosophie der Bionik: Das Komponieren von bio-robotischen Formen". Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 71, no. 1 (2023): 30-51. https://doi.org/10.1515/dzph-2023-0002

10. “The elephant in the room: The biomimetic principle in bio-robotics and embodied AI“. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 97, (2023), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2022.11.007

11. “La costruzione della forma. Percorsi in una filosofia delle forme bio-tecnologiche”, Scienza e Filosofia 30, 2023, 117–137. Open Access

12. “The Circulation of Morphological Knowledge: Understanding ‘Form’ across Disciplines in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries". Isis, 113, 4, (2022): 747–766 https://doi.org/10.1086/722439 

13. “Is biorobotics science? Some theoretical reflections”. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 18, 015005  (with Edoardo Datteri)  Open Access - https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/aca24b

14. “Philosophy of Biorobotics: Translating and Composing Bio-hybrid Forms" Technology and Language, 3(4), 143-159 Open Access -https://doi.org/10.48417/technolang.2022.04.10

15. “The Morphological Problem in Twentieth-Century Italian Biology”. History and Philosophy of Life Sciences 44, 54 (2022). Open Access https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00534-7 

16. “A Plea for a New Synthesis. From Twentieth-Century Paleobiology to Twenty-First-Century Paleontology and Back Again”. Biology 2022, 11, 1120 Open Access - https://doi.org/10.3390/biology 11081120.

17. “Paleontology and Darwinian Theory of Evolution: The Dangerous Role of Statistics at the End of the 19th Century” Journal of the History of Biology 48, no. 4 (2015): 575-612. Winner of the 2017 Everett Mendelsohn Prize, Journal of the History of Biology. Link

18.  ““If the Americans Can Do It, So Can We”: How Dinosaur Bones Shaped German Paleontology”. History of Science 54, no. 3 (2016): 225-256. Honorable mention - Italian Society for The History of Science Award 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0073275316671526

19. “The Body, The Soul, The Robot: 21st-Century Monism”. Technology and Language 4, no. 1 (2022): 29–39 Open Access -https://doi.org/10.48417/technolang.2022.01.04

20. “The Material Turn in Morphology: From Bio-Inspired Robots to Robotics-Inspired Morphology”. Perspectives on Science 28, no. 5 (2021): 643–665. https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00388 

21. “Morphogenesis – “The Riddles of Form” in Twenty-First Century Science”. Perspectives on Science 28, no. 5 (2021): 559–567. https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_e_00383

22. 12. “Abstraction in Contemporary Visual Culture as an Interplay between Imagination, Image and Scientific Knowledge”. Visual Resources 37.2 (2021): 139-154 (with Alessandro Ferraro) https://doi.org/10.1080/01973762.2023.2186768

23. "Challenging the Adaptationist Paradigm: Form, Constraints, and Constructions”. Journal of the History of Biology 54, no. 2 (2020): 269–294. Download the Article - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-020-09604-7  

24. "The Twentieth-Century Desire for Morphology". Journal of the History of Biology 54, no. 2 (2020): 211–216 Download the Article - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-020-09605-6

25. "Technoscientific Approaches to Deep Time". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 79, (2020): 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2019.03.002

26. “Technische Form und Konstruktion”. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 68, no. 5 (2020): 712–733. https://doi.org/10.1515/dzph-2020-0049

27. “Technische und organische Form – ein altes neues Problem?” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 68, no. 5 (2020): 705–711 (with Mathias Gutmann) https://doi.org/10.1515/dzph-2020-0048

28. "Series of forms, visual techniques, and quantitative devices: ordering the world between the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. 41 (4), 49 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-019-0282-x 

29. “Die Frage nach dem wirklichen Julius Cäsar – und warum sie immer noch aktuell ist”. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 67, no. 3 (2019): 392–4123 (with Michele Cardani) https://doi.org/10.1515/dzph-2019-0031

30. “An Image of Science”: Cameralism, Statistics, and the Visual Language of Natural History in the Nineteenth Century”. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences 48, no. 1 (2018): 56-109 (with David Sepkoski). https://doi.org/10.1525/HSNS.2018.48.1.56

31.  “Dati, epistemologia storica e spazi di conoscenza paleontologica”. Iride 31, no. 83 (2018): 49-66. https://doi.org/10.1414/90187

