| Areas of Specialisation and Competence | |
| AOS: Comparative Political Theory, Contemporary Confucian Political Theory, Western Political Theory, Democratic Theory AOC: Ethics, Ethics of Technology | |
| Academic Positions | |
| Assistant Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy, Department of Values, Technology and Innovation, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands (Maternity/Parental leave: September 2023 – April 2024) | 2020 – Present |
| International Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, China | 2019–20 |
| Adjunct Faculty, School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Singapore | 2018–19 |
| Education | |
| Joint PhD, Political Philosophy | 2013−18 |
| King’s College London & National University of Singapore | |
| Dissertation’s title: “The Meritocratic Challenge to Democratic Theories” Supervisors: Sor-hoon Tan (NUS), Adrian Blau (KCL) Committee: Daniel A. Bell (external), Neiladri Sinhababu (NUS), Rod Dacombe (KCL), Michael Pelczar (chair) | |
| M.Phil., Analytic Philosophy Inter-University Degree, University Pompeu Fabra, University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Girona | 2011−12 |
| M.A., Philosophy University of Parma, Summa Cum Laude | 2009−11 |
| B.A., Philosophy University of Parma | 2005−08 |
| Publications | |
| Solo-Books Ziliotti E. Forthcoming. Meritocratic Democracy: A Cross-Cultural Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Edited Books van de Poel I., Frank L., Hermann J., Hopster J., Lenzi D., Nyholm S., Taebi B., Ziliotti E. 2023. Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0366 Journal articles Ziliotti, E. 2024. “Breaking the Mold: Normative Hybridity as the Key to Contemporary “Non-Western” Political Theorizing’” American Political Science Review (Online publication)1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055424000194 Ziliotti, E. 2024. “Social Cohesion, Meritocracy, and The Future of East Asia: A Confucian-inspired Perspective,” Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture 41: 85-109. DOI: 10.22916/jcpc.2024..41.85 Ziliotti, E. 2024. “Social Meritocracy and Unjust Social Hierarchies: Three Proposals to Limit Meritocracy’s Erosion of Social Cooperation,” Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-024-00400-9 Ziliotti E. 2023. “An Epistemic Case for Confucian Democracy,” Critical International Review of Social and Political Philosophy 26(7): 1005-1027. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2020.1838736 Ziliotti E. 2022. “Questions for Hierarchical Confucianism,” The Review of Politics 84(3): 329–349. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034670522000304 Dennis M., Ziliotti E. 2022. “Living Well Together Online: Digital Well-Being from a Confucian Perspective,” Journal of Applied Philosophy 40(2): 263-279. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12627 Sta. Maria J., Ziliotti E. 2022. “Addressing Online Gaming Toxicity from a Confucian Perspective,” Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture 38: 131−152. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22916/jcpc.2022..38.131 Ziliotti E. 2020. “Political Meritocracy and the Troubles of Western Democracies,” Philosophy and Social Criticism 46(9): 1127–45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453720948377 Ziliotti E. 2020. “Democracy’s Value: A Conceptual Map,” Journal of Value Inquiry 54: 407–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-019-09717-1 Ziliotti E. 2017. “The Moral Basis of Political Meritocracy,” Philosophy and Public Issues 7(1): 246–70. Ziliotti E. 2017. “From Democratic Meritocracy to Meritocratic Democracy: Why Political Meritocracy Matters,” Philosophy and Public Issues 7(1): 73−87. Book chapters Ziliotti E., Reyes P., Gwagwa A., Dennis M. 2023. “Social Media and Democracy”, in Van de Poel et al.(eds.) Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction, Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. 33−52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0366. Van de Poel I., Hopster J., Löhr G., Ziliotti E., Buijsman S., Brey P. 2023. “Introduction”, in Van de Poel et al. (eds.) Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction, Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. 