This September 2024, the Higher institute of philosphy welcomes new professors, assistants, and researchers. A warm welcome to each and every one of them! Discover their profiles below:
- David Machek (Professor)
- Christophe Point (Professor)
- Maeva Herriau (Assistant)
- Victoria Van Gheem (Assistant)
- Arnaud Van Dam (Assistant)
- Daniele Pizzocaro (FNRS Resaerch fellow)
- Nicolas Cuneen (FNRS Postdoctoral researcher)
Professors
David Machek | De Wulf-Mansion Centre
I am passionate about the philosophical work on ancient texts which combines exegetical subtlety and scholarly attention to detail with innovative thinking about big questions of the human life. Personally, I have found ancient philosophy inspiring in two respects: in its aspiration to weave the intellectual inquiry about what is good and why into the fabric of everyday life, but also in its holistic approach to philosophy in general, where ethics is closely linked with metaphysics, epistemology or even natural sciences: questions about how to live well must be addressed along with questions about the world at large of which humans are a part. With a Ph.D. in Classical Chinese philosophy (University of Toronto, 2015), I have pleaded for a geographically extended conception of ancient philosophy, studying both Chinese, and, later on, Greco-Roman traditions.
At UCLouvain, I aim to strengthen teaching and research in Greek and Roman philosophy, with a special emphasis on Hellenistic and Imperial thought (Stoic, Epicurean, Skeptic and Peripatetic schools), but also to promote an adequate representation of non-Western philosophical traditions, with special attention to the Daoist and Confucian traditions of early China..
Christophe Point | Hoover Chair
A professor at the Université catholique de Louvain, Christophe Point studies the relationships between education, politics, and epistemology throughout the history of Western thought.
His field of work lies in the philosophy of education, at the intersection of contemporary educational thought, ethics of education, and the political philosophy of education. Since defending his dissertation in the philosophy of education in 2020 and spending three years as a professor at the University of Sherbrooke, he has devoted most of his research time to addressing the current challenges of the ethical training of educators. All of his work is available in open access on his Academia page.
Assistants
Maeva Herriau
For the past decade, I have been deeply engaged with the role of children in society, a subject I first delved into during my research master's in philosophy, which I later complemented with a professional master's in documentary filmmaking. My theoretical explorations have consistently been enriched by hands-on experience working with youth, which now drives my interest in developing a practical approach to philosophy.
My doctoral research focuses on the concept of equality between adults and children in contemporary democratic societies, with a particular emphasis on how adult perceptions of children shape this dynamic. This work is situated at the intersection of political philosophy and the philosophy of education.
I am thrilled to join the Institute of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain, where I look forward to advancing these investigations in a collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment alongside fellow philosophers.
Victoria Van Gheem
I begin my PhD in September 2024 in the logic and epistemology of medicine. My research will focus on the concept of normativity in the medical sciences. I will be interested in the way of reporting the role played by the normativity in medical reasoning. I will be supervised by Professors Peter Verdée and Charles Pence.
At the same time, I will be working as an assistant and supervising a number of courses in philosophy and logic.
My philosophical interests are the philosophy of science, particularly the philosophy of biology and medicine, logic and feminist philosophies.
Arnaud Van Dam
Curiosity has always been a driving force in my life, whether it's exploring new challenges or delving into new philosophical ideas. As a young father and after several years of sharing my passion for philosophy with high school students, I am excited to join the university as an assistant. I have a deep interest in ethics, political philosophy, and philosophical anthropology, and I am particularly interested in the interplay between philosophical inquiry and its roots in lived experience. These interests have led me to engage with the ideas of Seneca, Spinoza, and Paul Ricoeur. I look forward to collaborating with such dynamic teams to advance both the teaching of philosophy and research, which mutually enrich one another
FNRS Research fellow
Daniele Pizzocaro
My academic interests in philosophy center on the philosophy of science, particularly the philosophy of physics, with special attention to quantum phenomena and the associated scientific practices—both experimental and theoretical—which I approach from ontological and epistemological perspectives. Key areas of interest include the contemporary debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the ontology of quantum entities, and the philosophical contributions of the founders of quantum mechanics. I also have a strong interest in phenomenology, especially in its application to contemporary issues in the philosophy of physics.
Additionally, my research explores the applicability of mathematics in physics, as well as general epistemology, with a particular focus on the concept of understanding.
FNRS Postdoctoral researcher
Nicolas Cuneen | Hoover Chair
My academic interests in philosophy center on the philosophy of science, particularly the philosophy of physics, with special attention to quantum phenomena and the associated scientific practices—both experimental and theoretical—which I approach from ontological and epistemological perspectives.
Key areas of interest include the contemporary debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the ontology of quantum entities, and the philosophical contributions of the founders of quantum mechanics. I also have a strong interest in phenomenology, especially in its application to contemporary issues in the philosophy of physics.
Additionally, my research explores the applicability of mathematics in physics, as well as general epistemology, with a particular focus on the concept of understanding.