32.  “The Reception of Darwin in Early Nineteenth-Century German Paleontology as a Case of Pyrrhic Victory”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 66, no 4 (2017): 37-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.09.004

33.  “Towards a global history of paleontology: The paleontological reception of Darwin's thought”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 66, no. 4 (2017): 1-2 (with David Sepkoski). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.09.005

34. “Italian New Realism and Transcendental Philosophy: A Critical Account”. Philosophy Today 61, no. 3 (2017): 539–554  (with Michele Cardani). https://doi.org/10.5840/philtoday2017919170

35. “Disruptions and changing habits: The case of the Tendaguru expedition”. Museum History Journal 10, no. 2 (2017): 183-199 (with Mareike Vennen). https://doi.org/10.1080/19369816.2017.1328872

36. “Data-Phenomena” Quid Juris”, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 70, no. 4 (2016): 527-549 (with Michele Cardani). https://doi.org/10.3196/004433016820168266

37.  ““Nur eine bloße Anhäufung von gewonnenen Thatsachen“: Erste Versuche, eine quantitative Paläontologie zu begründen” Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte 32, (2016): 192-205.

38. “Die Wurzeln der ideographischen Paläontologie: Karl Alfred von Zittels Praxis und sein Begriff des Fossils” NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 23, no. 3 (2015): 117-142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00048-015-0130-3

Articles in Books

1. " The Impact of Kantian Philosophy on Biological Practices: Mechanism, Organism, and Teleology in Early Twentieth-Century Morphology”. In New Perspectives on Neo-Kantianism and the Sciences edited by Helmut Pulte, Jan Baedke, Daniel Koenig and Gregor Nickel. Routledge 2024

2. “Natürliche und technische Form“. In Handbuch Technikphilosophie, edited by Mathias Gutman, Benjamin Rathgeber, Klaus Wiegerling, Stuttgart, Metzler 2024.

3. "Im Anfang war die Tat“: Form und Materie der Biorobotik“. In Philosophie der Bio-Robotik. Edited by Marco Tamborini. Meiner Verlag 2024.  Download as open access volume.

4. “Die Ästhetik der bio-technischen Formen“. In Die Ästhetik der Technowissenschaften des 21. Jahrhunderts edited by Marco Tamborini WBG 2023. 

5. “Form, die Biorobotik und der Mensch: Eine pluralistische Auffassung“. Homo technologicus. Menschenbilder in den Technosciences des 21. Jahrhunderts. Edited by Marco Tamborini and Kevin Liggieri Metzler Verlag 2023.  

6. “Design & Natur“. In State of Design edited by Frenkler, Fritz, Birgit Herbst-Gaebel, Michael Molls, Sebastian Stadler, and Wilhelm Vossenkuhl TUM Press (2023).

7.  „Einführender Kommentar zu Raoul Heinrich Francés „Die Pflanze als Erfinder“. In Organismus und Technik. Anthologie zu einem produktiven und problematischen Wechselverhältnis. Darmstadt: WBG Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2021.

8. "If additive manufacturing is the answer, what is the question? A philosophical perspective, in Print architecture! edited by Oliver Tessmann, Ulrich Knaack, Chris Borg Constanzi, Philipp L. Rosendahl, Bastian Wibranek, AADR 2022.

9. “Umwelt und organische Form: Technowissenschaftlicher Zugang zur Historizität der Evolution.“ In Jahrbuch der Technikphilosophie 2019, edited by A. Friedrich, P. Gehring, C. Hubig, A. Kaminski and A. Nordmann, Nomos. Baden Baden, 2019. 

10. “From the Unknown to the Known and Backwards: Visualization and Conceptualization of Paleontological Time in 19th Century Paleontology”. The Fascination with Unknown Time, edited by S. Baumbach, L. Henningsen & K. Oschema, Palgrave, London, 2017, 115-140. Link.

Editor of Collected Volumes

1. Philosophie der Bio-Robotik.  Meiner Verlag 2024. Download as open access volume.

2. Die Ästhetik der Technowissenschaften des 21. Jahrhunderts. WBG – Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2023.  Download as open access volume.

3. Homo technologicus. Menschenbilder in den Technosciences des 21. Jahrhunderts. Metzler Verlag 2023 (with Kevin Liggieri) link.