11−32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0366. Ziliotti E. 2022. “What Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Teach Us about Democracy? Relational Democracy and Digital Surveillance,” in Matthew Dennis et al. (eds.), Values for a Post-Pandemic Future: Ethics, Technology, and the ‘New Normal’, Netherlands: Springer. 59−74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08424-9_3. Ziliotti E. 2018. “Public Deliberation in a Globalized World? The Case of Confucian Customs and Traditions,” in Michael Reder (eds.), The Yearbook Practical Philosophy in a Global Perspective, Freiburg: Karl Albert Publishing. 339−61. | |
| Book reviews | |
| Ziliotti E. 2021. “Review of Daniel A. Bell and Wang Pei’s Just Hierarchy: Why Social Hierarchies matter for China and the rest of the World,” Res Publica 27: 515–520. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-020-09493-x Ziliotti E. 2017. “Review of Daniel A. Bell’s The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy,” Philosophy East and West 67(2): 295−98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2017.0025 | |
| Media & Online | |
| Newspaper articles | |
| Ziliotti E. 2022. “La Decolonizzazione del Pensiero Politico: Una Sfida Concreta” [Decolonising Political Thought: A Concrete Challenge] Il Manifesto. Available in Italian at: https://ilmanifesto.it/la-decolonizzazione-del-pensiero-politico-una-sfida-concreta Ziliotti E. 2017. “Political Priorities and the Western Conceit: A Reply to Francesco Grillo & Co,” OpenDemocracy. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/elena-ziliotti/political-priorities-and-western-conceit-reply-to-francesco-grillo-co | |
| Interviews | |
| 2020. “Etica dei Social, Confucianesimo, Meritocrazia” [Ethics of Social media, Confucianism, Meritocracy] Mentinfuga. Available in Italian at: https://www.mentinfuga.com/etica-dei-social-confucianesimo-meritocrazia-intervista-a-elena-ziliotti/ 2020. “Confucio, l’Asia e le Democrazie occidentali” [Confucius, Asia and Western Democracies] Il Manifesto. Available in Italian at: https://ilmanifesto.it/confucio-lasia-e-le-democrazie-occidentali | |
| Podcasts | |
| Interviewed by Kristy Claassen on “Confucianism and Social Media Technologies”, Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies Podcast. 09.03.2023. Available at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/esdit/episodes/Elena-Ziliotti-on-Confucianism-and-Social-Media-Technologies-e203lol | |
| Teaching Experience | |
| Module Manager/Instructor A.Y. 2023-24, TU Delft ‘Where Do You Stand?’ Political Philosophy From a Global Perspective (Lecturer and Course Manager, ~25 students) Critical Reflections on Technology ( Lecturer, ~25 students) A.Y. 2022-23, TU Delft The Engineer in Society (i.e. Introduction to Ethics. Lecturer and Course Manager, ~400 students) Critical Reflections on Technology ( Lecturer, ~25 students) Scientific Integrity (Lecturer, ~20 students) Integrity Workshop (Lecturer, ~40 participants) A.Y. 2021-22, TU Delft The Engineer in Society (i.e. Introduction to Ethics. Lecturer and Course Manager, ~400 students) Critical Reflections on Technology (Lecturer, ~25 students) Scientific Integrity (Lecturer, ~20 students) A.Y. 2020-21, TU Delft The Engineer in Society (i.e. Introduction of Ethics. Lecturer and Course Manager, ~400 students) Critical Reflections on Technology (Lecturer, ~25 students) Scientific Integrity (Lecturer, ~20 students) A.Y. 2018-19, Singapore Management University Analytical Skills (i.e. Critical thinking. Lecturer, ~280 students) Guest Lectures, invited Title of the Lecture: TBD. The 8th Summer School in Political Philosophy, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, China. 15-21.07.2024 “Confucianism, China, and the Promise of Confucian Democracy”, China Studies Programme, University College Utrecht, Utrecht University, Netherlands. 04.04.2024 “Confucian Political Thought”, Pre-MA course A History of Political Thought, Radboud University, Netherlands. 22.11.2022 “Why Is it Important to Have a Representative Approach to Digital Well-Being?”, PhD course on Digital Well-Being: How to Live Well with Online Technologies, organized by The Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW) & Eindhoven University of Technology. 23.09.2022 “Values and Multicultural/Non-Western Perspectives”, PhD course on Design for Values, organized by The Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW) & Delft University of Technology. 08.09.2022 “Confucianism & Technology” PhD course on Philosophies of Technology, 4TU.Ethics. 19.05.2022 “Rawls’ Theory of Justice and Democratic Deliberation” BA course, Ethics and Engineering. TU Delft. 07.10.2020 | |
