A philosopher, he has taught Ethics of Communication at the University of Calabria, and is now a professor of Philosophy of Language at the Roma Tre University. Starting in the 1970s, he has contributed to many publications on radical political theory and philosophy, including “Metropoli”, “Luogo comune”, “Futur Antérieur”, “Derive Approdi”, “Forme di vita”.
He is one of the people involved in the Libera Università Metropolitana (LUM) of Rome. His initial field of research was the heterodox Marxism of the Italian labor movement and of Walter Benjamin. He soon moved on to develop, through intense confrontation with authors like Ferdinand de Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein, John Austin, Émile Benveniste, an original materialistic theory of language. More recently, his philosophy of language has critically come to terms with the themes proposed by the philosophical anthropology of Arnold Gehlen and Helmuth Plessner, and with the political and legal theory of Carl Schmitt. His books include: Convenzione e materialismo (Theoria 1986; manifestolibri 2011); Mondanità. L’idea di «mondo» tra esperienza sensibile e sfera pubblica (manifestolibri 1994); Parole con parole. Poteri e limiti del linguaggio (Donzelli 1995); Il ricordo del presente. Saggio sul tempo storico (Bollati Boringhieri 1999); Grammatica della moltitudine. Per una analisi delle forme di vita contemporanee (Derive Approdi, 2002); Quando il verbo si fa carne. Linguaggio e natura umana (Bollati Boringhieri 2003); Motto di spirito e azione innovativa. Per una logica del cambiamento (Bollati Boringhieri 2005); E così via, all’infinito. Logica e antropologia (Bollati Boringhieri 2010); Saggio sulla negazione. Per una antropologia linguistica (Bollati Boringhieri 2013).