Petter Sandstad, MPhil
My research is focused on developing my account of Aristotle's formal cause. As one of his famous four causes, formal causation is the cause concerned with how having a certain form -- alternatively phrased as being a member of a certain kind, or as having a certain essence -- can serve as a cause. I defend an account with fewer ontological commitments than more traditional accounts, and which is consistent with current best science. In my fellowship, I will investigate connections to other possible rivals of formal causation and make several extensions of my account to related topics. Specifically, this project will investigate (1) Aristotle’s originally intended scope of the formal cause and his thoughts on the relations between the four causes distinguished by him; (2) the application of formal causation to occurrent entities like processes and events; (3) whether hylomorphic compounds can be thought of as mereological compounds of different parts, and if so what the relation to formal causation is; (4) whether formal causation should be thought of as a variety of downward causation and relate this to the debate about mechanistic explanations; and (5) formal causation as a type of metaphysical explanation.
My doctoral thesis is on formal causation, more specifically I argue that Aristotelian formal causation has important applications in contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of science. Supervisor: Ludger Jansen
My other reseach has been quite diverse, yet most is centred on topics in ancient or contemporary philosophy, dealing with issues in metaphysics, logic, and philosophy of science.
Interested in formal causation? Check out my newly published book, Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Formal Causation (2021):
Marie-Skłodowska-Curie fellow, University of Reading
Doktorand, Universität Rostock (supervisor: PD Dr. Ludger Jansen)
Project funding:
Formal Causation: Rivals and Extensions (Marie-Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, European Research Executive Agency, 2021-2023)
Education:
BA in Philosophy (minor in Classics and History), University of Oslo, Spring 2010.
MPhil in Philosophy, University of Oslo, Spring 2012. Supervisor: Øyvind Rabbås. On the thesis The Structure of the Expert-Analogy in Plato & Aristotle.
PhD-course (10 credits), CauPhy, Causation in Physics – Temporality, Modality and Reduction, at UMB Ås 3-5 September 2012, with the essay “Powers and Kinds – exemplified through a study of waves”.
Society memberships:
Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie (GAP)
Gesellschaft für antike Philosophie (GANPH)
Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsphilosophie (GWP)
The International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS)