Tullio Viola (T.)
I am an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy of art and culture. My research is situated at the intersection of social epistemology, the philosophy of culture, and the history of philosophy. I am interested in exploring how we conceptualize cultural change and how cultural transmission influences reflective thought. Pursuing this question has led me to focus on theories of the symbol, the philosophy of history, the concepts of habit and cultural memory.
My historical work has focused on the dialogue between philosophy and the socio-cultural sciences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I have written in particular on American pragmatism, German "Kulturwissenschaften," and French philosophy. My first book, Peirce on the Uses of History, came out with De Gruyter in 2020. In addition, I published articles in the British Journal of the History of Philosophy, History & Theory, the European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, the Journal of the Philosophy of History, and other journals. I am currently working on two projects. One focuses on the philosophy of culture in classical American pragmatism and its implications for today's dialogue between philosophy and anthropology. The other project is about the cognitive role of popular narratives (such as folktales or legends) in situations of epistemic marginalization.
At FASoS, I am a member of the AMC ("Arts Media and Culture") Research Programme and I mostly teach in the BA and MA "Arts and Culture".
My website is www.tullioviola.eu.
Expertises
History of nineteenth- and twentieth century philosophy; social epistemology; aesthetics and philosopy of culture
Career history
Prior to coming to Maastricht, I was a post-doc researcher at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt (Germany). I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Humboldt University (2015) and a BA/MA in Philosophy from Scuola Normale in Pisa (Italy).
I have been a visiting Professor at the University of Turin (Department of Communication) in the winter semester of 2025.