prof.dr. J (Jos) de Mul

Biography

Jos de Mul was professor of Philosophical Anthropology and its History at the Erasmus School of Philosophy of Erasmus University Rotterdam from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. However, he stil supervises several PhD students, keeps publishing regularly and is still a lecturer at the Dutch School of Public Administration in The Hague. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan (An Arbor), Fudan University (Shanghai) and Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto), among others, and a visiting fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He also served as Vize-Präsident of the Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft (2005-2011) and as President of the International Association of Aesthetics (2007-2010). To date, 35 (inter)national PhD students have obtained their PhDs under his supervision.

De Mul's research focuses on the (partly overlapping) domains of philosophical anthropology, the philosophy of art and culture, the philosophy of information and communication technologies and the philosophy of biology. He published acouple of dozens of monographs and (co)edited books and more than 250 scientific articles and book contributions. He also regularly contributes to leading national weekly Dutch newspapers and magazins such as De Groene Amsterdammer, Vrij Nederland, Trouw, NRC Handelsblad, Volkskrant and Vrij Nederland. His work has been published and/or translated into more than a dozen languages. He is a sought-after speaker worldwide.

His English-language monographs include Romantic Desire in (Post)Modern Art and Philosophy (1999), The Tragedy of Finitude. Dilthey's Hermeneutics of  Finitude (2004, 2nd edition 2014, ebook edition 2010), Cyberspace Odyssey. Towards a Virtual Ontology and Anthropology (2010) and Destiny Domesticated. The Rebirth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Technology (2014). These books also appeared in Chinese translations (see here). He was (co)editor of Gimme Shelter. Global Discourses in Aesthetics (2011), Plessners' Philosophical Anthropology. Perspectives and Prospects (2015) en Playful Identities The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures (2015) and one of tthe series editors of the Internationales Jahrbuch für Philosophische Anthropologie / International Yearbook of Philosophical Anthropology (2008-present). For an extended cv and list op (partly downloadable) publications and lectures, see www.demul.nl/en/
A list of 36 supervised PhD theses: https://www.demul.nl/en/research/phd-supervision