Corrado Piroddi

My current research project is entitled Socio-philosophical and bioethical considerations over vaccine trade agreement, accessibility, and practices. It delves into the bioethical implications of vaccine trade, commercial regulation, and distribution, examining their impact on public health promotion and protection. 

In this exploration, the project aims to pioneer a unique and innovative conceptual framework, distinctively rooted in the principles of care and cooperation. This framework is designed to tackle pressing issues such as reducing health iniquities, promoting vaccine equity, and establishing a sustainable and equitable health system. More precisely, the research's theoretical contribution lies in analyzing societal processes such as exploitation or value extraction and elements like domination, mutualism, cooperation, and social freedom while providing bioethical evaluations concerning international trade agreements, health treaties, vaccine production, and distribution. All these aspects are often overlooked in debates on bioethics and health justice.

The present research project will be conducted in close collaboration with the TIPU unit led by Professor Meri Koivusalo (Tampere University), and the Wihuri Foundation funds it.

This research proposal builds upon my previous postdoc project, 'Pandemics, Social Distancing, and Social Pathologies: An Ethical and Socio-Philosophical Perspective '. Here, I approached problems related to health justice and equity problems, which are currently pivotal in the public debate related to the COVID-19 pandemic, from a perspective that is sensitive to the theory of recognition and critical theory. 

More precisely, the postdoc research aimed to enrich and empower the current debate on public health, which employs a cost versus benefit model, with ethical and critical evaluations that focus on the idea of the good life of individuals and society. Besides, it will argue that the current pandemic must be considered a systemic ailment characteristic of how our contemporary overly complex societies are organized.

The project was supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Gyllenberg Foundation.

On August 28, 2020, I defended my doctoral dissertation (monograph) Towards a critical social ontology: A study on Pierre Bourdieu and Axel Honneth, under the supervision of Professor Arto Laitinen (Tampere University) and Senior Lecturer Onni Hirvonen (University of Jyväskylä). The dissertation was accepted with distinction on September 23, 2020. 

In my doctoral dissertation, I provided a novel comparative study of two prominent social theorists, Axel Honneth and Pierre Bourdieu, developing new conceptual tools useful for philosophical studies and research in social sciences. 

Ethics, Bioethics, Critical Theory, Social Ontology

Graduation Award (2021), Tampere University Foundation & Tampere University Industrial Research Fund.

LISTS OF PUBLICATIONS 

A.    Peer-Reviewed Articles:

• “Epidemics and pandemics as social pathologies. A critical-naturalist approach”, Critical Horizons, Forthcoming. 2025. 
• Piroddi C, Gilby L, Koivusalo M, McCallum A, Brown A, Stephenson C. “The Hegemony of far-Right Populism, Project 2025, and the Dangers Ahead for Science and Public Health”. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services. 2025;0(0). doi:10.1177/27551938251367853
•  With Ndidi Nwaneri, “The normative chaos of the global arena. The COVID-19 pandemic as a litmus test for the health emergency management and global health systems”, Journal of Global Ethics, 21(2), 2025.* https://doi.org/10.1080/17449626.2025.2512093
• With Jaakko Vuori, "Accumulating social recognition: reproduction of social inequality in late-modern societies”, Journal of Social and Political Philosophy,  4(2), 2025. https://doi.org/10.3366/jspp.2025.0113
• “Epidemics as political emergencies in democratic contexts. Legitimacy and political responsibilities concerning NPIs implementation”, Athena. Philosophical Studies, 2024.
• “Non-pharmaceutical interventions and social distancing as intersubjective care and collective protection”, Asian Bioethics Review, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-022-00212-7. 
•  “Fields of recognition: A dialogue between Pierre Bourdieu and Axel Honneth”, Human Studies, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-022-09630-w. *
• “Hope, habitus, and social recognition: a Bourdieusian proposal”, Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 51, 2021, pp. 619–635. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12325.
• “Can critical theory work without the concept of ‘ideology’? A Bourdieusian perspective”, Consecutio Rerum, 10, 2021.
• “Pathologies of society and social philosophy: New perspectives from Finland”, Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910X.2020.1779770. 
• “Conflitto, riconoscimento e dominio. Tra John Dewey e Pierre Bourdieu”, La società degli individui, 63, 2018/3.
• “Patologie della società e filosofia sociale. Nuove prospettive dalla Finlandia”, Consecutio Rerum, 4, 2018.
•  “Il dominio della crisi in Europa”, Philosophical Readings, 10, 2018/1.
• “Pierre Bourdieu: habitus collettivo e riconoscimento sociale”, Quaderni della Ginestra, 22, 2017/3.
• With Paolo Costa, Marco Solinas, “Verso un nuovo spirito della critica”, La società degli individui, 53, 2015/2.
• With Timothy Tambassi, “Relativismo e critica alla teoria critica”, La società degli individui, 49, 2014/1.

B. Non-Refereed Scientific Articles:

• “Tunnustuksen kentät, habitukset ja pääomat”, Ajatus, 77, 2020/1.
• With Stefano Canali, “Introduction. Which philosophy, ethics, and politics for epidemiology today?”, Mefisto, 5, 2021/1

C. Scientific Books (Edited Refereed Collections, Special Issues of Scholarly Journals, Translations):

• With Stefano Canali, “The philosophy, ethics, and politics of epidemiology today”, Mefisto, 5, 2021/1. https://www.journal.edizioniets.eu/index.php/mefisto/issue/view/36*
• Translation, John Dewey, Filosofia sociale e politica. Lezioni in Cina (1919-1920), ed. Federica Gregoratto, Rosenberg & Sellier, 2017.
• With Diego Melegari, La società degli individui, 52, 2015/2.