Curriculum Vitae

Tuomas E. Tahko, M.A., Ph.D.

CV in pdf format

Current Role

Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Durham University

Areas of Specialisation

  • Metaphysics
  • Methodology of Metaphysics
  • Metaphilosophy
  • Metaphysics and Epistemology of Modality
  • A Priori Knowledge
  • Realism

Areas of Competence

  • Epistemology
  • Philosophical Logic
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Philosophy of Science
  • History of Philosophy from Descartes to Kant
  • Aesthetics

Education

Summary of Ph.D. Thesis, The Necessity of Metaphysics

The purpose of my thesis is to demonstrate that metaphysics is a necessary discipline – necessary in the sense that any type of rational activity whatsoever would be impossible without a metaphysical background or metaphysical presuppositions. The thesis consists of a brief historical introduction of certain important views concerning the nature of metaphysics and of a longer survey of the status of metaphysics in the context of contemporary analytic metaphysics.

The central argument of the thesis is that our a priori capabilities, which I claim to be grounded in metaphysical modality and ultimately in essences, are necessary for rational inquiry. Detailed accounts of a priori knowledge and modality are offered in support of this claim. I also pursue topics like the metaphysical status of logic and the law of non-contradiction as well as truthmaking, the substance of metaphysical debates, and the methodology of metaphysics. The upshot is an original account of the status of metaphysics in contemporary analytic philosophy – the conclusion that metaphysics is the core of all our rational activities, from natural science to logic, semantics and truth.

Awards and Fellowships

  1. November-December 2009, visitor at The eidos Centre in Metaphysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
  2. In December 2008 I was awarded a 'Research Abroad' funding by The Academy of Finland (30.000€).
  3. In October 2008 I was awarded a post-doctoral research award by Alfred Kordelin Foundation (18.000€).
  4. In February 2007 I received an award from The Finnish Cultural Foundation to fund the completion of my doctoral dissertation (16.000€).
  5. In February 2007 I was accepted to the Durham University Postgraduate Teaching Fellowship Scheme in a project funded by the County Durham Economic Partnership and the Ogden Trust (£13.800). My placement was at Framwellgate School Durham, a distinguished Science college, community school and sixth form centre, where I contributed to the curriculum in subjects such as science and critical thinking.
  6. In December 2005 I received an award from Helsingin Sanomain 100-year foundation to fund the first year of my work towards a doctoral dissertation (18.000€).

Books: Authored

  1. Tahko, T. E. (In progress) A Study of the Foundations of Metaphysics: The A Priori, Modality, and Essences.

Books: Edited

  1. Tahko, T. E. (Ed.) (Forthcoming) Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
    2. The contributors are Alexander Bird, Tim Crane, Kit Fine, Louis Guenin, John Heil, Joshua Hoffman, Kathrin Koslicki, E. J. Lowe, Storrs McCall, David Oderberg, Eric Olson, Gary Rosenkrantz, Peter Simons and myself.

Books: Sections

  1. Tahko, T. E. (Forthcoming) 'Introduction', Tahko, T. E. (Ed.), Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  2. Tahko, T. E. (Forthcoming) 'What is Aristotelian Metaphysics?', Tahko, T. E. (Ed.), Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
  3. Tahko, T. E. (Forthcoming) 'Priority Monism and Conceptual Pluralism' P. Goff (Ed.), Spinoza and Monism, Philosophers in Depth series (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) (with Donnchadh O’Conaill).
  4. Tahko, T. E. (2010) 'Cannabis, the Individual, and the Society', Dale Jacquette (Ed.), Cannabis and Philosophy: What Were We Just Talking About?, in the Philosophy for Everyone series (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell), pp. 149-161.
  5. Tahko, T. E. (2008b) 'The Metaphysical Status of Logic', Michal Peliš (Ed.) The Logica Yearbook 2007 (Prague: Filosofia), pp. 225-235.
  6. Tahko, T. E. (2008a) 'The Aristotelian Method and Aristotelian Metaphysics', Patricia Hanna (Ed.), An Anthology of Philosophical Studies (Athens: ATINER), pp. 53-63.

Journal Papers: Academic

  1. Tahko, T. E. (2009c) 'On the Modal Content of A Posteriori Necessities', Theoria: A Swedish Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 344–357.
  2. Tahko, T. E. (2009b) 'The Law of Non-Contradiction as a Metaphysical Principle', The Australasian Journal of Logic, Vol. 7, pp. 32-47. The original publication is available at the journal's website.
  3. Tahko, T. E. (2009a) 'Against the Vagueness Argument', Philosophia, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 335-40. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.
  4. Tahko, T. E. (2008) 'A New Definition of A Priori Knowledge: In Search of a Modal Basis', Metaphysica, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2008, pp. 57-68. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.

