CURRICULUM VITAE
SILVIA BENSO
Department of Philosophy
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY
[email protected]
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
 Professor, Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008 Professor, Department of Philosophy, Siena College, 2003-2008
 Faculty, Collegium Phaenomenologicum, Città di Castello, Italy, 2003 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Siena College, 1999-2003
 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Siena College, 1993-99
 Instructor, Department of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, 1989-93
 Dozent, Volkshochschule, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1987-88
 Dozent, Deutsch-Italienische Gesellschaft, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1987-88
 Dozent, Fraunhofer-Institut für System-technik und Innovationsforschung, Karlsruhe,
Germany, 1987-88
 Dozent, Europäische Schule, Karlsruhe, Germany, 1986-87
EDUCATION
 Ph.D. in Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, 1993
 M.A. in Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, 1990
 Mittelstufenprüfung, Goethe Institut, Germany, 1988
 Laurea in Philosophy summa cum laude, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy, 1987
LANGUAGES
 Italian, English, German, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Spanish
AREAS OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING
 Greek and Roman Philosophy
 20th Century European Philosophy
 History of Western Philosophy
 Ethics
 Feminist Theory
 Philosophy of Art
 Environmental Philosophy
AUTHORED BOOKS
 The Face of Things: A Different Side of Ethics (Series in Contemporary Continental
Philosophy, ed. Dennis Schmidt). Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.
 Pensare ambientalista. Tra filosofia e ecologia [Environmental Thinking: Between
Philosophy and Ecology], with Brian Schroeder (Contemporary Philosophy Series, ed.
BENSO • CV
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Gianni Vattimo and Giovanni Fornero). Torino: Paravia Scriptorium, 2000.
Pensare dopo Auschwitz. Etica filosofica e teodicea ebraica [Thinking After Auschwitz:
Philosophical Ethics and Jewish Theodicy]. Napoli: Esi, 1992.
AUTHORED BOOKS IN PROGRESS
 The Angel and Its Shadow: The Relation Between Aesthetics and Ethics. This work
analyzes Plato’s treatment of art not only with reference to his well-known condemnation
of artistic phenomena and natures, but also in light of his unrelenting recourse to artistic
descriptions to address issues of a metaphysical character. I contend that in Plato art can
be understood as introducing one to an ethical experience of otherness that remain opaque
to the powers of dialectical and other forms of reasoning.
 Conversations with Contemporary Italian Philosophers: Interpreting the History of
Italian Philosophy. A series of interviews with prominent Italian philosophers—Gianni
Vattimo, Massimo Cacciari, Emanuele Severino, Carlo Sini, Vincenzo Vitiello, Giulio
Giorello, Remo Bodei and Franco Volpi, among others—aimed at delineating and
assessing the history of contemporary Italian philosophy in its major expressions and
trends through the perspective of some of its most critical recent voices.
EDITED BOOKS
 Truth and Interpretation, authored by Luigi Pareyson and trans. Robert Valgenti. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2013.
 Aesthetics of the Virtual, authored by Roberto Diodato and trans. Justin Harmon. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2012.
 Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo, ed. with Brian
Schroeder. Albany: SUNY Press, 2010 (Contributors: Luca Bagetto, Silvia Benso,
Giovanna Borradori, Peter Carravetta, Claudio Ciancio, Gaetano Chiurazzi, Franca
D’Agostini, Edison Higuera, Eduardo Mendieta, James Risser, Brian Schroeder, Robert
Valgenti, Gianni Vattimo, Erik Vogt, David Webb, Martin Weiss).
 Levinas and the Ancients, ed. with Brian Schroeder. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2008. (Contributors: Thomas Altizer, Deborah Achtenberg, Claudia Baracchi,
Silvia Benso, Bettina Bergo, Francisco Gonzalez, Catriona Hanley, John Izzi, Pierre
Lamarche, Michael Naas, Adriaan Peperzak, Julie Piering, Brian Schroeder, Tanja
Stähler).
 Contemporary Italian Philosophy: Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion,
ed. with Brian Schroeder. Albany: SUNY Press, 2007. (Contributors: Remo Bodei,
Massimo Cacciari, Giovanni Ferretti, Sergio Givone, Giacomo Marramao, Virglio
Melchiorre, Luisa Muraro, Salvatore Natoli, Marco Maria Olivetti, Maurizio Pagano,
Pier Aldo Rovatti, Mario Ruggenini, Emanuele Severino, Carlo Sini, Gianni Vattimo,
Salvatore Veca, Vincenzo Vitiello).
EDITED BOOKS IN PROGRESS
 Contemporary Italian Perspectives on Creativity, ed. with Brian Schroeder.
(Contributors: Enrico Berti, Mauro Carbone, Donatella Di Cesare, Adriano Fabris,
Roberto Mancini, Virgilio Melchiorre, Luisa Muraro, Maurizio Pagano, Ugo Perone,
Mario Ruggenini, Pier Angelo Sequeri, Vincenzo Vitiello, Franco Volpi).
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ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
 “The Other Ground: The Sense of the Earth.” In On the True Sense of Art: A Critical
Companion to the Transfigurements of John Sallis, ed. David Jones, Michael Schwartz
and Jason Wirth. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2014 (forthcoming).
