Ansioluettelo

CURRICULUM VITAE (November 12, 2024)
Pihlström Sami Johannes (ORCID 0000-0002-6410-8382)

Degrees
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FT/PhD, University of Helsinki (UH), Faculty of Arts, theoretical philosophy, 1996
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FL/Phil.Lic., University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, theoretical philosophy, 1994
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FK/MA, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, theoretical philosophy, 1993
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Title of Docent: theoretical philosophy, UH (1998); philosophy, University of Turku (1998); philosophy, especially axiology and philosophical anthropology, University of Eastern Finland (former University of Kuopio, 2000).

Current employment
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Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki, since August 1, 2014. (Full permanent professorship.)

Previous work experience
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Director, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, UH (August, 2009 – July, 2015).
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Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä (September, 2006 – July, 2015). On a leave due to the HCAS directorship in 2009-2015 (and in 2006-2007).
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Professor of Philosophy (acting), University of Tampere (October, 2005 – July, 2007).
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University Lecturer of Theoretical Philosophy, UH (August, 2001 – August, 2006). (Permanent appointment, on a leave due to professorship in 2005-2006.)
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Post-doctoral Fellow, Academy of Finland (August, 1999 – July, 2002).
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Visiting fellowships and research periods abroad during current professorship: Uppsala Univ. (Feb.-March, 2023); Potsdam Univ. (May, 2022, within a 3-month research stay in Germany partly funded by the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters); École Normale Supérieure, Paris (Nov.-Dec., 2019; follow-up March, 2023); Forum Scientiarum, Univ. of Tübingen (Oct. 2015 – Feb. 2016). Earlier extended research and teaching visits at, e.g., Vienna (2013), Bremen (2001), Harvard (1995). (Plus dozens of short visits, etc.)

Research funding and grants
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2024-2028: PI, Research Council of Finland Project, Secular Theodicies – a Pragmatist Critique, 504.726€.
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2014-2019: Team leader (team 2/3) in the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence, Reason and Religious Recognition, UH Faculty of Theology (PI Risto Saarinen).
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2015-2016: PI, Finnish Foundations’ Professorial Pool sabbatical grant, 25.000€.
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2009-2015: Administratively, PI of several major grants/projects hosted by the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, including fellowship programs funded by the Kone Foundation, the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation.
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2011-2013: PI, Argumenta Project, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Human Mortality, 200.000€. (Also hosted by the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.)
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2008-2012: PI, NOS-HS- and Nordforsk-funded projects of the Nordic Pragmatism Network, jointly ca. 140.000€.
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2008-2011: PI, Academy Project, The Ethical Grounds of Metaphysics, 400.000€.
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2003-2006: PI, Academy Project, The Limits of Naturalism, 150.000€.
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1999-2002: PI, Academy of Finland Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

Research supervision and leadership experience
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Supervisor of 20 completed doctoral dissertations (plus ca. 8 in progress), mostly at the UH, and several dozens of BA- and MA-level theses.
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Comprehensive leadership experience as the Director of the HCAS (2009-15) and as the Director of the Doctoral Program for Theology and Religious Studies, UH (2018-21).
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Membership in administrative bodies, e.g., the Faculty Council of the UH Faculty of Theology (2018-25) and the Faculty Council of the University of Jyväskylä Faculty of Social Sciences (2008-9), plus several other university committees and governing bodies.

Teaching merits
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Comprehensive teaching and supervising experience at Finnish universities since 1993.
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Major responsibilities for teaching and curriculum development at the Univ. of Jyväskylä (pedagogical director of the dept., 2007-8) and at UH (doctoral program director, 2018-21).

Awards and honors
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Young scholar’s essay prizes granted by the Charles S. Peirce Society and the American Philosophical Association in 1998.
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Textbook prize (as a member of a team) by Edita in 2001.
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University of Kentucky philosophy essay prize in 2004.
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Vuoden Märsky 2018 (alumnus of the year, Mäkelänrinne High School, Helsinki).
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UH Faculty of Theology teacher of the year prize granted by the student organization, 2019.
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Festschrifts edited by colleagues and former students in 2009 and 2019.
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Invited lifetime memberships based on academic recognition: Academia Europaea (2015-), Institut International de Philosophie (I.I.P., 2016-), Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2017-), and Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (2020-).

