Harry Alanen completed his D.Phil. in Philosophy at the University of Oxford in 2022 and will be a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023–24, co-sponsored by the Fulbright Finland Foundation and the Ella & Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation. His research explores Aristotle’s metaphysics and natural philosophy focusing on Aristotle’s philosophy of action.
What excites you about philosophy?
As I hear it, this question can be understood in two different ways. Either as “what is it about philosophy itself that excites me,” or as “what topics within philosophy do I find exciting.” I’ll try and answer both.
In order to answer the first question some characterization of what I take philosophy to be is needed. My rough answer is that philosophy is an open-ended intellectual discipline. By “intellectual discipline” I mean a systematic study about what strikes one as philosophically interesting. Perhaps one might say that all philosophy is critical thinking, but not all critical thinking is philosophy. By “open-ended” I mean that philosophy isn’t about some particular subject matter; philosophical questions can be raised about pretty much anything. Consequently, interesting philosophical questions can be found in all fields.
What makes philosophy as pursued by philosophers unique is that philosophers remain on the most abstract level of argumentation. For instance, pondering how to understand a question (as above), or pondering what counts as valid answers to our questions, or why one attempt at resolving some dilemma does not work, and so on.
What I find exciting is precisely this open-endedness and focus on the abstract level of argumentation. I don’t think this means that philosophy is devoid of practical results. Rather, the aim of philosophy as pursued by philosophers in a philosophical context is mainly to develop our philosophical thinking and arguments, which leaves open that philosophy can be employed for other aims as well.
Within philosophy itself the topic that most excites me is the history of philosophy. This is because the history of philosophy is (for me) not primarily about the history, but the philosophy. Done correctly, it is philosophy at its finest.
One reason I find it so interesting is that working in the history of philosophy requires considering what philosophy itself is and what questions count as philosophical or worthy of philosophical scrutiny. Advances within the history of philosophy have been made when philosophers have looked beyond mainstream contemporary interests, and when philosophers have realized that not all philosophers throughout history are European men. This doesn’t merely improve our understanding of our history, but also of what philosophy is and how it can be done (and by whom).
What really excites me about the history of philosophy is that it forces us to confront our own philosophical assumptions. If some historical answer strikes us as crazy or bizarre then there is (usually) an interesting reason why it strikes us as weird. In this way studying the philosophy of historical figures teaches us something about our own contemporary philosophical thinking and the assumptions we might take for granted.
I firmly believe there is more to philosophy than what we currently think it contains. History of philosophy is one way of broadening our horizons of what philosophy has been and what it can be. Thus, studying history of philosophy is a way of keeping philosophy itself open.
What topic do you think is under explored in philosophy?
One area where I think philosophers need to do more work is in public engagement. In particular, we need to highlight the philosophical assumptions that are employed in fields such as economics, politics, psychology, sociology, and so on. These are fields that inform policy makers and shape public discourse. But often different theories or hypotheses within these fields operate with different assumptions about e.g. human nature, value, or freedom. In this way, different philosophical assumptions shape different, competing political views.
I believe that addressing these kinds of philosophical assumptions is vital for democracy, especially given the increasing polarization of public discourse. I would like to see more philosophers aiding journalists in analyzing and dissecting e.g. the claims of politicians or other figures who weigh in on matters affecting the societies we live in.
What are you working on right now?
I am working on Aristotle’s views on goodness and the desiderative power of the soul, supported by a grant from the Alfred Kordelin Foundation. According to Aristotle a power or capacity must be made active by a causal agent, something that (somehow) “has” the relevant ability to make its co-relative capacity active. I’m interested to see to what extent this causal model applies to the desiderative capacity. Aristotle holds that an object of desire is some kind of good. But it isn’t clear that goodness functions in an analogous fashion to other causal properties. So, in order to understand how the desiderative capacity functions I am trying to understand what kind of a property goodness is, and how do animals (including humans) cognize or discern it?
What do you like to do outside work?
I love all things related to food: cooking for friends in particular. I also love art and culture in all its forms and spending time outdoors in nature. I used to be an avid gamer, but don’t have much time for this anymore, although me and my friends do try to find the time to play board games together.
What would your childhood self say if someone told you that you would grow up to be a philosopher?
I probably wouldn’t have been too shocked. My mother, Lilli Alanen, worked on (early modern) history of philosophy, and my stepfather, Fredrick Stoutland, was primarily known for his work in philosophy of action. I think I’d have been more shocked if I were told that my philosophical interest would combine those of my parents.
Even if philosophy wasn’t my childhood interest—archaeology and history were—I did know that I wanted to do something like my parents were doing. What attracted me to academia was that whenever my parents organized workshops, they would invite speakers home to dinner. I have happy memories of wonderful meals at home with their friends, listening to their bizarre conversations. So, while the conversations (of which I understood nothing) didn’t particularly stir me at the time, the sense of having close friends who are also your colleagues with whom you can share a meal did stick.
What’s your favorite quote?
One favorite is the following: “I am working reasonably hard and wish I were a better man and had a better mind. These two things are really one and the same—God help me!” (Wittgenstein’s letter to Engelmann, March 1917).
This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it. We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form here to nominate yourself or a friend.
Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