 “Parchi e giardini urbani, ovvero la natura resa pubblica (a partire da Hannah Arendt)
[Urban Parks and Gardens, Or Nature Made Public (Following Up on Hannah Arendt)].”
In Filosofia e spazio pubblico [Philosophy and Public Space], ed. Ugo Perone. Bologna:
Il Mulino, 2012, 243-258.
 “Joy Beyond Boredom: Totality and Infinity as a Work of Wonder.” In Totality and
Infinity at 50, ed. Scott Davidson and Diane Perpich. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University
Press, 11-28.
 “Earthly Morality and the Other: From Levinas to Economic Sustainability.” In Facing
Nature: Levinas and Environmental Thought, ed. Chris Diehm, William Edelglass, and
James Hatley. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2012, 191-208.
 “Struggling with the Angel: Time, Finitude, and Metaphysical Sentiment.” Introduction
to Ugo Perone, The Possible Present. Trans. Silvia Benso with Brian Schroeder. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2011.
 “Italian Philosophy Between 1980-1995,” with Brian Schroeder. In The History of
Continental Philosophy, Vol. 7: Post-Poststructuralism, ed. Alan Schrift and Rosi
Braidotti. Chesham, UK: Acumen Publishing, 2010, 83-110.
 “Emancipation and the Future of the Utopian: On Vattimo’s Philosophy of History.” In
Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo, ed. with Brian
Schroeder. Albany: SUNY Press, 2010, 203-219.
 “Introduction.” In Carlo Sini, Ethics of Writing. Trans. Silvia Benso with Brian
Schroeder. Albany: SUNY Press, 2009, vii-xii.
 “Levinas: An Ascetic Priest?” In Netzsche and Levinas: After the Death of a Certain
God, ed. Bettina Bergo and Jill Stauffer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009,
214-231.
Originally published in Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 2 (1996): 137156.
 “The Breathing of the Air: Presocratic Echoes in Levinas.” In Levinas and the Ancients,
ed. Brian Schroeder and Silvia Benso. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008, 923.
 “To Return in a New Way: Introduction,” with Brian Schroeder. In Levinas and the
Ancients, ed. Brian Schroeder and Silvia Benso. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2008, 1-8.
 “Aesth-ethics: Levinas, Plato, and Art.” Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy
13, 1 (Fall 2008): 113-183.
 “Soggetti ospitali: A confronto con Levinas nell’epoca della globalizzazione [Hospitable
Subjects. A Confrontation with Levinas in the Times of Globalization].” Annuario
Filosofico 23 (2007): 457-472.
 “Gestures of Work: Levinas and Hegel.” Continental Philosophy Review 40, 3 (2007):
307-330.
 “Preface,” with Brian Schroeder. In Contemporary Italian Philosophy: Crossing the
BENSO • CV
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Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion, ed. Silvia Benso and Brian Schroeder. Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2007, pp. ix-xv.
“Marking the Borders: Historical Legacies,” with Brian Schroeder. In Contemporary
Italian Philosophy: Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2007, pp. 15-19.
“Crossing the Borders: Current Thematizations,” with Brian Schroeder. In Contemporary
Italian Philosophy: Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2007, pp. 109-112.
“Opening the Borders: The Appeal of the World,” with Brian Schroeder. In
Contemporary Italian Philosophy: Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007, pp. 193-197.
“Psyche, Pneuma, and Air: Levinas and Anaximenes in Proximity.” Athena 2 (2006): 1628.
“Pensare dopo Auschwitz. Nel centenario della nascita di Levinas. Intervista a Silvia
Benso [Thinking After Auschwitz: On the Centennial of Levinas’ Birth. An Interview
With Silvia Benso].” Giornale di Filosofia (November 2006)
[www.giornaledifilosofia.net/public/scheda.php?id=72].
“Di esseri umani, angeli, e dei. Note sulla categoria della tensione [Humans, Angels and
Gods: Notes on the Category of Tension].” In Interruzioni. Note sulla filosofia di Ugo
Perone, ed. Enrico Guglielminetti. Genoa: Il Melangolo, 2006, pp. 169-179.
“On Luigi Pareyson: A Master of Italian Hermeneutics.” Philosophy Today, Special Issue
on Contemporary Italian Philosophy 49, 4 (Winter 2005): 381-390.
“The Wisdom of Love, or: Renegotiating Mythos and Logos with Plato and Levinas.”
Dialogue and Universalism 15, 3-4 (2005): 117-128.
“Morality Does Not Require Creativity. Ethics Does.” The Believer 2, 5 (2004): 68-76.
“A Politics of Witnessing: History, Memory, and the Third—Beyond Levinas.”
Witnessing, ed. Shannon Hoff and Kelly Oliver. Special issue of Studies in Practical
Philosophy (2003): 5-12.
“The Time of the Feminine: For a Politics of Maternal Corporeality.” Continental
Philosophy Review 36 (2003): 195-202.
“Plato’s Eidetic Intimations.” In Plato’s Forms: Varieties of Interpretation, ed. William
Welton. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002, pp. 273-288.
“Missing the Encounter with the Other: Goethe’s Sufferings of Young Werther in Light of
Levinas.” In In Proximity: Levinas and the Eighteenth Century, ed. Melvyn New with
Robert Bernasconi and Richard Cohen. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2001, pp.