Other key academic merits
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Vice-Chair (2016-18) and Chair (2019-21) of the Research Council for Culture and Society, Academy of Finland. (In relation to this position of trust, also the Finnish board member of Humanities in the European Research Area [HERA], 2016-21; member of the sub-committees of the Board of the Academy of Finland [yleisjaosto, lippulaivaohjelman jaosto], 2019-21; plus memberships in the steering groups of Academy programs, etc.)
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Pre-examiner (20) and/or opponent (6 + 2 upcoming) at doctoral dissertations since the late 1990s (opponent also at the Universities of Uppsala [2020] and Utrecht [2012]).
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Member and/or chair of several search committees and recruitment processes, including UH professorial recruitments since 2009.
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Expert evaluator (since early 2000s) in recruitments and in evaluation of applications for the title of Docent, 17 times at different universities in Finland and abroad (e.g., Uppsala, Koblenz), plus tenure review at Vanderbilt University (2024).
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Peer review of funding applications: constantly since the early 2000s, e.g., at various Finnish foundations. (Extensive experience of peer-review-based decision-making concerning funding applications at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, the Academy of Finland, and the scientific committee of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.)
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Memberships and positions of trust in academic organizations: Chair of the Group of Philosophical and Aesthetic Sciences at the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2019-24); President of the Philosophical Society of Finland (2016-24), board member (1996-2024); Vice-President (2021-22) and President (2023-24) of the William James Society; Vice-President of I.I.P. (2022-25); member of the Steering Committee of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP, 2024-28); current or former board member of various international academic societies/networks, including the Nordic Pragmatism Network, the European Pragmatism Association, the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Religion, I.I.P., Central European Pragmatist Forum, and Charles S. Peirce Society.
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Memberships in international evaluation committees: the research assessments of the Tampere University Institute for Advanced Studies (2018), the University of Turku Graduate School (2021), and the University of Turku Faculty of Social Science (2022).
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Several editorial board memberships and editorial responsibilities since the 1990s, most significantly the Editor-in-Chief of Ajatus: Yearbook of the Philosophical Society of Finland
(2004
-11, Editor 1996-2003), the Book Review Editor of Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society (2008-14), and an Executive Editor of Sats (2006-14).
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Peer-reviewer (constantly since the 1990s) for major philosophy journals, including Mind, Synthese, Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, Erkenntnis, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, and dozens of others, and for leading international publishers, including Cambridge UP, Palgrave Macmillan, MIT Press, SUNY Press, Bloomsbury, Springer, Indiana UP, Lexington / Rowman & Littlefield, Brill, and many others.
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Dozens of co-organized academic conferences, including (recently) the 3rd European Pragmatism Conference (UH, 2018), the Entretiens of I.I.P. (UH, 2019), and the 150th anniversary year events of the Phil. Soc. of Finland (2023).

Scientific and societal impact
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Positions of trust also outside the academia, e.g., the board membership of the Alvar Aalto Foundation (2021-22).

Publications (only international monographs listed here; a full list of 500+ publications available upon request; see also Sami Pihlström — University of Helsinki)
1. Structuring the World: The Issue of Realism and the Nature of Ontological Problems in Classical and Contemporary Pragmatism, Acta Philosophica Fennica, Vol. 59, The Philosophical Society of Finland, Helsinki, 1996, 446 pp.
2. Pragmatism and Philosophical Anthropology: Understanding Our Human Life in a Human World, American University Studies, V: Philosophy, Vol. 186, Peter Lang, New York, 1998, xv + 287 pp.
3. Naturalizing the Transcendental: A Pragmatic View, Humanity Books, Amherst, NY, 2003, 390 pp.
4. Solipsism: History, Critique, and Relevance, Acta Philosophica Tamperensia, Vol. 3, Tampere University Press, Tampere, 2004, 299 pp.
5. Pragmatic Moral Realism: A Transcendental Defense, Studies in Pragmatism and Values (Value Inquiry Book Series, Vol. 171), Rodopi, Amsterdam and New York, 2005, xiii + 171 pp.
6. “The Trail of the Human Serpent Is over Everything”: Jamesian Perspectives on Mind, World, and Religion, UP of America (Rowman & Littlefield Group), Lanham, MD, 2008, 253 pp.
7. Pragmatist Metaphysics: An Essay on the Ethical Grounds of Ontology, Continuum, London and New York, 2009, xi + 216 pp.
8. Transcendental Guilt: Reflections on Ethical Finitude, Lexington, Lanham, 2011, viii+135 pp.
9. Pragmatic Pluralism and the Problem of God, Fordham UP, New York, 2013, xii + 245 pp.
10. Taking Evil Seriously, Palgrave Macmillan (Pivot), Basingstoke, 2014, viii + 139 pp.
11. Death and Finitude: Toward a Pragmatic Transcendental Anthropology of Human Limits and Mortality, Lexington (Rowman & Littlefield Group), Lanham, MD, 2016, x + 217 pp.
12. (coauthor: Sari Kivistö) Kantian Antitheodicy: Philosophical and Literary Varieties, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2016, x + 320 pp.
13. Pragmatic Realism, Religious Truth, and Antitheodicy: On Viewing the World by Acknowledging the Other, Helsinki UP, Helsinki, 2020, xxvi + 195 pp.
14. Why Solipsism Matters, Bloomsbury, London and New York, 2020, viii + 228 pp.
15. Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age: Sincerity, Normativity, and Humanism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021, xii + 244 pp.
16. Toward a Pragmatist Philosophy of the Humanities, SUNY Press, Albany, 2022, xii + 264 pp.
17. Humanism, Antitheodicism, and the Critique of Meaning in Pragmatist Philosophy of Religion, Lexington (Rowman & Littlefield Group), Lanham, MD, 2023, x + 240 pp.
18. Realism, Value, and Transcendental Arguments between Neopragmatism and Analytic Philosophy, Springer, Cham, 2023, xi + 202 pp.
19. (coauthor: Sari Kivistö) Critical Distance: Ethical and Literary Engagements with Detachment, Solitude, and Otherness, SpringerBriefs, Cham, 2023, viii + 105 pp.
20. “The Unthinkable” in Ethics, History, and Philosophical Anthropology: A Pragmatic-Transcendental View, Bloomsbury, London, forthcoming 2025, x + 220 pp.