Olli Lagerspetz: Philosophy
Currently Acting Professor, Head of Philosophy (1 February 2007), Senior Lecturer (appointed 1 January 2006).
Born 1963, Lagerspetz studied philosophy and the social sciences at Åbo Akademi University (Master of Social Sciences 1989, Licentiate of Philosophy 1992, Doctor of Philosophy 1996, Docent 1999) as well as at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1990-1991). In 1992 to 1998, Lagerspetz was enrolled as Lecturer of philosophy at the University of Wales Swansea.
Lagerspetz is the author of Trust: The Tacit Demand (Kluwer: Dordrecht, 1998) and Smuts: En bok om världen, vårt hem (Symposion: Stockholm/Stehag, 2006) [Dirt: A Book On the World, Our Home]. He is a contributor to Philosophy, Philosophical Investigations, Inquiry, Bioethics, and Philosophical Psychology, as well as Finnish and other Scandinavian journals such as Niin & Näin, Sosiologia, Filosofisk Tidskrift, Res Publica, and Sosiologi idag.
Lagerspetz’s main research interests include philosophical anthropology, philosophical psychology, moral philosophy and the philosophy of mind. Theoretically, his work is influenced by Wittgenstein and post-Wittgensteinian philosophers. More specifically, he has received impulses from those who have taught him or worked with him (Lars Hertzberg, Peter Winch, Ullica Segerstråle, Elizabeth Wolgast, Göran Torrkulla). A consistent theme in his work is the relation between theoretical accounts and everyday practices, and the need to develop alternatives to reductionist tendencies. He has also published (together with Kirsti Suolinna) on the history of Finnish sociology.
Lagerspetz is a member of the Faculty Board. In February 2007, he was elected Curator of the student society Humanistiska Föreningen.
Olli Lagerspetz is married and has two children (born 1995 and 1999).