197-213.
“Gardens: Philosophical Con/Texts, Environmental Practices.” Call to Earth: Journal of
the International Association for Environmental Philosophy 1, 2 (2000): 10-14.
“The Face of Things: Heidegger and the Alterity of the Fourfold.” Symposium: Journal of
the Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought (Fall 1997): 5-15.
“Heidegger’s Fall into the Thaletian Well: The Re-enactment of a Laughter.” In
Proceedings of the XXXth Heidegger Conference, ed. Robert Scharff. Durham: University
of New Hampshire, 1996, pp. 1-22.
“Of Things Face-to-Face with Levinas Face-to-Face with Heidegger: Prolegomena to a
BENSO • CV
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Metaphysical Ethics of Things.” Philosophy Today (1996): 132-141.
“On the Way to an Ontological Ethics: Ethical Reflections in Reading Heidegger.”
Research in Phenomenology 24 (1994): 159-188.
“Dio dopo Auschwitz” [God After Auschwitz]. Sisifo 26 (1993): 18-20.
“Al cospetto di Auschwitz. Saggi di ‘teodicea’ ebraica [Confronting Auschwitz:
Thoughts on Jewish Tehodicy].” Filosofia e teologia 2 (1993): 381-389.
“Monica’s Grin of Tension in Augustine’s Confessions.” Contemporary Philosophy 2
(1993): 5-10.
“Con Heidegger. Contro Heidegger. Suggestioni per un’etica ontologica” [With
Heidegger. Against Heidegger. Suggestions for an Ontological Ethics]. Filosofia e
teologia 2 (1991): 221-245.
“Theology After Auschwitz: On the Way Toward God’s Powerlessness.” In The
Christian Response: Before, During and After (Proceedings of the First Biannual
Conference on Christianity and the Holocaust), 1990, pp. 389-403.
“Auschwitz: ne va di Dio?” [Auschwitz: Is God at Stake?].” Humanitas 2 (1989): 208230.
BOOK REVIEWS
 Tanja Staehler, Plato and Levinas: The Ambiguous Out-side of Ethics. In Notre Dame
Philosophical Reviews (October 2010): http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=21549 .
 Giacomo Marramao, Kairós: Toward an Ontology of “Due Time.” In Human Studies 31
(2008): 223-228.
 Leora Batnitzky, Leo Strauss and Emmanuel Levinas: Philosophy and the Politics of
Revelation. In Theological Studies 68, 4 (December 2007): 969.
 Lisa Guenther, The Gift of the Other: Levinas and the Politics of Reproduction. In
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review, 46 (2007): 409-412.
 Gianni Vattimo, Nihilism and Emancipation. Ethics, Politics, Law. In Human Studies 29,
4 (2006): 503-508.
 Françoise Dastur, Heidegger et la Question Anthropologique. In Theological Studies 67,
2 (June 2006): 466-467.
 Michele Saracino, On Being Human: A Conversation With Lonergan and Levinas. In
Theological Studies 67, 1 (March 2006): 219.
 Jeffrey W. Robbins, Between Faith and Thought: An Essay on the Ontotheological
Condition. In Theological Studies 65, 3 (September 2004): 678-679.
 Stella Sandford, The Metaphysics of Love: Gender and Transcendence in Levinas and
Claire Elise Katz, Levinas, Judaism, and the Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca.
In Bulletin de la Société Américaine de Philosophie de Langue Française 14, 1 (2004):
98-104.
 Jacques Derrida and Maurizio Ferraris, A Taste for the Secret. In Theological Studies 63,
4 (December 2002): 894.
 Krzysztof Ziarek, Inflected Language: Toward a Hermeneutics of Nearness. In Canadian
Philosophical Reviews 15, 4 (1995): 301-302.
 Simon Critchley, The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas. In The Review of
Metaphysics (March 1994): 605-606.
BENSO • CV
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TRANSLATIONS
 Luigi Pareyson, Dostoevsky: Philosophy, Fiction, and Religious Experience [Dostoevskij:
Filosofia, romanzo ed esperienza religiosa. Torino: Einaudi, 1993]. Albany: State
University of New York Press, forthcoming.
 Brian Schroeder, “La Scuola di Kyoto. Il Nulla assoluto e la Grande Morte.”
(forthcoming).
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Realism Without Reality?” SpazioFilosofico 8 (2013)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero-08/3236/numero-08-realta/#more-3236
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Grateful to Economy,” SpazioFilosofico 7 (2013)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero-07/2931/numero-07-%e2%80%93economia/#more-2931
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “The Age of the Plug,” SpazioFilosofico 6 (2012)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero-06/2604/numero-06-%e2%80%93saturazione/#more-2604.
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Modus in Rebus: Eros, Politics, and Modesty,” SpazioFilosofico
5 (2012) http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero-05/2033/numero-05-%e2%80%93pudore/#more-2033.
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Differently Sophists: Double Breasted Suits and Tank Top TShirts,” SpazioFilosofico 4 (2012)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero_04/1654/numero-04-%e2%80%93sofisti/#more-1654.
 Ugo Perone, The Possible Present [Il presente possibile. Naples: Guida, 2005]. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2011.
