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Simo Säätelä

Professor, Philosophy
  • E-mailSimo.Saatela@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 31 25
  • Visitor Address
    Sydnesplassen 12-13
    5007 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7805
    5020 Bergen

I am professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, and also associated with the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen (WAB, http://wab.uib.no/).

My research, and my teaching and supervision at the philosophy department, is mainly concentrated on different aspects of Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy. I am especially interested in his conception of philosophy, and in particular how he conceives of the relation between aesthetics and philosophy, especially the philosophy of mathematics. In this work I have great advantage of being able to use the resources of the Wittgenstein Archives. My research interests also include philosophical aesthetics and philosophy of mathematics more generally. Recently, I have also done research on David Hume's philosophy, with special focus on his work on aesthetics and its relation to his general philosophical scepticism.

As the editor-in-chief of the open access internet journal Nordic Wittgenstein Review since 2017, I have a philosophical as well as a practical interest in Open Access (OA) publishing, and 2011-2013 I participated as one of the representatives of WAB in the EU-financed programme AGORA - Scholarly Open Access Research in European Philosophy, the aim of which was to improve the spread of research results in the field of European philosophy and advance new paradigms of OA publishing.

In 2006-2009 I was the coordinator of the Nordic Wittgenstein Network, a research network financed by NordForsk, and I am very intersted in promoting Nordic co-operation in this field of research.

Selected publications
  • Säätelä, Simo Tuomo Sakari. 2018. On quality judgments in art: a conceptual investigation. 10, pages 203-228. In:
    • Eliassen, Knut Ove; Hovden, Jan Fredrik; Prytz, Øyvind. 2018. Contested qualities: negotiating value in arts and culture. Fagbokforlaget. 260 pages. ISBN: 9788245023770.
  • Bengtsson, Gisela; Säätelä, Simo Tuomo Sakari; Pichler, Alois. 2018. New Essays on Frege: Between Science and Literature. Springer Publishing Company. 194 pages. ISBN: 978-3-319-71185-0.
  • Säätelä, Simo Tuomo Sakari. 2017. Absolute and Relative Value in Aesthetics. kap., pages 349-364. In:
    • Majetschak, Stefan; Weiberg, Anja. 2017. Aesthetics Today: Contemporary Approaches to the Aesthetics of Nature and of Arts. Proceedings of the 39th International Wittgenstein Symposium in Kirchberg. Walter de Gruyter. 540 pages. ISBN: 978-3-11-054041-3.
  • Säätelä, Simo Tuomo Sakari. 2013. Aesthetics ‒ Wittgenstein’s Paradigm of Philosophy? Aisthesis. 6: 35-53.
  • Säätelä, Simo T S. 2011. From Logical Method to 'Messing About': Wittgenstein on 'Open Problems' in Mathematics. 8, pages 159-178. In:
    • Kuusela, Oskari; McGinn, Mary. 2011. The Oxford Handbook of Wittgenstein. Oxford University Press. 848 pages. ISBN: 978-0-19-928750-5.
  • Säätelä, Simo T S. 2002. "Perhaps the Most Important Thing in Aesthetics" – Wittgenstein on "Aesthetic Reactions". Revue internationale de philosophie. 56: 49-72.
  • Pichler, Alois; Säätelä, Simo T S. 2006. Wittgenstein : The Philosopher and his Works. 461 pages. ISBN: 3-938793-28-7.

In fall semester 2023 I am teaching FIL217/315 (Wittgenstein Studies) and EXPHIL HFSEM.  

I have previously taught following courses at our department: Aesthetics; Philosophy of Literature; History of Philosophy from Kant to the PresentWittgenstein Studies and Master Topic in Wittgenstein Studies as well as EXPHIL in different faculty variants.

Nordic Wittgenstein Review

Säätelä, Simo. 2018. "On quality judgments in art: a conceptual investigation". In: Eliassen, Knut Ove; Hovden, Jan Fredrik; Prytz, Øyvind (eds.) 2018. Contested qualities: negotiating value in arts and culture. Fagbokforlaget. 260 sider. ISBN: 9788245023770, s. 203-228

Bengtsson, Gisela; Säätelä, Simo; Pichler, Alois (eds.). 2018. New Essays on Frege: Between Science and Literature. Springer Publishing Company. 194 sider. ISBN: 978-3-319-71185-0. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319711850

Säätelä, Simo. 2017. "Absolute and Relative Value in Aesthetics". I: Majetschak, Stefan; Weiberg, Anja (ed.) Aesthetics Today: Contemporary Approaches to the Aesthetics of Nature and of Arts. Walter de Gruyter. 540 sider. ISBN: 978-3-11-054041-3, s. 349-364.

Säätelä, Simo. 2013. "Aesthetics ‒ Wittgenstein’s Paradigm of Philosophy?" Aisthesis. 6: 35-53.  DOI: dx.doi.org/10.13128/Aisthesis-12836

Säätelä, Simo, 2011. "From Logical Method to 'Messing About': Wittgenstein on 'Open Problems' in Mathematics", The Oxford Handbook of Wittgenstein, ed. Kuusela, Oskari; McGinn, Mary. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 159-178. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199287505.003.0009

Pichler, Alois; Säätelä, Simo T S. (eds.) 2006. Wittgenstein : The Philosopher and his Works. De Gruyter. ISBN: 3-938793-28-7. https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/209502

Säätelä, Simo. 2002. 'Perhaps the most important thing in connection with aesthetics': Wittgenstein on "aesthetic reactions", Revue internationale de philosophie 2002/1 (n° 219)

I am associated with the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen

I am a founding member and former vice-president of Nordic Wittgenstein Society (founded in 2009), which continues the work of Nordic co-operation in Wittgenstein studies, laid down by the Nordic Wittgenstein Network (2006-2009)

I was (together with Alois Pichler and Yrsa Neumann) editor of the first two volumes of Nordic Wittgenstein Review which is an international scholarly open access journal. The journal is now in its 7th volume, and I am its current Editor in Chief since june 2017.

Nordic Wittgenstein Studies (Springer Verlag): This publication series is a continuation of the series Publications from the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen. I am a member of its Editorial Board since its inception in 2015.

Perspectives on Aesthetic Quality in the Cultural Field is a multi-disciplinary research project financed Arts Council Norway 2016-. My research in this project focuses on a conceptual investigation of the concept of quality in the arts.