Mario Alai, full member of the International Academy for the Philosophy of the Sciences and formerly associate professor of Theoretical Philosophy and of Philosophy of Language at the University of Urbino, holds degrees from the Universities of Bologna, Urbino and Helsinki, and Doctorates from the universities of Maryland and Florence. His research focuses mainly on scientific and metaphysical realism vs. antirealism, but he has published works on a variety of issues in philosophy of science, epistemology, and philosophy of language.