| Recent Conference and Seminar Presentations | |
| (invited speaker) “Democracy and The Limits of Confucian Political Meritocracy”, OZSW Study Group in Political Philosophy, Utrecht University, Netherlands | 06.2023 |
| (invited speaker) “How to Select Good Leaders in Democracy? Rethinking Meritocracy and Confucian Virtue Politics for the Modern World”, Hierarchy, Meritocracy and Democracy Workshop, Department of Politics and International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK | 05.2023 |
| (invited speaker) “Breaking the Mould: Normative Hybridity as the Key to Contemporary ‘Non-Western’ Political Theorising”, Institute for European Global Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland | 04.2023 |
| (invited speaker) “Social Cohesion, Meritocracy, and The Future of East Asia: A Confucian-Inspired Perspective”, Confucianism and Meritocracy in China and South Korea: Political versus Social CCECC International Conference, The Institute of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea | 02.2023 |
| (invited speaker) “Deliberative Agency And The Methodological Limits of Conceptual Creativity”, Workshop on Uchenna Okeja’s Deliberative Agency. A Study in Modern African Political Philosophy, Ethics Institute, Utrecht University, Netherlands | 12.2022 |
| “Learning From The Past to Shape Future Democracies: How Ancient Confucian Conceptions of Political Leadership can Help Contemporary Democracies to control Political Leaders” The Art of Ruling: Ancient Conceptions of Leadership in a Global Context. Conference in Comparative Political Theory, New York University, USA | 12.2022 |
| “A Multicultural Turn in Ethics of Technology: What, Why, and How?” The Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT) International Conference, Leiden, Netherlands | 10.2022 |
| “Leader-centrism in Contemporary Democratic Societies and How Confucian Political Theory Can Help Us Make Sense of It”, Naraku: Discord, Dysfunction, Dystopia, The 7th Annual Hasekura International Japanese Studies Symposium, Tohoku University, Japan | 09.2022 |
| (invited speaker) “A Confucian Perspective on Polarizing Technologies and their Impact on the Epistemic Quality of Democratic Processes”, Polarization, Technology, and Democracy Workshop, Ethics Institute, Utrecht University, Netherlands | 08.2022 |
| “Why Should We Decolonize Democratic Theory? The Case of Confucian Political Theory”, Decolonizing Western Political Philosophy – Programme IPSA RC31 Conference, Centre for Political Philosophy, Leiden University, Netherlands | 06.2022 |
| “Collectivist Approaches to Digital Well-Being: A Confucian Perspective”, co-presented with Matthew Dennis, International Ethics and Technology Conference, the Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies Research Consortium, Netherlands | 01.2022 |
| “Confucian Democratic Leadership”, American Philosophical Association (APA) Eastern Division, Baltimore, USA | 01.2022 |
| (invited speaker) “What Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Teach us about Democracy?”, Confucian Meritocratic Political System in its Domestic and International Forms, Fudan University, China “Collectivist Approaches to Digital Well-Being: A Confucian Perspective”, co-presented with Matthew Dennis, It’s Alive, 4TU.Ethics Biannual Conference on Ethics and Technology. | 12.2021 |
| 10.2021 | |
| (invited speaker) “Do Voters Need Leaders?”, Reconstructing Democracy in Times of Crisis Workshop, REDEM Horizon 2020 Project, University of Genoa, Italy | 07.2021 |
| (invited speaker) “Confucian Democratic Leadership”, LUCIP Lecture Series, Centre for Intercultural Philosophy, Leiden University, Netherlands | 05.2021 |
