Basic information

  • Surname: Viljanen
  • First names: Valtteri Kustaa
  • Research ID: ORCID iD 0000-0002-8373-0847
  • Date of the CV: 23 September 2024

Degrees

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Turku, Philosophy, 12 December 2007.
  • Title of Docent: History of Philosophy, University of Turku, 27 October 2010.

Current employment: Senior Researcher of the Kone Foundation project The Emergence of Pessimism (2023–2027).

Previous work experience 

  • PI and Senior Researcher of the Emil Aaltonen research project Modern View of Concepts (1 August 2020–31 August 2023).
  • Senior Research Fellow in the Academy of Finland project Viral Culture in Early Nineteenth-Century Europe, 1 September 2019–31 July 2020.
  • Academy of Finland Research Fellow, University of Turku, 1 September 2014–31 August 2019.
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, 1 January 2012–31 August 2014.
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Academy of Finland, University of Turku, 1 January 2009–31 December 2011.
  • Junior Researcher, Finnish Graduate School of Philosophy, 1 March 2003–2 May 2007 (University of Turku).
  • Long-term visits abroad:
    • Birkbeck, University of London, UK (Visiting Fellow, 2019–2020).
    • New York University, USA (Visiting Scholar, 2011).
    • Uppsala universitet, Sweden (Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher and Teacher, 2008).
    • Université Paris VIII Vincennes–Saint-Denis, France (Visiting Scholar, 2004).
    • Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany (Ph.D. studies, 2002–2003).

Research funding and grants

Kone Foundation, €178,800 (2022); Emil Aaltonen Foundation, €200,000 (2019); The Academy of Finland, Academy of Finland Research Fellow (2014); Niilo Helander Foundation, €10,000 (2014); The Finnish Cultural Foundation, €11,000 (2014); Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, Postdoctoral Researcher (2011); Turku University Foundation, €6268 (2011); The Emil Aaltonen Foundation, €2500 (2009); The Academy of Finland, Postdoctoral Researcher (2008); The Academy of Finland, €9000 (2007); Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, €18,000 (2007); The Finnish Cultural Foundation, €8000 (2007); Turku University Foundation, €13,820 (2002); Niilo Helander Foundation, €13,500 (2002); Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, FIM 60,000 (2001). Total amount of research funding obtained circa €1,300 000.

Research output

Total number of publications 47; ten most important publications:

  1. “Locke on Freedom, Moral Agency, and the Space of Reasons.” Locke Studies, forthcoming.
  2. (With Peter Myrdal and Arto Repo) “Leibniz on Possibilia, Creation, and the Reality of Essences.” Philosophers’ Imprint, 2023 (17): 1–17.
  3. (With Justin Steinberg) Spinoza. Polity Press, 2021.
  4. “Why Virtue Is not Quite Enough: Descartes on Attaining Happiness.” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 2021, 103 (1): 54–69.
  5. “The Young Spinoza on Scepticism, Truth, and Method.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2020, 50 (1): 130–42.
  6. “Kant on Moral Agency: Beyond the Incorporation Thesis.” Kant-Studien 2020, 111 (3): 423–44.
  7. “Spinoza’s Ontology Geometrically Illustrated: A Reading of Ethics IIP8S.” – B. Lord (ed.), Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio, 5–18. Edinburgh University Press, 2018.
  8. “Spinoza on Virtue and Eternity.” – M.J. Kisner & A. Youpa (eds.), Essays on Spinoza’s Ethical Theory, 258–71. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  9. Spinoza’s Geometry of Power.  Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  10. (With Juhani Pietarinen) The World as Active Power. Brill, 2009.

Selected teaching merits

  • University of Turku: 2002–2012, courses on the philosophy of human sciences; 2010–2014, seminars on early modern philosophy; 2005–2016, lectures on the philosophy of human sciences; 2010 (with Hanna Meretoja), seminar on Michel Foucault.
  • Uppsala University (Sweden): 2008, seminar on Spinoza.
  • Teaching sample, University of Turku (2010), grade: excellent.
  • Pedagogical studies in Teacher Training, University of Turku, 1998.

Awards and honours

  • Lecturer of the Year 2012 (Index, University of Turku).
  • Outstanding Dissertation 2008 (Turku University Foundation).

Other key academic merits

  • Selected reviewer duties:
    • Journal of the History of Philosophy (2011–2024)
    • Edinburgh University Press (2024)
    • Cambridge University Press (2014–2024)
    • International Journal of Philosophical Studies (2023)
    • Journal of Modern Philosophy (2022)
    • History of Philosophy Quarterly (2020, 2014)
    • Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie (2013–2018)
    • Canadian Journal of Philosophy (2011, 2015)
    • Science in Context (2014)
    • British Journal for the History of Philosophy (2014)
    • Ergo (2014)
    • Philosophical Quarterly (2013)
    • Lexington Books (2011)
  • 60 papers presented in international conferences (of which 20 as an invited speaker); 27 papers presented in national conferences and workshops; 5 invited lectures for Finnish non-philosopher audiences.
  • Selected conferences organized: The Finnish-Hungarian Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, with Michael Griffin et al. (2014–2019); Nature, Mind, and Action in Leibniz, with Peter Myrdal (2017); Second Arctic Circle Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy: Self, with Markku Roinila et al. (2013); Early Modern Metaphysics of Causality and Representation (2011); The Annual Colloquium of the Philosophical Society of Finland, with Helena Siipi (2011).

Scientific and societal impact

Editorial Board member of the Journal of Spinoza Studies (2022–); Organizing Committee member of the Finnish-Hungarian Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, 2014–2022; Executive Committee member of Dynamis – The Finnish Network for Metaphysics, 2013–2021; Board member of the Philosophical Society of Finland, 2010–2014.

Other merits

Finnish military rank: Second Lieutenant.