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Criminals in Glory,” SpazioFilosofico 3 (2011)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero_03/1344/numero-03-violenza/#more-1344.
 Enrico Guglielminetti, “Need for Italy,” SpazioFilosofico 2 (2011)
http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/en/numero_02/1093/1093/#more-1093.
 Claudio Ciancio, “Thinking the Origin, Awaiting Salvation.” In Between Nihilism and
Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo, ed. with Brian Schroeder. Albany: SUNY
Press, 2010, pp. 121-134.
 Gaetano Chiurazzi, “The Experiment of Nihilism: Interpretation and Experience of Truth
in Gianni Vattimo.” In Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni
Vattimo, pp. 15-32.
 Edison Higuera Aguirre, “Metaphysics, Violence, and Alterity in Gianni Vattimo.” In
Between Nihilism and Politics: The Hermeneutics of Gianni Vattimo, pp. 101-120.
 Carlo Sini, Ethics of Writing [Etica della scrittura. Milano: Il Saggiatore, 1992]. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2009.
 Brian Schroeder, “Trans-discendenza estatica. Religione e metanoesis in Nietzsche,
Tanabe e Nishitani.” Annuario filosofico 23 (2007): 457-472.
 Brian Schroeder, “Nichilismo estatico in Schelling, Nietzsche, Tanabe e Nihitani,”
presented at the Symposium on Comparative Philosophy, Università del Piemonte
Orientale, Vercelli, Italy, May 16, 2008.
BENSO • CV
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Brian Schroeder, “La svolta di Tanabe. Dalla filosofia alla religione,” presented at the
Università del Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy, February 26, 2008.
Brian Schroeder, “L’assoluto nulla in Nishida e la scuola di Kyoto,” presented at the
Università del Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli, Italy, February 12, 2008.
Luciana Regina, “Philosophical Consultation as Alliance with Concepts.” In
Philosophical Practice in Italy. Trapani: Di Girolamo, 2008, pp. 65-76.
Massimo Cacciari, “Names of Place: Border.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy:
Crossing the Borders of Ethics, Politics, and Religion. Albany: SUNY Press, 2007, pp.
277-283.
Giovanni Ferretti, “Philosophy and Christian Theology Today: Hermeneutic Circularity
as Fact and Task.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 69-87.
Sergio Givone, “Philosophy, Poetry, and Dreaming.” In Contemporary Italian
Philosophy, pp. 21-31.
Giacomo Marramao, “The World and the West Today.” In Contemporary Italian
Philosophy, pp. 259-275.
Virgilio Melchiorre, “Metaphysics of Thinking, Metaphysics of Being.” In Contemporary
Italian Philosophy, pp. 113-125.
Luisa Muraro, “Toward a Symbolic of Sexual Difference.” In Contemporary Italian
Philosophy, pp. 211-226.
Salvatore Natoli, “Finitude and Responsibility: For an Ethics of the Finite in the Time of
Risk.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 161-172.
Marco Maria Olivetti, “Transcendental Without Illusion: Or, The Absence of the Third
Person.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 149-160.
Maurizio Pagano, “The Confrontation Between Religious and Secular Thought.” In
Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 1-13
Mario Ruggenini, “The Truth of Existence and the Sacred (ethos anthropo daimon).” In
Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 127-147.
Pier Aldo Rovatti, “Praise of Modesty.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 173191.
Emanuele Severino, “On Virtue.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 227-244.
Carlo Sini, “The Desire for Eternal Life: The Platonic Roots of Western Political Science
and Its Ethical and Theological Consequences.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp.
21-32.
Gianni Vattimo, “Ontology of Actuality.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 89107.
Salvatore Veca, “Two Concepts of Utopia and the Idea of Global Justice.” In
Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp. 245-258.
Vincenzo Vitiello. “Christianity and Nihilism.” In Contemporary Italian Philosophy, pp.
47-67.
Maurizio Pagano, “The Question of Violence in the Age of Globalization,” presented at
the Hale Lecture Series in Applied Ethics, Rochester Institute of Technology, January 18,
2007.
Maurizio Pagano, “Rationality and Creativity,” presented at the Society for Philosophy
and Creativity, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Washington, DC,
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December 29, 2006.
Donatella Di Cesare, “Political Action and Technical Production: The Remnant of
Creativity in the Global Factory,” presented at the Society for Philosophy and Creativity,
American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Washington, DC, December 29,
2006.
Ugo Perone, “The Emplotment of Time,” presented at the Society for Philosophy and
Creativity, American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Washington, DC,
December 29, 2006.
Mario Ruggenini, “The Essential Creativity of Existence as Freedom to Exist,” presented
at the Society for Philosophy and Creativity, American Philosophical Association,
Eastern Division Meeting, Washington, DC, December 29, 2006.
Maurizio Pagano, “The Universal and the Hermeneutical Experience,” in Philosophy
Today 49, 4 (Winter 2005): 369-380.
Maurizio Pagano, “Thinking the Limits and the Future of an Ontology of the ‘West,’”
presented at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy Conference on Heidegger and the Future
of Philosophy in the “West,” Teheran, Iran, November 26, 2005.
Giovanni Ferretti, “Metaphysical Desire and the Ambiguity of Eros,” presented at the
Memorial Conference on Levinas, Loyola College of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, April 12, 2005.
