Jani Hakkarainen

I am Senior Lecturer (in the UK terms) at Tampere University, Finland. I work both on metaphysics (tropes, universals, relations), metametaphysics (ontological form, categories, fundamentality, grounding, explanation) and the philosophy of David Hume (1711-76). My metaphysical view is trope theory. In metametaphysics, I am developing an account of metaphysics following the formal ontological tradition stemming from Husserl via Peter Simons, Barry Smith and E.J. Lowe. Regarding Hume, I have defended a sceptical interpretation of his attitude to the external world. Recently, I have been working on Hume's metaphysics of properties, space and time. In addition, I have interests in social ontology and philosophy of sport.

Research, teaching (metaphysics, history of philosophy and epistemology in particular), student supervision and guidance, director of doctoral studies in philosophy

Areas of Specialization

• David Hume's (1711-76) philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology and scepticism in particular)

• metaphysics: tropes, universals, metaphysics of properties and relations, persistence, formal ontology (ontological form and categories)

• metametaphysics (subject matter of metaphysics and fundamentality in particular)

Areas of Competence 

• epistemology and metaphysics in the 17th and 18th century (“early modern”) philosophy

• epistemology

• history of skepticism

• metaphilosophy

• social ontology and social construction

• philosophy of team sports

Cf. above.

Philosophy

Independent researcher

1. “Quantity Tropes and Internal Relations” (together with Dr Markku Keinänen and Dr Antti Keskinen, third author). Erkenntnis 84 (3) (2019), 519–34.

2. “Kinds of Tropes without Kinds” (together with Dr Markku Keinänen and Dr Antti Keskinen, second author). Dialectica 72 (4) (2018), 571–96.

3. “What Are Tropes Fundamentally? A Formal Ontological Account”. Acta Philosophica Fennica Vol. 94: Action, Value and Metaphysics, 129-159.

4. “The Ontological Form of Tropes – Refuting Douglas Ehring’s Main Argument against Standard Trope Nominalism” (together with Dr Markku Keinänen, first author). Philosophia, 45 (2) (2017), 647-658.

5. “Hume as a Trope Nominalist”. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 42 (sup1) (2012), pp. 55-66.

6. “The Problem of Trope Individuation” (together with Dr Markku Keinänen, second author). Erkenntnis 79 (1) (2014), pp. 65-79.

7. “A Third Type Distinction in the Treatise”. Hume Studies Vol. 38, Number 1, (2012), pp. 55-78.

8. “Hume's Scepticism and Realism”. British Journal for the History of Philosophy Vol. 20, Number 12, (2012), pp. 283-309.

9. “Hume on the Distinction between Primary and Secondary Qualities”. Vanishing Matter and the Laws of Nature: Descartes and Beyond (Routledge: 2011), pp. 235-59.

10. “Persistence of Simple Substances” (together with Dr Markku Keinänen, second author). Metaphysica Vol. 11, Issue 2 (2010), pp. 119-135.