Pauliina Remes

I am professor in theoretical philosophy, especially in history of philosophy, at Uppsala university. In Uppsala, I have the further roles of being the Director of Studies (Master level) at the Department of Philosophy, as well as the representative of Humanities in the The Board for the Investigation of Deviations from Good Research Practice. I finished my PhD-thesis in 2001 (King’s College, London). Before my appointment in Uppsala, first as a lecturer (2007), and as a professor (2015), I worked as a post-doctoral researcher in Helsinki. I have spent two leaves in Oxford (Wolfson 2003; Corpus Christi 2018) and one in Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2015).

Teaching

Over the years I have taught several courses on ancient philosophy (e.g. Plato’s methodology, the Republic, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Metaphysics, Augustine’s Confessions; psychology and moral psychology in antiquity; philosophy of action and agency in antiquity). Regularly, my teaching includes history of philosophy basic level course (ancient and medieval periods). I also occasionally teach systematic courses, like the introductory course on epistemology and on philosophy of mind, and Master level courses on philosophy of self, subject and self-knowledge. I organize the Uppsala history of philosophy research seminar.

Research

Like most scholars working on ancient philosophy, I have wide interests within that period. My scholarly publications have concerned particularly Plotinus and Neoplatonism, but I also work on periods earlier and later, especially on Plato. Thematically, my areas of interest include notions of self, consciousness, person, and agent, the themes of self-knowledge, autonomy - or self-determination - and self-ennoblement, inwardness and externality in ancient philosophy. as well as more broadly the areas of philosophy of mind or soul, moral psychology, and ethics. Recently, I have become increasingly interested in epistemology and methodology. I am working, among other things, on Neoplatonic notion of discursive and practical reason. My newest research project is on conversational norms and their significance for philosophizing in Plato.

Last but not least, I am a proud mother of Eemeli and Usva.

Publications

(excluding those written in Finnish, my native language)

Books

& Slaveva-Griffin, Svetla (eds) (2014) Routledge Handbook of Neoplatonism. Routledge.

& Johansson, L-G. & Ekenberg, T. & Masterton, G. (2014) Kunskapsteori. En introduktion till vetande, berättigande och sanning, Studentlitteratur.

& Halldenius, Lena & Myrdal, Peter & Ekenberg, Tomas (2014) Att Förstå Mänskligt Handling, Slutrapport fån ett forskningsprogram, RJ:s Skriftserie 3, Makadamia förlag.

(2008) Neoplatonism, Acumen.

& Sihvola, Juha (eds) (2008) Ancient Philosophy of the Self, Springer.

(2007) Plotinus on Self. The Philosophy of the 'We', Cambridge University Press.

Heinämaa, Sara & Lähteenmäki, Vili (eds) (2007) Consciousness: From Perception to Reflection in the History of Philosophy, Springer.

Journal articles

(2016)‘Plotinus on Starting-Points of Reasoning,’ Chora: Revue d' études anciennes et médiévales14, 29-57.

(2013) ‘Reason to Care: The Object and Structure of Self-Knowledge in Alcibiades I’, Apeiron 46.3, 270–301.

(2006) ‘Plotinus’ Ethics of Disinterested Interest’, Journal of the History of Philosophy 44, 1-23.

(2005) ‘Plotinus on Unity and Identity of Changing Particulars’, Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 28, 273-301.

(1999) Remes & Leiwo, M. ‘Citizen-Metic Partnerships and Legacies in Hellenistic Athens: The Will of Epicurus’, Classical Quarterly 93, 161-166.

Review articles

(2013) ‘Plotinus’, in H. LaFollette (ed.) International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Wiley-Blackwell.

Chapters in research books

(2020) 'Olympiodorus on the Human Being: A Case of Moderate Embodiment' in I. Ramelli & S. Slaveva-Griffin (eds.) Lovers of the Soul. Lovers of the Body. Center of Hellenic Studies publications, harvard University Press.

(2019) 'Relating to the World, Encountering the Other: Plotinus on Cosmic and Human Action' in P. Horky (ed.) Cosmos, CUP.

