Italian 'Knight's Tale': Philosophy prof is knighted

Cristina Bicchieri isn't just the director of Penn's Philosophy, Politics and Economics program and a game-theory scholar.

She's also an Italian knight.

Bicchieri was knighted at the Italian consulate last June for merits in the arts and sciences.

Many received the news with enthusiasm and congratulation.

"I was utterly delighted to see Cristina recognized - she's a star," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rebecca Bushnell said.

"It's a wonderful honor, and she's been a tremendous force in our PPE program," University President Amy Gutmann said. "I'm delighted for her, and it's another feather in her cap and in Penn's cap."

However, for Bicchieri, this honor is simply an honor.

"It is very nice because they give you very nice medals," she said.

Still, the knighthood is all in the family for her.

"Some of my great-great-grandparents were knighted by the king," she said. "The first minister of labor in Italy was my great-great-grandparent, so we have a history of knighthood."

Bicchieri explained that the knighthood is given to native Italians to honor academic, civic and political merits, but that the title of "knight" has taken on new meaning since the Italian monarchy ended.

"The Italian Prime Minister, [Silvio] Berlusconi, is a knight," she explained, "but his knighthood is very different because it is given only for labor merits, which means if you are an industrialist ... you get that type of knighthood, which I could never get."

A native of Milan, Bicchieri studied logic and philosophy of science at the University of Milan before pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy of science at Cambridge University. After receiving a fellowship at Harvard University, she spent two years studying economics and philosophy, which led her to game theory and its foundations.

She has also studied game theory's application to artificial intelligence, as well as the nature and evolution of social norms and expectations.

She spent a few years as a professor of philosophy and social decision science at Carnegie Mellon University before coming to Penn in 2004.

Penn is "a very good environment for me because it is a very interdisciplinary university," she said. In addition to her positions in the Philosophy and PPE departments, she mentioned ties to the Psychology Department and the Wharton School that arose from her interest in decision-making.

This semester, she teaches "Experimental Ethics," a graduate seminar that examines social norms and assesses the impact of experimental results on the understanding of moral behavior.

In the future, she said she hopes to teach a unique game theory class that emphasizes her specialty areas of research, such as applications to artificial intelligence.

But even for a scholar like Bicchieri, there is no such thing as all work and no play.

"I collect African art," she said. "I've had a passion for that since I was 14, when my mother took me to Paris." There, she saw an exhibition juxtaposing African art with cubist art that "made an enormous impression."

This love of life stems from Bicchieri's Italian heritage.

"What I like of Italy is the conviviality - the fact that social life is quite important," she said. But otherwise, she added, she is happy in the United States, especially at Penn.

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