| (invited speaker) “Against Confucian Hierarchy”, Conference on Equality and Hierarchy: A Comparative Perspective, Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong | 03.2021 |
| (invited participant) “Liberty and the Struggle for the Early Chinese State” Colloquium, Institute for Human Studies, George Mason University & Liberty Found, USA | 03.2021 |
| (invited speaker) “Calling Things by Their Names: An Inquiry into the Meanings of Meritocracy, Hierarchy, and Democracy”, Conference on Hierarchies, Center for Research in Ethics, University of Montreal, Canada | 01.2021 |
| (invited speaker) “On Democratic Leaders”, Seminar, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan | 11.2019 |
| (invited speaker) “On Democratic Leaders”, 1st Political Philosophy Workshop, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, China | 08.2019 |
| “Against Political Egalitarianism”, 29th World Congress of the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, University of Lucerne, Switzerland | 07.2019 |
| “Political Meritocracy 2.0”, Association for Social and Political Philosophy Annual Conference, Newcastle University, UK | 06.2019 |
| (invited speaker) “Political Meritocracy and the Troubles of Western Democracies”, Conference on Political Meritocracy: Possibilities and Limits, Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong | 03.2019 |
| Conference, Session or Workshop Organiser | |
| Organiser, Online Book Symposium on Sungmoon Kim’s Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy (OUP 2023). TU Delft. 04.2024 Main organiser, The 1st Comparative Political Philosophy Conference, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University. with Professor Yong Li. 22-23.07.2024 Organiser, ESDiT Intercultural track Open Colloquium, Guest speaker: Professor Pius Mosima (Free University of Amsterdam), 09.03.2023 Organiser, ESDiT Society Research line Open Colloquium, Guest speaker: Sandra Watcher (University of Oxford), 22.09.2023 Organiser, ESDiT Nature & Society Line meeting on Climate Justice, 21.08.2022 Scientific Committee Member, ESDiT International Conference 2022, Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies Gravitation Consortium, Netherlands, 10.2022 Scientific Committee Member, International Ethics and Technology Conference, Ethics of Social Disruptive Technologies Gravitation Consortium, Netherlands, 01.2022 Scientific Committee Member, It’s Alive, 4TU.Ethics Biannual Conference, 4TU.Ethics Center on Ethics and Technology, Netherlands, 10.021 | |
| Awarded Fellowships and Scholarship | |
| China International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship, China Postdoctoral Council | 2019-20 |
| International Postdoctoral Fellowship, Wuhan University | 2019-20 |
| Postdoctoral Fellowship, Centre for Advanced Studies Justitia Amplificata, Goethe–University Frankfurt & Free University Berlin (Declined) | 2019-20 |
| Residential Fellowship, Doctoral Summer School, Annual Program ‘The Value of Equality’, Centre for Moral and Political Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem | 2016 |
| PhD Student Research Scholarship, National University of Singapore | 2013-17 |
| Faculty of Arts and Social Science’s Travel Grant, National University of Singapore | 2016 |
| Graduate SEP Scholarship for Overseas Financial Assistance, National University of Singapore | 2015-16 |
| Erasmus Scholarship (EU Commission), Radboud University, Netherlands | 2007 |
| Additional Information | |
| Service to the Profession Journal Co-Editor, Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, January 2022 – Present Academic society & other memberships Member, Italian Association for Women in Philosophy (SWIP Italy), 2018-Present Member, Association for Political Theory, 2017-Present Member, American Philosophical Association, 2016-Present Member, Political Theory Research Group, King’s College London, 2015-18 Member, ‘Law and Society’ Reading Group, King’s College London, 2015-16 Member, London Comparative Political Theory Workshop, 2015-16 Continuing Professional Education Dutch University Teaching Qualification (in Dutch: Basiskwalificatie Onderwijs, BKO), 01.2023 | |
| Languages | |
| Italian: mother tongue, English: fluent, Spanish: intermediate, Mandarin: intermediate | |
Updated as of April 16th, 2024