The main target of the present work is to show that the epistemic aspects of coincidences are, together with the independence between the intersecting causal chains, a constitutive part of coincidental phenomena. This book aims to introduce and discuss recent work in psychology concerning one’s judgment about coincidences; this data offers further materials and reasons to reflect upon our understanding of coincidences and to refine our hybrid conception.
Alessandra Melas collaborates with the University of Sassari (Italy), where she defended her Ph.D. dissertation concerning causal realism in Quantum Mechanics. Her research mostly focuses on the History and Metaphysics of Science, with particular interest in causation, causal models, and chance. She is currently working on metaphysics of coincidences (see “On the Nature of Coincidental Events” with P. Salis, in Axiomathes, 2020). Another recent publication within this topic includes “Cournot’s Notion of Hasard: An Objective Conception of Chance”, published in 2017. She is a student in Psychology and was a teacher of History and Philosophy at the High School level for almost a decade. She works on didactic methodologies, along with scientific communication and dissemination. Her last publication on this subject was featured in 'Scienza in Piazza 2019: Le Cause delle Cose', appearing in June 2020.
Pietro Salis teaches Philosophy of Knowledge at the University of Cagliari in the Department of Education, Psychology and Philosophy. His research interests focus on epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind. He has published works mostly on coincidences, meaning, truth, representation, and normativity. His publications include papers published in peer reviewed journals such as 'Acta Analytica', 'Axiomathes', 'Frontiers in Psychology', 'Phenomenology and Mind', 'Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences', 'Philosophia', and 'Topoi'. He is also author of the book 'Pratiche discorsive razionali. Studi sull’inferenzialismo di Robert Brandom' (Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2016).