Who We Are

T H E T E A M

Principal Investigators

Antti Kauppinen

Maria Lasonen-Aarnio

The project's PI is Antti Kauppinen, who is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. He has broad research interests in ethics and many other areas of philosophy. Before moving back to Helsinki in 2018, he worked at various European universities, including Trinity College Dublin and St Andrews.

Antti's recent publications on the project's themes include 'Epistemic Norms and Epistemic Accountability' (Philosophers' Imprint 2018) and 'Rationality as the Rule of Reason' (Noûs online first). His current research topics include the relationship between reasons and accountability, the role of emotions in moral understanding and justification, and the nature of responsibility for non-voluntary responses.

You can contact Antti at antti.kauppinen@helsinki.fi.

Antti Kauppinen's personal webpage

The project's co-PI, Maria Lasonen-Aarnio, is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Helsinki. She will be leading the ERC-funded Competence and Success in Epistemology and Beyond research project until the end of 2022.

Before moving to her native Finland, she was an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Before Michigan she was at Oxford, where she got a BPhil and DPhil (2010), and was a Fitzjames Research Fellow at Merton College. She is an Editor of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

Though Maria mainly works in epistemology, her philosophical interests are broad. At the moment she is writing a book for Oxford University Press that aims to formulate her big picture in epistemology, bringing together work she has published in various articles.
You can contact Maria at maria DOT lasonen AT helsinki DOT fi

Maria Lasonen-Aarnio's personal webpage

Researchers

Max Lewis is the first of the project’s Postdoctoral Researchers. Before joining the project, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.

His main philosophical interests are in ethics (esp. metaethics and normative ethics) and epistemology, as well as their intersection. His current research interests include: moral and epistemic issues concerning moral deference, the nature and function of blame (and related responsibility practices), the relational nature of morality, moral understanding, and the relationship between mental states and moral properties.

You can contact Max at max.lewis@helsinki.fi.

Max Lewis’s personal webpage

Jaakko Hirvelä is a postdoctoral researcher who specializes in epistemology. Before joining the project, he was part of the ERC-funded project Competence and Success in Epistemology and Beyond.
Though Jaakko’s latest work has focused on epistemic and metaphycal issues such as the structure of epistemic justification (Philosophical Studies), epistemic defeat (Erkenntnis), and epistemic competences (Thought), his philosophical interests cut across theoretical and practical philosophy. Currently he is working on moral encroachment and on the interconnections between risk and responsibility.

You can contact him at jaakko DOT hirvela AT Helsinki DOT fi.
Jaakko’s personal webpage.

Giulia Luvisotto joined the Project as a Postdoctoral Researcher after completing her PhD at the University of Warwick (November 2021). Her PhD thesis looked at responsibility for beliefs from a virtue-theoretical perspective. In particular, she is interested in the distinction between accountability and attributability, the peculiarities of responsibility for actions and responsibility for beliefs, the validity and interpretations of the control requirement. Her current research focuses on how reflecting on virtues and vices can shed new light on the interconnections between different normative domains, especially the epistemic and normative ones. Her future plan is to look more into attention and inquiry, and into the relationships between virtue ethics and virtue epistemology.

You can contact her at giulia DOT luvisotto AT gmail DOT com.

Advisory Board

The following philosophers have at least tentatively agreed to serve on the project's international advisory board:

Alison Hills (Oxford)
Benjamin Kiesewetter (Humboldt-Universitt zu Berlin)
Peter Railton (Michigan)
Mark Schroeder (University of Southern California)
Paulina Sliwa (Cambridge)
Miira Tuominen (Stockholm)
Jonathan Way (University of Southampton)
Ralph Wedgwood (University of Southern California)