Leo Catana

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My contributions to science draw on my competences in philosophy, philology and theology. My research is driven by questions crossing disciplinary boundaries, and I have consciously positioned myself where such disciplines intersect. Trained in philosophy, I have explored into the ways in which knowledge about philosophy’s past has been produced, and how that knowledge influence philosophy proper. In 2018, I was thus invited to act as co-editor at the prestigious British Journal for the History of Philosophy, developing my methodological ideas. My research has been recognized in The Cambridge History of Philosophy, 1945-2015 (published 2019), primarily due to my work on the methodology of history of philosophy, which has influenced philosophy, classical philology, history and theology. As a person, I am deeply motivated by ethical concerns about the ways in which we live our lives, how we relate to each other and to nature, and how we perceive ourselves in collective memories.

Education

2017: Dr. theol. (UCPH): Late Ancient Platonism in Eighteenth-Century German Thought.

2008: Dr. phil. (UCPH): The Historiographical Concept ‘System of Philosophy’: Its Origin, Nature, Influence and Legitimacy.

2007: The History of the Book. Intensive course at the University of London, School of Advanced Studies.

1998-2002: PhD Italian Department, University College London: The Concept of Contraction in Bruno’s Philosophy.

1996-97: MA Combined Historical Studies, the Renaissance, The Warburg Institute.

1992-95: Cand. phil. (= MA) in Philosophy, UCPH. Including one year at the Università di Bologna.

1989-1992: Exam. art. (= BA) in philosophy (including Greek and Latin), Section of Philosophy, UCPH.

Current employment

Associate Professor, Section of Philosophy, UCPH, since 2007. On July 1, 2022, I was accepted to the promotion program leading to full professorship.

Previous positions

2010-2013: Director of the Centre for Neoplatonic Virtue Ethics, UCPH.

2006: Research Assistant, Section of Philosophy, UCPH.              

2003-2005: Assistant Professor, Section of Philosophy, UCPH.

2002: Research Assistant, The Danish Research School for Philosophy, History of Ideas and History of Science, University of Roskilde, Denmark.

Fellowships and awards

2024: Fellow ved Centre for Applied Ecological Thinking, Faculty of Humanities, UCPH.

2022: Fellow at the Danish Institute at Athens.

2020-21: FORWARD. Talent programme. Selected by the UCPH leadership.

2018: Fellow at the School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh,

2012: Nominated for the prize Årets Harald, awarded to an excellent lecturer at UCPH.

2006: Award from UCPH for article published in History and Theory 44 (2005).

Research leadership

2022-: Medstifter og medarrangør med Heine Hansen, SAXO Institute, of the UCPH Forum for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy.

2021: Head of the international work group Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Socratic Studies, under the auspices of The International Society for Socratic Studies in collaboration with Donald Morrison, Rice University, US.

2018-: Co-founder of The International Society for Socratic Studies, initiated by Donald Morrison.

2014-: Co-founder and co-organizer with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer of The History of Philosophy Research Group, UCPH.

2013: Libraries, Lives, and the Organization of Knowledge in the Premodern World. I co-organized the conference with Christopher Celenza, director at The American Academy, Rome.

2013: Platonism after Plato in the Renaissance. I co-organized the conference with Jill Kraye, Guido Giglioni and Anna Corrias. Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London. November 7-8, 2013.

2010-: Founder and organizer of the Copenhagen Intellectual History Seminar, UCPH.

2010-13: Director of the Centre for Neoplatonic Virtue Ethics, UCPH, involving 2 PhDs, 1 postdoc and 2 assistants.

Major research collaborations

2017-20: The Historiography of Philosophy, 1800-1950. Conference co-organized with Mogens Lærke, École Normale Supérieure, Lyon.I was also co-editor of the ensuing special issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy vol. 28 (2020). It is one of the most prestigious journals in Europe dedicated to the history of philosophy.

2011-12: Research collaboration between Centre for Neoplatonic Virtue Ethics at UCPH and director Anna Marmodoro at the Power Structuralism in Ancient Ontologies, Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford.

Institutional leadership

2024-: Member of the Research Council (Forskerkollegiet), Department of Communication, UCPH.

2020: Research Management Course, Master Class, Copenhagen Business School.

2018-: Head of Study Programme: Philosophy, Department of Communication, UCPH.

2018-19: Head of an interdisciplinary taskforce focusing on the Philosophy Programme, UCPH. Appointed by Dean Jesper Kallestrup.

2010-12: Head of Study Board, The Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, UCPH.

2009-10: Research Management Course, Copenhagen Business School.

