Marjolein Oele
Marjolein Oele is Professor of Philosophy of the Humanities at Radboud University and Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. She was trained as an MD at the Free University of Amsterdam, has a Master's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam and received her PhD in Philosophy in 2007 from Loyola University Chicago. Her primary research interests are in Twentieth Century and Contemporary European Philosophy, in Ancient Philosophy (mainly Aristotle), and in Environmental Philosophy. She is the author of the monograph "Beyond Elemental Loss" (SUNY: 2024) and the monograph "E-Co-Affectivity "(SUNY: 2020), co-editor of the edited volume Ontologies of Nature (Springer, 2017), and the author of numerous articles and book chapters that intertwine topics and figures in Continental Philosophy and Environmental Philosophy with Aristotle’s philosophy. Her most recent publications include the articles "E-Co-Affectivity Beyond the Anthropocene: Rethinking the Role of Soil to Imagine a New 'Us'" (Environmental Philosophy 16 (2), Fall 2019) and "Mimesis and Clinical Pictures: Thinking with Plato and Broekman through the Production and Meaning of Images of Disease” (Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy 21(4) 2018, pp 507-515).
Her monograph E-Co-Affectivity: Exploring Pathos at Life’s Material Interfaces (SUNY Press, 2020) seeks to articulate and unlock the meaning, depth, and complexity of affectivity in living beings, ultimately focusing on the very materiality of the interfaces that co-generate and co-constitute those living beings. What is innovative about this book is thinking through the concrete, living places where affectivity happens, meanwhile integrating natural science in its investigations of material interfaces. Accordingly, the book applies conceptions of the middle voice to grasp nutrition and growth in plants, and it examines the philosophical significance of material interfaces such as bird feathers, the human placenta, human skin, and soil.
Her newest book project, preliminarily entitled Loss, investigates ephemeral, enigmatic forms of loss which are difficult to put into words. Speaking to both the autobiographical and the general, this book carves out various categories of loss, their specifics, and their intertwinements. It argues that enigmatic loss may inform the general understanding of loss, in that it (1) shows that loss and death are far more pervasive than usually accounted for, and (2) shows that ephemeral loss often implies the loss of “constellations” which are crucial to understanding loss as such. This book includes natural-scientific studies into its train of thought, using them as ways to grasp the various material dimensions of loss, such as the physical transformations connected to (early) miscarriage, or the various physical and affective dimensions of ecological loss after the wildfires that have been raging in California.
In terms of her service at USF, the most recent leadership role she has taken on is being Chair of the Department of Philosophy. As Chair of the Department of Philosophy, her main duties are course scheduling, organizing annual retreats and monthly meetings, coordinating student advising procedures, maintaining faculty/college communications, supervising the Department assessment procedures, and updating catalog/web materials. In addition to these regular tasks, Prof. Oele’s vision for the department has focused on (1) increasing the numbers of philosophy majors and minors; (2) promotion of inclusion of both PT and FT faculty in the vision and functioning of the department; (3) providing outreach to alumni and increasing external visibility, and (4) promoting transparency of decision-making processes in the department where possible.
In terms of service to the profession, she is, together with Gerard Kuperus, the co-founder of the Bay Area Continental Philosophy Association (BACPA) and she is also a member of the executive board of the successful Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition (PACT) since its founding in 2009. The newest development related to PACT is the founding of an online, peer-refereed journal, J-PACT. Prof. Oele has also been active in the Ancient Philosophy Society (APS), both as a member of its executive board, its program committee and as organizer of workshops and as host one of its annual meetings. Finally, connected to her new research interest in environmental philosophy, Prof. Oele joined the editorial board of the journal Environmental Philosophy in 2017 as its book review editor.
Her monograph E-Co-Affectivity: Exploring Pathos at Life’s Material Interfaces (SUNY Press, 2020) seeks to articulate and unlock the meaning, depth, and complexity of affectivity in living beings, ultimately focusing on the very materiality of the interfaces that co-generate and co-constitute those living beings. What is innovative about this book is thinking through the concrete, living places where affectivity happens, meanwhile integrating natural science in its investigations of material interfaces. Accordingly, the book applies conceptions of the middle voice to grasp nutrition and growth in plants, and it examines the philosophical significance of material interfaces such as bird feathers, the human placenta, human skin, and soil.
Her newest book project, preliminarily entitled Loss, investigates ephemeral, enigmatic forms of loss which are difficult to put into words. Speaking to both the autobiographical and the general, this book carves out various categories of loss, their specifics, and their intertwinements. It argues that enigmatic loss may inform the general understanding of loss, in that it (1) shows that loss and death are far more pervasive than usually accounted for, and (2) shows that ephemeral loss often implies the loss of “constellations” which are crucial to understanding loss as such. This book includes natural-scientific studies into its train of thought, using them as ways to grasp the various material dimensions of loss, such as the physical transformations connected to (early) miscarriage, or the various physical and affective dimensions of ecological loss after the wildfires that have been raging in California.
In terms of her service at USF, the most recent leadership role she has taken on is being Chair of the Department of Philosophy. As Chair of the Department of Philosophy, her main duties are course scheduling, organizing annual retreats and monthly meetings, coordinating student advising procedures, maintaining faculty/college communications, supervising the Department assessment procedures, and updating catalog/web materials. In addition to these regular tasks, Prof. Oele’s vision for the department has focused on (1) increasing the numbers of philosophy majors and minors; (2) promotion of inclusion of both PT and FT faculty in the vision and functioning of the department; (3) providing outreach to alumni and increasing external visibility, and (4) promoting transparency of decision-making processes in the department where possible.
In terms of service to the profession, she is, together with Gerard Kuperus, the co-founder of the Bay Area Continental Philosophy Association (BACPA) and she is also a member of the executive board of the successful Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition (PACT) since its founding in 2009. The newest development related to PACT is the founding of an online, peer-refereed journal, J-PACT. Prof. Oele has also been active in the Ancient Philosophy Society (APS), both as a member of its executive board, its program committee and as organizer of workshops and as host one of its annual meetings. Finally, connected to her new research interest in environmental philosophy, Prof. Oele joined the editorial board of the journal Environmental Philosophy in 2017 as its book review editor.
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