(2017) 'Plotinus on Human Action and Divine Power' in A. Marmodoro & E. Viltanioti (eds.) Divine Powers in Late Antiquity, OUP.

(2016) ' Self-Knowledge in Plotinus: Becoming Who You Are', U. Renz (ed.) Self-Knowledge. A History. Oxford Philosophical Concepts, OUP.

(2014) ‘Interaction between the External Body and the Perceiver in the Timaeus’, Silva, J. F. & Yrjönsuuri, M (eds.) Active Perception in the History of Philosophy, Studies in the History of the Philosophy of Mind 14, Springer.

(2014) ‘Self-Consciousness, Chapter 26: Ancient Theories’, in Knuuttila, S. & Sihvola, J. (eds.) Sourcebook for the History of the Philosophy of Mind: Philosophical Psychology from Plato to Kant. Springer, 415-428.

(2014) ‘Action, Reasoning, and the Highest Good,’ in Remes, P. and Slaveva-Griffin, S. (eds.) Handbook of Neoplatonism, Acumen Press.

& Slaveva-Griffin, S. (2014) ‘General Introduction: Neoplatonism Today’, in Remes, P. and Slaveva-Griffin, S. (eds.) Handbook of Neoplatonism, Acumen Press.

(2014) 'Scepticism' & 'Kunskapens värde' (two chapters), in Johansson, L-G. & Ekenberg, T. & Masterton, G. & Remes, P. Kunskapsteori. En introduktion till vetande, berättigande och sanning, forthcoming 2014 Studentlitteratur.

(2008) ‘Inwardness and Infinity of Self: From Plotinus to Augustine’, in Remes, P. and Sihvola, J. (eds.) Ancient Philosophy of Self. Springer.

& Sihvola, J. (2008) ‘Introduction’, in Remes, P. and Sihvola, J. (eds.) Ancient Philosophy of Self. Springer.

(2007) ‘Ownness of Conscious Experience in Antiquity’, in Heinämaa, S. and Lähteenmäki, V. and Remes, P. (eds.) Consciousness: From Perception to Reflection in the History of Philosophy, Dordrecht: Springer.

& Heinämaa, S. & Lähteenmäki V. (2007) ’Introduction’, in Heinämaa, Lähteemäki & Remes (eds.) (2007) Consiousness: From Perception to Reflection in the History of Philosophy,Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind, Vol. 4. Dordrecht: Springer.

(2006) ‘Friday, or The Island of Sartrean Desert: Michel Tournier and the Other’, in Ruokonen, F. and Werner, L. (eds.) Visions of Value and Truth. Understanding Philosophy and Literature. Acta Philosophica Fennica LXXVIII Helsinki. Suomen Filosofinen Yhdistys, 59-72.

Book reviews

(2019) 'Paul Kalligas: The Enneads of Plotinus. A Commentary. Vol. 1. Translated by Elisabeth Key Foyden and Nicholas Pilavachi. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton UP 2014', Gnomon.

(2010) ‘Eyjólfur K. Emilsson, Plotinus on Intellect, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007’, Mind.

(2010) ‘Christopher Gill, The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006’, Journal of Platonic Studies.

(2009) ‘Deepa Majumdar, Plotinus on the Appearance of Time and the World of Sense: a Pantomime, Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate 2007’, Classical Review.

(2005) ‘The Neoplatonic Sage: An Inner Sate of Virtue and Its Outward Manifestations’. Review article of Alexandrine Schniewind: L’ethique du sage chez Plotin. Le paradigme du spoudaios. (= Histoire des doctrines de l’antiquite classique 31). Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin 2003’, Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie.

(2002) ‘Sara Rappe, Reading Neoplatonism. Non-Discursive Thinking in the Texts of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damascius. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press 2000’, Bryn Mawr Classical Review.

(2001) ‘Melissa S. Lane: Method and Politics in Plato’s ‘Statesman’. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1998’, Arctos.

(1999) ‘Dominic Scott: Recollection and Experience. Plato's Theory of Learningand its Successors. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1995, Arctos.

(1998) ‘Sextus Empiricus: Outlines of Scepticism. Translated by Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1994,’ Arctos.