Brian Schroeder, “Una breccia nella dialettica. La mediazione e il problema del male in
Tanabe e Levinas,” presented at the International Conference on La filosofia europea e la
filosofia dell’Estremo Oriente. Confluenze e divergenze, Università degli Studi di Trieste,
Italy, June 4, 2001.
Maurizio Pagano, “The ‘Thing Itself’ and Intersubjectivity,” presented at the International
Conference on Hegel contemporaneo. La ricezione americana di Hegel a confronto con la
filosofia europea, Università di Venezia, Italy, May 18, 2001.
Stanley Rosen, Introduzione alla Repubblica di Platone. Napoli: Esi Press, 1990.
PRESENTATIONS
 “When Heidegger’s Tower Dweller Takes a Walk: On Thinkers, Poets, and Mysterious
Guests,” Collegium Phenomenologicum, Città di Castello (Italy), July 9, 2013
 “Thresholds of Time: The Present Between Narration and Translation” Theologische
Fakultät, Humboldt Universität, Berlin (Germany), July 4, 2013.
 “The Eternal Return of the Will in Levinas’ Totality and Infinity,” Levinas Research
Seminar, Stonybrook University-Manhattan campus, New York, NY, April 28, 2013.
 “The Fugue of a Coyote: On Iain Thomson’s Heidegger, Art and Postmodernity,” Society
for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Rochester, NY, Nov. 3, 2012.
 “Recovering Socrates’ Love of the World,” Ancient Philosophy Society, Rochester, NY,
Nov. 3, 2012.
 “Seneca’s Politics of Otium,” Ancient Philosophy Society, University of San Francisco,
San Francisco, CA, April 21, 2012.
 “Gianni Vattimo’s Politics Between Reformism and Revolution,” Society for
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Philadelphia, PA, October 21, 2011.
 “Hermeneutic Communism Between Archeology and Eschatology: Is Anything
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Missing?” Hermeneutic Communism Conference, Stony Brook University Manhattan
Campus, New York, NY, Oct. 19, 2011 (invited).
“Stoic Cosmopolitanism Between Now and Then: Embodied Citizens of the World,”
Ancient Philosophy Society, Utah Valley University, UT, April 13, 2011 (invited plenary
speaker).
“Reading Levinas’s On Escape,” Levinas Research Seminar, Haverford College, PA,
May 2010.
“Reason, Subjectivity and Postmodernity in Recent Italian Philosophy,” Society for
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, George Mason University, Arlington, VA,
October 31, 2009.
“Struggling with the Angel: Time, Finitude and Metaphysical Sentiment in the Thought
of Ugo Perone,” Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy, King’s College,
University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, October 17, 2009 (invited).
“Che cosa vuole una donna? Il femminile, oggi” [What Does a Woman Want? The
Feminine, Today],” Roundtable, Scuola Lacaniana di Psicanalisi, Torino, Italy, April 11,
2008 (invited).
“L’altro ospite. Levinas, etica e globalizzazione [The Other (as) Guest/Host: Levinas,
Ethics, and Globalization],” Università di Bari, Bari, Italy, February 28, 2008 (invited).
Panel Discussant, The Other in Traditional and Contemporary Philosophy Conference,
Gonzaga University in Florence, Firenze, Italy, February 22-23, 2008 (invited).
“Reading Plato’s Republic. A Lecture Course,” Liceo Classico e Linguistico
Internazionale C. Botta, Ivrea, Italy, October 15, 2007-May 26, 2008 (invited).
“10 Lectures on Plato’s Symposium,” Liceo Classico e Linguistico Internazionale C.
Botta, Ivrea, Italy, October 15-December 17, 2007 (invited).
“Is Gianni Vattimo a Utopian Thinker?” A Response to Greg Johnson’s ‘Gianni Vattimo
and Utopian Thought After Metaphysics,’” Society for Phenomenology and Existential
Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, November 9, 2007.
Panel Discussant, Society for Continental Philosophy in a Jewish Context, DePaul
University, Chicago, IL, November, 2007.
“The Faces of Auschwitz: On Memory, Language, and Witnessing,” Hale Lectures Series
in Ethics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, May 10, 2007.
“Witnessing to Mountains: A Response to James Hatley’s ‘The Bread from One’s Mouth
and the Bread from the Other’s Mountain,’” Levinas Research Seminar, McMaster
University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, March 24, 2007.
“On the Wings of Thought: Levinas, Plato, and the Critical Role of Philosophy,”
University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, June 16, 2006 (invited).
“Becoming Like a Mother: For a Politics of Maternity Where Birth is More Than
Childbearing.” A Response to Lisa Guenther’s The Gift of the Other: Levinas and the
Politics of Reproduction, Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy, York University,
Toronto, Canada, May 29, 2006 (invited).
“Aesthetics: Levinas and Plato on Art and Ethics,” Philosophy Department Colloquium
Series, Colby College, Waterville, ME, April 27, 2006 (invited).
“Soggetti ospitali: A confronto con Levinas nell’epoca della globalizzazione [Hospitable
Subjects: A Confrontation with Levinas in the Age of Globalization],” University of
BENSO • CV
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Trieste, Italy, April 4, 2006 (invited).
