Dr. Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini

Dr. Piattelli-Palmarini obtained a PhD in Physics at the University of Rome in 1968 and has essentially spent his professional life developing the biolinguistic field, a collection of interacting disciplines using the methods of natural sciences in order to provide a biologically grounded model of linguistics and the cognitive sciences generally. His career has been punctuated by many highlights, including having organized the debate between Noam Chomsky and Jean Piaget; having organized the 1974 conference on biolinguistics in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and having directed the Royaumont Center for a Science of Man (chaired by Nobel laureate Jacques Monod). What follows is a short biography available on his website.     

Short Biography:

Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini is (since August '99) Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona, member of the Department of Linguistics, of the Cognitive Science Program, of the Department of Psychology, and honorary member of the Department of Management and Society. From January 1994 to July 1999 he was director of the Department of Cognitive Science (Dipsco), of the Scientific Institute San Raffaele, in Milan (Italy), and professor of Cognitive Psychology at the San Raffaele University. From September 1985 to December 1993 he was Principal Research Scientist at the Center for Cognitive Science of MIT.

He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University (Fall 2020, Spring 2007, 1989 and 1988), the University of Maryland (Fall 2006),  at MIT (Fall 2003 and Spring 1993), at the Collège de France (Paris, May-June 2002), Rutgers University, NJ (Fall 1992), and at the University of Bologna (Spring 1997 and 1998). In August 1990 he was the chairman and organizer of the XII Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, held at MIT.

From 1980 to 1985 he has been the Director of the Florence Center for the History and Philosophy of Science (Florence, Italy); from 1974 to 1979, the Director of the Royaumont Center for A Science of Man (Chaired by the Nobel laureate Jacques Monod) in Paris, and lecturer at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris-Sorbonne). He obtained his doctorate in Physics at the University of Rome in 1968.

His books in English: "Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule our Minds" (Wiley, 1994); with Jerry Fodor "What Darwin Got Wrong" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011)

Edited books:

"Language and Learning: The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky" (Harvard University Press, 1980 - translated into 11 languages);

"Proceedings of the XII Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society" (Erlbaum, 1991);

with Juan Uriagereka and Pello Salaburu "Of Minds and Language: The Basque Country Encounter with Noam Chomsky" (Oxford       University Press, 2009);

with Robert Berwick "Rich Languages from Poor Inputs" (Oxford University Press, 2013)

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