Millions in Funding for 3 Philosophical Projects in Finland

The Research Council of Finland has announced the new recipients of its Academy Professorship and Centres of Excellence in Research funding.

[“Townhall of Kuopio (Breathing)” (detail) by Nanna Hänninen]

Of the 15 new Academy Professors, two are philosophers: Jari Kaukua (University of Jyväskylä) and Maria Lasonen (University of Helsinki). Each will receive 2.4 million euros over the next six years for work on the following projects:

**Jari Kaukua **– ***Illuminationist Philosophy in the Islamic World (ISHRAQ)

ISHRAQ studies the reception of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi’s (d. 584/1191) Illuminationist (ishraqi) philosophy from the seventh/thirteenth to the beginning of the eleventh/seventeenth century. Initially developed in critical relation to Avicenna, Illuminationism became one of the prominent doctrinal options in Islamic philosophy. In modern scholarship, Illuminationism is widely perceived as a form of mystically founded perennial philosophy. This picture does not match Suhrawardi’s philosophical output, and we should be cautious about its validity for the reception of his thought as well. Philosophically oriented study of Suhrawardi’s legacy can revise our understanding of postclassical Islamic philosophy, contribute to the inclusion of Islamic philosophy as a self-standing part of the global history of philosophy, and help to build bridges between analytic philosophy and contemporary Islamic philosophy.

Maria Lasonen – The Epistemic Significance of Concepts

Conceptual resources are crucial for the attainment of knowledge and understanding, and they are potent tools of social and political influence. While the ability of concepts to aid and obstruct our thinking has been a recurring theme throughout the history of philosophy, discussions of concepts have little place in current epistemological debates. The Epistemic Significance of Concepts asks what makes for epistemically good concepts, how social conceptual practices and resources shape the thinking of individuals in epistemically significant ways, and how the acquisition of new concepts can be understood and modelled as a rational process. We develop an overall view of concepts as knowledge facilitators. We engage with the general public and with stakeholders to encourage critical reflection on the concepts deployed in public debates, education and policy-making.

Of the 11 new Centres of Excellence established by the Research Council of Finland, one is led by a philosopher: Sami Pihlström (University of Helsinki). This designation includes an award of over 6 million euros over the next eight years:

**Sami Pihlström – *Centre of Excellence in Meliorist Philosophy of Suffering ***

Serious hope in our times must recognize the realities of the human condition, criticizing the illusory promises of naïve optimism. Given the significance of suffering as constitutive of the human condition, it may be argued that the philosophy of suffering does not occupy an adequate place within philosophical research. The new interdisciplinary research cluster Meliorist Philosophy of Suffering, to be funded within the eight-year Centre of Excellence (CoE) program of the Research Council of Finland in 2026-2033, will seek to change this situation. The new center will view suffering as a core theme in philosophical reflection and will offer conceptual and argumentative tools for a deeper understanding of our engagement with affliction, starting from the meliorist (Lat. melior, better) idea that the world can and should be made better by means of piecemeal human efforts. According to meliorism, a positive outcome is neither guaranteed (optimism) nor impossible (pessimism) but something we may hope for if we do our best to actively make it real. Integrating philosophy with the other humanities (including theology and religious studies, the history of ideas, and literary studies), the project will develop an empirically enriched, pragmatically meliorist discourse of suffering.

The five research groups within the Meliorist Philosophy of Suffering CoE will receive altogether more than 6 million euros of RCF funding for the first five years (2026-2030), to be supplemented by additional funding in 2031-2033. The Director of the entire CoE is Sami Pihlström, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the University of Helsinki; he is also in charge of one of the research teams. The other PIs leading their work packages within the CoE are Academy Professor Sari Kivistö, Dr. Timo Koistinen, Dr. Virpi Mäkinen, and Professor Terhi Utriainen. Kivistö’s team will work at Tampere University, while all the other groups will be based at the University of Helsinki.

Further details about these funding awards are at the website of the Research Council of Finland.

(via Polaris Koi)