“Pensare dopo Auschwitz [Thinking After Auschwitz],” Collegio Rabbinico Italiano,
Rome, Italy, April 3, 2006 (invited).
“On Schelling and the Forgiving of the World: A Response to Jason Wirth,” Society for
Phenomenology in the Continental Tradition, American Philosophical Association,
Pacific Division, Portland, OR, March 23, 2006 (invited).
“Aesth-ethics: An Improbable Chiasm Between Art and Ethics in Plato and Levinas,”
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Salt Lake City, UT, October 22,
2005.
“Kristeva and the Work of Translation,” International Philosophical Seminar, Castelrotto,
Italy, July 3-13, 2005 (invited).
“Levinas and the Ancients,” International Association for Philosophy and Literature,
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, June 6, 2005 (invited).
“Philosophical Thieves: Reading Hyland Reading Cavarero Reading Plato,” Ancient
Philosophy Society, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, April 15, 2005 (invited).
“The Breathing of the Air: Presocratic Echoes in Levinas,” Memorial Conference on
Levinas, Loyola College of Maryland, April 2, 2005 (invited).
“Dismissing Art? Affinities Between Plato and Levinas,” Department of Philosophy
Colloquium Series, Nazareth College, Rochester, NY, February 11, 2005 (invited).
“In Absentia: On Luigi Pareyson, Master of Italian Hermeneutics,” Conference on “ReInterpreting the Continent: Contemporary Italian Philosophy in America,” De Paul
University, Chicago, IL, October 1, 2004 (invited).
“Globalization and Intercultural Philosophy,” Seminar Discussant, Department of
Philosophy and Education, University of Trieste, Portogruaro, Italy, May 20-21, 2004
(invited).
“Globalization and Intercultural Philosophy,” Seminar Discussant, Department of
Philosophy and Education, University of Trieste, Italy, May 18-19, 2004 (invited).
“Ecofeminism and Globalization,” Department of Philosophy and Education, University
of Trieste, Portogruaro, Italy, April 30, 2004 (invited).
“Soggetti altri: Con Levinas oltre Levinas [Other Subjects: With Levinas Beyond
Levinas],” University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy, April 30, 2004 (invited).
“Globalization and the Environment,” Department of Philosophy and Education,
University of Trieste, Portogruaro, Italy, April 29, 2004 (invited).
“Ecofeminism and Globalization,” Department of Philosophy and Education, University
of Trieste, Italy, April 28, 2004 (invited).
“Globalization and the Environment,” Department of Philosophy and Education,
University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy, April 27, 2004 (invited).
“The Time of the Maternal Eros,” Society for the Philosophy of Creativity, American
Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Washington, DC, December 28, 2003.
“Erotics of Transit, Erotics of Maternity,” International Philosophical Seminar,
Castelrotto, Italy, July 1, 2003 (invited).
“Levinas and the Politics of Witnessing,” Levinas and the Political Conference, York
University/University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, September 21, 2002 (invited).
“Art: The Third Beside Ethics and Politics,” International Association for Philosophy and
BENSO • CV
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Literature, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 5, 2002 (invited).
“Catholic Universality and Messianic Universalization: A Response to Adriaan
Peperzak,” Society for Continental Philosophy and Theology, American Catholic
Philosophical Association, Albany, NY, November 10, 2001 (invited).
“The Provocation of Plato’s Forms,” Department of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of
Technology, Rochester, NY, October 19, 2001 (invited).
“Art, Language, Political Witness, and the Event of Auschwitz,” Society for
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, October
4, 2001.
“The Wisdom of Love, or: Negotiating Mythos and Logos with Plato and Levinas,”
Fourth World Conference of the International Association for Universal Dialogue,
Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, July 13, 2001.
“The Friend Who Is Not Me: Aristotle, Levinas, and the Concept of Equality,”
International Philosophical Seminar, Castelrotto, Italy, July 2, 2001 (invited).
“La filosofia e il femminile [Philosophy and the Feminine],” Liceo Classico e Linguistico
Internazionale C. Botta, Ivrea, Italy, May 30, 2001 (invited).
“Riflessioni su Pensare ambientalista. Tra filosofia e ecologia [Reflections on
Environmental Thinking: Between Philosophy and Ecology],” with Brian Schroeder,
Ecoistituto del Piemonte, Torino, Italy, May 11, 2001 (invited).
“Tappe di un percorso. La filosofia come esperienza di vita [Pathmarks: Philosophy as a
Life Experience],” Liceo Classico e Linguistico Internazionale C. Botta, Ivrea, Italy, May
9, 2001 (invited).
“Gardening as Environmental Practice,” International Association for Environmental
Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, October 9, 2000.
“Levinas and the Unhappy Consciousness of Bettina Bergo’s Levinas Between Ethics and
Politics,” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Pennsylvania State
University, State College, PA, October 5, 2000.
“Aesth-ethics: Plato, Levinas, and Art,” Department of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State
University, State College, PA, September 29, 2000 (invited).
“Crossing the Boundaries of Boredom: Plato, Heidegger, Levinas, and the Wonder of
Philosophy,” International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Stony Brook
University, NY, May 11, 2000.
“Turning the Eyes to Witness: Levinas, Memory, and the Third,” Istituto Italiano per gli
Studi Filosofici, International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Napoli, Italy,
January 11, 2000.
“A Response to Joanne Waugh and Lisa Wilkinson’s ‘Fleshing Out the Form of Beauty:
An Anti-Representationalist Theory of Forms,’” Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy,
State University of New York at Binghamton, October 23, 1999.
“A response to Christopher Smith’s ‘Is Plato a Metaphysical Thinker? Rereading the
Sophist After the Middle Heidegger (1927-36),’” Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy,
State University of New York at Binghamton, October 23, 1999.
“Gardened Sites: Cultivating Space in Time,” International Association for Philosophy
and Literature, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, May 14, 1999.
“Divine Inspirations: Art and Ethics in Plato and Levinas,” American Philosophical
BENSO • CV
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Association-Eastern Division, Washington DC, December 29, 1998.
“Philosophy, Art, and Culture,” Department of Philosophy, Babson College, Wellesley,
MA, November 9, 1998 (invited).
“A Response to Meili Steele’s ‘Formalism Versus Dialogism: Ricoeur and Taylor on
Tradition and Literature,’” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy,
University of Colorado at Denver, October 9, 1998.
“Differential Equality: From the Self to the Other, and Back (Aristotle and Levinas),”
International Society for Universalism, Third World Congress, Babson College,
Wellesley, MA, August 8, 1998.
“Faceless Faces: Imaging Things with Heidegger,” International Association for
Philosophy and Literature, University of California, Irvine, CA, May 8, 1998.
“Artistic Madness, Ethical Signification: Plato and Levinas,” International Conference on
the History of Philosophy and Religion, CUNY Hunter College, New York, May 2, 1998.
“Environmentally, Heidegger: The Alterity of Things,” American Catholic Philosophical
Association, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY, December 6, 1997.
“Heidegger, Things, Alterity,” Philosophy Colloquium Series, Siena College,
Loudonville, NY, November 4, 1997.
“Chagall’s Figures in Flight: An Experiment in Transculturalism,” American University,
Cairo, Egypt, June 17, 1997 (invited).
“The Face of Things: Heidegger and the Alterity of the Fourfold,” Canadian Society for
Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland,
Canada, May 31, 1997.
“Child of Abraham, Child of Parmenides: Levinas’s Relation to the Tradition,” American
Catholic Philosophical Association, Siena College, Loudonville, NY, April 5, 1997.
“Transculturalism in Contemporary Art: The Flight of Chagall’s Figures,” International
Association for Philosophy and Literature, Fairfax, VA, May 1996.
“Heidegger’s Fall into the Thaletian Well: The Re-enactment of a Laughter,” Heidegger
Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, May 1996.
“In the name of Cybele: The Third Alternative Between To Kill and To Die—To Live
(Suggestions After Christa Wolf’s Cassandra),” International Association for Philosophy
and Literature, University of Edmonton, Canada, May 1994.
“Of Things Face-to-Face With Levinas Face-to-Face With Heidegger: Prolegomena to a
Metaphysical Ethics of Things,” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy,
New Orleans, LA, October 1993.
“Theology After Auschwitz: On the Way Toward God’s Powerlessness,” First Biannual
Conference on Christianity and the Holocaust, Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ, April
23, 1990.
AWARDS AND HONORS
 COLA Faculty Research Fund, RIT 2012
 Faculty Development Grant, RIT 2010
 COLA Faculty Research Fund, RIT 2010
 Faculty Development Grant, RIT 2009
 Research Fellowship, Siena College, 2005
BENSO • CV
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Research Fellowship, Siena College, 2004
Research Fellowship, Siena College, 2003
Research Assistance Grant, Siena College, 2003
Research Fellowship, Siena College, 2001
Research Assistance Grant, Siena College, 2001
Research Fellowship, Siena College, 2000
Research Assistance Grant, Siena College, 2000
Research Fellowship, Siena College, 1999
Research Award, Women and Minorities Studies, Siena College, 1997
Research Assistance Grant, Siena College, 1997
Heidegger Circle (elected member), 1992
Sparks Fellowship, Pennsylvania State University, College of Liberal Arts, 1990-91
Borsa di studio L. Einaudi, Fondazione Einaudi, Torino, Italy, 1986
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
 Greek and Roman Philosophy
 Medieval Philosophy
 Early Modern Philosophy
 Late Modern Philosophy
 Nietzsche and the Greeks
 Phenomenology
 Contemporary French Philosophy
 Contemporary European Philosophy
 Contemporary Italian Philosophy
 Ethics and the Other: Levinas
 Heidegger
 Philosophy of Art
 Philosophies of Love, Sex, and Gender
 Philosophy and the Feminine
 Values of Western Tradition
 Moral Values
 Ethics
 Basic Problems in Philosophy
 Philosophy and the Human Being
 Philosophy and Reality
 The Concept of the Sublime (independent study)
 Time in Aristotle and Heidegger (independent study)
 Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Kant (independent study)
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
 Academic Senate Task Force on International Education, CLA representative, RIT, 2012 CLA International Education Committee, RIT, Chair 2011 RIT Associate Provost for International Education Search Committee, 2011-2012
BENSO • CV
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14
Women’s and Gender Studies Committee, RIT, Co-chair, Spring 2012
Women’s and Gender Studies Committee, RIT 2009-2012
International Global Studies Program Advisory Board, RIT, 2010Women’s and Gender Studies Program Research Coordinator, RIT 2009-10
CLA Study Abroad ad hoc Committee, RIT, 2009-2011
CLA Promotion Committee, RIT, 2009-2011
Head, Philosophy Department, Siena College, 2001-02
Board of Instruction, Siena College, 1999-2000
Franciscan Tradition Committee, Siena College, 1993-2008
Peace Studies Committee, Siena College, 1994-2000
Women and Multicultural Studies Committee, Siena College, 1996-2003
Human Rights Committee, Siena College, 1998-2000
Director, Colloquia Series, Philosophy Department, Siena College, 1994-2000, 2001-08
Faculty Advisor, Philosophy Club, Siena College, 1994-99
Faculty Advisor, Italian Heritage Club, Siena College, 1995-96
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
 General Co-Editor, Series in Contemporary Italian Philosophy, SUNY Press, 2006 Co-Editor, Spaziofilosofico, online journal http://www.spaziofilosofico.it/, 2010 Editorial Board, Series Essere e libertà [Being and Freedom], Mimesis Pbs. (Italy), 2010 Editorial Board, Comparative and Continental Philosophy, 2007 Advisory Board, Research in Phenomenology, 2010 Board of Directors, International Society for Universal Dialogue, 2001-05
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Research Grant Application Evaluator for the Swiss National Science Foundation (2011)
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Ancient Philosophy Society 2012 Program Committee member
Co-Director, Levinas Research Seminar, 2003-04
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Reviewer for Annuario filosofico
Reviewer for Continental Philosophy Review (formerly Man and World)
Reviewer for Environmental Philosophy
Reviewer for Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy
Reviewer for Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy
Reviewer for International Philosophical Quarterly
Reviewer for Journal for French and Francophone Philosophy
Reviewer for Science, Technology, and Human Values
Reviewer for Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy
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Referee for State University of New York Press
Referee for Penn State University Press
Referee for Prometheus Books
Referee for Columbia University Press
BENSO • CV
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Referee for Annuario filosofico
Referee for Mimesis Press, Series Essere e libertà
CONFERENCE ORGANIZER, MODERATOR, AND CHAIR
 Session Moderator, “Ethics and Animals,” International Association for Environmental
Philosophy, Rochester, NY, Nov. 4, 2012.
 Conference Co-organizer, “Epictetus and Stoicism,” RIT, April 26-27, 2012.
 Session Moderator, “Nietzsche and Romanticism: 19th Century German Philosophy,”
International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Philadelphia, PA, October 22,
2011.
 Session Moderator, “Re-presenting Nature through Art and Cinema,” International
Association for Environmental Philosophy, Montreal, Canada, November 7, 2010.
 Session Moderator, “Trajectories in Levinas, Heidegger, and Bergson,” Society for
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Montreal, Canada, November 5, 2010.
 Session Chair, “Aristotle on Ethics, Politics and Poetics,” Ancient Philosophy Society,
Loyola College in Maryland, April 24, 2009.
 Session Moderator, “Beyond Laboratory Italy: Contemporary Italian Political
Philosophy,” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Duquesne
University, Pittsburgh, PA, October 18, 2008.
 Session Co-organizer and Chair, “Contemporary Italian Perspectives on Creativity,”
Society for Philosophy and Creativity, American Philosophical Association, Eastern
Division, Washington, DC, December 29, 2006.
 Session Chair, “The Inhuman Condition: Looking for Difference after Levinas and
Heidegger,” Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Villanova
University, Philadelphia, PA, October 12, 2006.
 Session Organizer and Chair, “Levinas Encountering the Ancients,” International
Association for Philosophy and Literature, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, June
6, 2005.
 Conference Co-Organizer, Levinas Research Seminar, Siena College, Loudonville, NY,
September 18-19, 2004.
 Session Co-Organizer, “The Third,” International Association for Philosophy and
Literature, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 5, 2002.
 Session Chair, “From Vico to Croce to the Next Millennium,” Istituto Italiano per gli
Studi Filosofici, International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Napoli, Italy,
January 12, 2000.
 Session Chair, “From Desire to Fascination: Hegel and Blanchot on Negativity,” Society
for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR,
October 8, 1999.
 Session Chair, “Plato and Nietzsche on the Gift: The Use and Abuse of Socrates for the
Philosophical Life,” Society for Philosophy and Creativity, American Philosophical
Association, Eastern Division, Philadelphia, PA, December 29, 1997.
 Session Chair, “Embodiment in Irigaray and Foucault,” Society for Phenomenology and
Existential Philosophy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, October 18, 1997.
 Chair, Invited Symposium on “Maternal Ethics of Feminism,” American Philosophical
BENSO • CV
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Association, Pacific Division, Los Angeles, CA, March 27, 1997.
Convener and Referee, Capital Area Philosophy Society, Albany, NY, October 1995.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
 Ancient Philosophy Society
 American Philosophical Association
 Associazione Spazio Filosofico, co-founding member
 International Association for Environmental Philosophy
 Levinas Research Seminar
 Nietzsche Society
 North American Heidegger Conference
 Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
 Società Filosofica Italiana
16