The Carbon Budget: Applied Normative Perspectives
Co-edited with Alberto Pirni for the Journal of Applied Philosophy, bringing normative analysis into contact with the practical and institutional challenges of carbon budgeting.
Political philosophy · Climate justice
Diana Piroli
I work at the intersection of theories of justice, critical theory, and the politics of recognition, with a focus on climate justice and democratic disagreement over the green transition.
01
Research
Normative theory attentive to institutions, social conflict, and the lived experience of injustice.
My research asks how liberal democracies can pursue ambitious and just climate action while confronting pluralism, political conflict, and unequal relations of recognition.
My current project at the University of Catania examines the influence of Kantian moral autonomy on contemporary political theories, with particular attention to climate justice. Across my work, I bring theories of justice into conversation with critical theory, recognition, public reason, and the institutional conditions of dignity and self-respect.
Climate justiceCarbon budgets, green transition, future generations
RecognitionIdentity, vulnerability, participation, social esteem
Theories of justiceRawls, redistribution, democratic legitimacy
Kantian political thoughtAutonomy, aesthetics, freedom, citizenship
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Selected publications
Recent work in political philosophy, applied ethics, and climate justice.
2026
Journal article
↗The Carbon Budget: Applied Normative Perspectives
With Alberto Pirni · Journal of Applied Philosophy, Early View
2026
Book chapter
Climate Change and Natural Beauty: Kant’s Moderate Aesthetic Ecocentrism
With Luigi Caranti · In Kant’s Legacy for the 21st Century, Routledge
2025
Journal article
Climate Justice, Recognition, and Pluralism
Brazilian Political Science Review 19(1), 1–28
2025
Journal article
Climate Justice in a Conflictual Public Sphere
Philosophy and Public Issues, Special Section 2/2025
2025
Book chapter
Climate Justice, Green Transition, and the Clash with Freedoms
In Concepts and Conceptions of Freedom, LIT Verlag
2025
Journal article
Climate Change and Future Generations
With Nunzio Alì · Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica
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Experience
Research developed across institutions in Europe and Latin America.
2024 — present
Postdoctoral Researcher · University of Catania
Political philosophy, moral autonomy, and climate justice. Supervised by Luigi Caranti.
2023 — 2024
Postdoctoral Researcher · Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
Ethical and political dimensions of the carbon budget within the PRO3 ecological transition project.
2022
Honorary Hoover Fellow · UCLouvain
Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale, coordinated by Axel Gosseries.
2022 — 2023
Research Fellow · University of Catania
Asylum, climate change, and human rights.
2017 — 2021
PhD in Moral and Political Philosophy · UFSC
Dissertation on justice, recognition, and Rawls’s social bases of self-respect. Visiting PhD researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
04
Projects
Collaborative research on justice across borders, disciplines, and traditions.
JUSTLA
Justice in the 21st Century: A Perspective from Latin America. Research staff member and investigator.
CRIDEM
The Crisis of Liberal Democracy and the New Rise of Populism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
Crossing Boundaries
Migration and the Shaping of Global Political Theory.
Embedding Justice
New Frameworks of Social and Climate Justice in Contemporary Political Theory.
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Teaching
Teaching in English, Italian, and Portuguese across political philosophy and applied ethics.
Human Rights: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives
Master’s Program in Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations · University of Catania
Filosofia dei diritti sociali
Master’s Program in Social Policies and Services · University of Catania
Etica e politica nell’era digitale
Master’s Program in Sociology of Networks, Information, and Innovation · University of Catania
Theories of Justice & Political Philosophy
Graduate and undergraduate programs · Federal University of Santa Catarina