Conference Presentations (peer-reviewed)

  1. 'In Search of a Fundamental Level', Structure and Identity, University of Bristol, UK, July 2010.
  2. 'What Is Aristotelian Metaphysics?', Metaphysics: Aristotelian, Scholastic, Analytic, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, July 2010.
  3. 'The Metaphysical Status of Modal Statements', Meaning, Modality and Apriority – Research Workshop with Scott Soames (one of four critical comments), Emmy Noether Group, University of Cologne, Germany, May 2010.
  4. Principal organiser of a symposium entitled The Structure of Scientific Knowledge (with contributions from myself, Alexander Bird, Robin Hendry and Paul Winstanley), European Philosophy of Science Association Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 2009.
  5. 'Metaphysics Is Not About Existence Questions', The fourth meeting of the Portuguese Society for Analytic Philosophy (ENFA 4), University of Évora, Portugal, September 2009.
  6. 'Natural Boundaries and Metaphysical Realism', Metaphysics of Science Conference, Nottingham, UK, September 2009.
  7. 'Two-Dimensional Modal Semantics, Conceivability, and Modal Epistemology', Société de Philosophie Analytique (SOPHA) 2009 Conference, Université de Genève, Switzerland, September 2009.
  8. 'The A Priori and Scientific Knowledge', British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, University of East Anglia, UK, July 2009.
  9. 'The Metaphysical Basis of Semantics', Recent Trends in Philosophy of Language and General Analytic Philosophy, Tilburg University, The Netherlands, January 2009.
  10. 'Metaphysical vs. Conceptual Modality, or What Modality is Grounded in', ECAP 6: Sixth European Congress of Analytic Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, August 2008.
  11. 'When are Metaphysical Debates Substantial?' (revised version), Logos Conference on MetaMetaphysics, University of Barcelona, Spain, June 2008.
  12. 'A New Definition of A Priori Knowledge: In Search of a Modal Basis', Graduate Conference on Knowledge and Understanding, Edinburgh, UK, November 2007.
  13. 'On the Semantics of Natural Kinds: In Defence of the Essentialist Line', Nature and its Classification - A Metaphysics of Science Conference, Birmingham, UK, October 2007.
  14. 'When are Metaphysical Debates Substantial?', Fifth Conference of The Spanish Society for Analytic Philosophy, University of Barcelona, Spain, September 2007.
  15. 'The Value of A Priori Knowledge', The Value of Knowledge, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 2007.
  16. 'The Metaphysical Status of Logic', LOGICA 2007, Hejnice Monastery, Czech Republic, June 2007.
  17. 'The Aristotelian Method and Aristotelian Metaphysics', 2nd International Conference on Philosophy, University of Athens, Greece, June 2007.
  18. 'Metaphysics and the A Priori', 9th Durham-Bergen Conference, Durham, UK, November 2006.
  19. 'Metaphysics in Natural Science', Metafisica 2006, Rome, Italy, July 2006.

Invited Presentations and Seminar Talks

  1. Comment on Magdalena Balcerak Jackson's paper, 'Intuitions as Inferential Judgments', Workshop on the A Priori, Emmy Noether Group, University of Cologne, Germany, May 2010.
  2. 'Varieties of Modality I & II', Problèmes de métaphysique, The eidos Centre in Metaphysics, University of Geneva, Switzerland, December 2009.
  3. 'On the Epistemic Status of Euclidean Geometry', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, October 2009.
  4. 'Metaphysics Is Not About Existence Questions', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, May 2009.
  5. 'A Priori and A Posteriori: A Bootstrapping Relationship', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, February 2009.
  6. 'Against Conventionalism: Boundaries and Realism', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, October 2008.
  7. 'The Necessity of Metaphysics', Departmental Research Seminar, Durham University, UK, May 2008.
  8. 'The Necessity of Metaphysics', Seminar on The Possibility of Metaphysics in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Philosophy, University of Tampere, Finland, April 2008.
  9. 'The Necessity of Metaphysics', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, February 2008.
  10. 'The Necessity of Metaphysics', Departmental Research Seminar, University of Helsinki, Finland, December 2007.
  11. 'Truthmaking and Realism', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, November 2007.
  12. 'On the Metaphysics of Modality', Eidos - Postgraduate Philosophy Society, Durham University, UK, April 2007.

Teaching

  • 2009-10: Knowledge & Reality lectures (x4) (1st year) (Durham)
  • 2008-09: Philosophy of Mind lectures (x5) (2nd year) (Durham)
  • 2008-09: Philosophy of Mind tutorials (2nd year) (Durham)
  • 2008-09: Philosophical Logic lectures (x1) (2nd year) (Durham)
  • 2008-09: Philosophical Logic tutorials (2nd year) (Durham)
  • 2008-09: Knowledge & Reality tutorials (1st year) (Durham)
  • 2007-08: Philosophy of Mind tutorials (2nd year) (Durham)
  • 2007-08: Introduction to Philosophy; Critical Thinking (Framwellgate School Durham)
  • 2006-07: Knowledge & Reality tutorials (1st year) (Durham)

Other Academic Responsibilities

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