Teaching and supervision

I have taught extensively at BA, MA and PhD levels in philosophy: Ancient Greek philosophy, virtue ethics, environmental virtue ethics, methodology of history of philosophy. Besides I have often co-taught at interdisciplinary courses. Mentor for 5 postdocs, (co-)supervisor for 5 PhDs. Since 2011, I have been invited to teach the historiography of philosophy at 8 PhD courses, e.g. at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City; École Normale Supérieure, Lyon; Technische Universiteit at Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Publications

I have published 26 peer reviewed articles in international high-profile journals, 12 book chapters and 10 books. My 10th book will be published by Oxford University Press. Apart from 2 texts, I am sole author to these publications. This output falls within philosophy, classical philology and history; most of it is in English, though some of it has been translated into Spanish. The book chapters are typically off-shots from international research collaborations that I have been invited into.

For a complete, chronological list of my publications, please click here.

For citations of my publications registred in Google Scholar, please click here.

Papers

Since 2014, I have given 48 papers. For a complete list of my papers, which often prepare my publications, please click here.

Grants and scholarships

Total: 5,655,084 € / 42,047,412 DKK

2021: 4,571,955 € / 34,000,000 DKK from the V. Kahn Rasmussen Foundation, New York, funding The Centre for Applied Ecological Thinking, directed by the Faculty of Humanities, UCPH. I was part of the writing group developing the application. I formulated the vision for the area ‘Ecology and Ethics’, which was one of five areas.

2021: 1,882 € / 14,000 DKK from the Section of Philosophy, UCPH, covering the expenses to invite two speakers to give a talk at Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century Socratic Studies at the first meeting on December 10, 2021. I was PI.

2020-23: 3,490 € / 25,950 DKK from The British Society for the History of Philosophy to cover proof reading for book published by Oxford University Press (now under contract): Jacob Brucker, Critical History of Philosophy: Preliminary Discourse, The Socratic School. I am sole PI.

2017-20: 11,439 € / 85,000 DKK from the Institut d’histoire de representations et des idées dans les modernités at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the British Society for the History of Philosophy, CEMES (UCPH) and my department. I was co-PI with senior researcher Mogens Lærke (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon) for the project The Historiography of Philosophy, 1800-1950, held in Copenhagen, September 27-28, 2018. 12 invited papers were subsequently published (subject to peer-review) in the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 28.3 (2020).

2016-17: 6,538 € / 48,619 DKK. I was Co-applicant with Associate Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to the History of Philosophy Research Group, Division of Philosophy, UCPH. Funding for an intensive Greek course for philosophy students, august 2017.

2015-16: 2,017 € / 15,000 DKK. I was co-applicant with Associate Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to the History of Philosophy Research Group, Division of Philosophy, UCPH.

2014-15: 5,378 € / 40,000 DKK. I was co-applicant with Associate Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to the History of Philosophy Research Group, Division of Philosophy, UCPH.

2013-14: 4,303 € / 32,000 DKK. Co-applicant with Associate Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to the History of Philosophy Research Group, Division of Philosophy, UCPH.

2010: 2,689 € / 20,000 DKK. Grant from the Dean of Humanities, UCPH, for my research.

2009: 836,668 € / 6,222,000 DKK from The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. I was PI at the research project Neoplatonic Virtue Theory (2010-2012), which entailed an elaborate program with two PhDs, one postdoc, guest lecturers and seminars.

2008: 3,362 € / 25,000 DKK. Grant from The Danish Research Council covering the expenses to my dr.phil. publication.

2006: 1,613 € / 12,000 DKK. Award from UCPH for my article in History and theory 2005.

2005: 6,723 € / 50,000 DKK. Research grant from UCPH. I was co-PI together with Associate Professor Poul Lübcke and Associate Professor Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen for a project on philosophy and religion.

1996: 141,193 € / 1,050,000 DKK. PhD scholarship from UCPH, Division of Philosophy. I was allowed to use the scholarship to enrol at UCL as PhD student.

1996: 40,340 € / 300,000 DKK scholarship from The Danish Research Council. Support to my MA at the Warburg Institute, University of London, and a research project related to it.

1993: 1,345 € / 10,000 DKK. Scholarship from J. L. Schmiths.

1993: 10,757 € / 80,000 DKK (approx.) / 8,000,000 Italian lire. Scholarship from the Italian Ministry of Culture to support one year of study at the Università di Bologna, Italy.

1991: 188 € / 1,400 DKK. Scholarship from Mathilde Hagemanns Mindelegat.

1991: 672 € / 5,000 DKK. Scholarship from Familien Müller-Geiels Legat.

Paternal leave

About a year and a half, all in all, with my four children, born between 2000 and 2007. 

Past achievements

Poems published in Hvedekorn (1987 and 1988). Sculptures exhibited at Charlottenborg Forårsudstilling 1988, and Gallery Basilisk 1991 (with Ellen Hyllemose).