Basic information

  • Surname: Viljanen
  • First names: Valtteri Kustaa
  • Research ID: ORCID iD 0000-0002-8373-0847
  • Date of the CV: 27 April 2025

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. “The Early Modern Rationalists and Substantial Form: From Natural Philosophy to Metaphysics.” Journal of Early Modern Studies 2024, 13 (2): 37–62.
  2. “Locke on Freedom, Moral Agency, and the Space of Reasons.” Locke Studies 2024, 24: 1–20.
  3. (With Peter Myrdal and Arto Repo) “Leibniz on Possibilia, Creation, and the Reality of Essences.” Philosophers’ Imprint, 2023 (17): 1–17.
  4. (With Justin Steinberg) Spinoza. Polity Press, 2021.
  5. “Why Virtue Is not Quite Enough: Descartes on Attaining Happiness.” Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 2021, 103 (1): 54–69.
  6. “The Young Spinoza on Scepticism, Truth, and Method.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2020, 50 (1): 130–42.
  7. “Kant on Moral Agency: Beyond the Incorporation Thesis.” Kant-Studien 2020, 111 (3): 423–44.
  8. “Spinoza’s Ontology Geometrically Illustrated: A Reading of Ethics IIP8S.” – B. Lord (ed.), Spinoza’s Philosophy of Ratio, 5–18. Edinburgh University Press, 2018.
  9. “Spinoza on Virtue and Eternity.” – M.J. Kisner & A. Youpa (eds.), Essays on Spinoza’s Ethical Theory, 258–71. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  10. Spinoza’s Geometry of Power.  Cambridge University Press, 2011.

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)
  • 57 papers presented in international conferences.
  • 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 (2021–); 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.