Maria Lasonen

Two fixed-term postdoctoral researcher positions are available in the research project The Epistemic Significance of Concepts at Theoretical Philosophy, University of Helsinki. The project is led by Academy Professor Maria Lasonen and is funded by the Research Council of Finland. It runs alongside a complementary ERC-funded project on concepts, creating a broader research environment focused on the nature and epistemic role of concepts. The project takes a philosophically grounded but empirically informed approach to concepts, asking what concepts are, how they support knowledge and understanding, and how they relate to language, cognition, and social practices. The advertised positions are especially suited to researchers whose work connects philosophy with psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, and the study of word meaning. Topics mentioned in the project include recognitional abilities, conceptual and lexical competence, epistemically good concepts, categorization, social and political dimensions of concepts, and the role of concepts in reasoning, explanation, and understanding. The postdocs will be expected to contribute original journal articles to the project’s core questions and to work collaboratively with project members. The research agenda is broad, covering issues such as concept acquisition and use, the interaction between concepts and linguistic meaning, the impact of social practices on conceptual thought, the role of concepts in moral epistemology, and the place of concepts in AI-related inquiry. The project is based at the University of Helsinki City Centre Campus, within the internationally active research community of Theoretical Philosophy. The successful applicants will join a setting with established strengths in epistemology, logic, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and history of philosophy, and will also have opportunities to engage with colleagues across other philosophy-related units at the university.