4. Organismus und Technik. Anthologie zu einem produktiven und problematischen Wechselverhältnis. WBG – Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2021 (with Kevin Liggieri). Download as open access volume. 

• Reviewed in Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik

5. Dinosaurier-Fregmente: Zur Geschichte einer Expedition und ihrer Objekte, 1906-2016. Wallstein Verlag, 2018 (with Ina Heumann, Holger Stoecker, and Mareike Vennen). Link. 

• Reviewed in Isis, NTM, Centaurus.

6. Handbook of the Historiography of the Earth and Environmental Sciences. Under contract with Springer (with Elena Aronova and David Sepkoski).

Entries in Biographical Reference Works

1. Karl Alfred von Zittel (1839–1904), forthcoming in Neue Deutsche Biographie.  

Essay Review

1. "Expanding the history of natural history" Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 48 no. 3 (2018): 390-401. Link.

Reviews

1.  (In English) “When nature inspires technology”. Metascience 33, 111–114 (2024).

2.  (In English) “Plants, organicism, and politics” Metascience 32, 197–201 (2023). 

3.  (In English) “An Anthropology of Deep Time”. In press, Endeavour.

4. (In Italian) “Henning Schmidgen Forschungsmaschinen. Experimente zwischen Wissenschaft und Kunst“, Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento/Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient, III, no. 2 (2020).

5. (in German) “Angela N. H. Creager: Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine”, Sudhoffs Archiv 103, no. 1 (2019): 119–121.

6. (In English) “Ursula Klein, Nützliches Wissen, Archives of Natural History 45, no. 1 (2018): 187-188.

7. (In English) “Marianne Sommer, History Within: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Bones, Organisms, and Molecules” Journal of the History of Biology, 50, no. 2 (2017): 465–468.

8. (In English) “Gowan Dawson, Show Me the Bone. Reconstructing Prehistoric Monsters in Nineteenth-Century Britain and America and Martin J. S. Rudwick, Earth's Deep History. How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters” Isis 108, no. 2 (2017): 458–460.

9. (In English) “To understand this, let us step back in history: Review of A Remarkable Journey: The Story of Evolution”, Endeavour 40, no. 3 (2016): 207-208.

10. (In English) “Gaining Control over Archeological Data and Time: Review of The Great Paleolithic War: How Science Forged an Understanding of America’s Ice Age Past”, Endeavour 40, no. 3 (2016): 205-206.

11. (In English) “Origins of Biogeography. The role of biological classification in early plant and animal geography” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 38, no. 5 (2016).

12. (In English) “Klaus Hentschel, Visual Cultures in Science and Technology – A Comparative History” Archives of Natural History 43, no. 1 (2016): 179.

13. (In English) “Niles Eldredge, Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond”, (New York: Columbia University Press). History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 37, no. 4 (2015): 480-483.

14. (In English) “Miguel García-Sancho, Biology, Computing, and the History of Molecular Sequencing. From Proteins to DNA, 1945-2000” & “Joseph November, Biomedical Computing, Digitizing Life in the United States”. Gesnerus Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Medizin und Naturwissenschaften 75, (2015): 178-179.

15. (In English) “Irmscher, Christoph, Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science” & “Conradin A. Burga, Oswald Heer (1809­1883) Paläobotaniker, Entomologe, Gründerpersönlichkeit” Earth Sciences History - The Journal of the History of Earth Sciences Society (2015): 367-369.

16. (In German) “Hallam Stevens, Life Out of Sequence. A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics”, Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 37, no. 4 (2014): 402-403.

17. (In Italian) “Michael Ohl, Die Kunst der Benennung”, Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento/Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient 42 (2016): 116-119.

18. (In Italian) “Deborah R. Coen, The Earthquake Observers: Disaster Science from Lisbon to Richter”, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (Milano: F. Angeli, 2015).

19. (In Italian) “Michael Weisberg, Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World”, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (Milano: F. Angeli, 2015).

20. (In Italian) “Sander Gliboff, H.G. Bronn, Ernst Haeckel, and the Origins of German Darwinism. A Study in Translation and Transformation”, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (Milano: F. Angeli, 2015).

21. (In Italian) “Derek Turner, Paleontology: A Philosophical Introduction”, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (Milano: F. Angeli, 2014).

22. (In Italian) “David Sepkoski, Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline”, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia (Milano: F. Angeli, 2013).