Mandi Astola

I am a philosopher. I specialize in virtue- and vice ethics and epistemology, moral theory of collective action, social epistemology and ethics of technology. I work as assistant professor at Delft University of Technology since January 2023. I completed my PhD research in 2022 at Eindhoven University of Technology with a dissertation titled Collective Virtues.

I am fascinated by character; what good and bad character traits are like, why they are good or bad, and whether their status as good or bad changes according to context, and whether groups have a character. See my publications for my work on these topics. Should you want a shorter read to get an idea of what I think, you can check out this co-authored guest post on the philosophy news site Daily Nous. If you want to talk about the good life, or anything else, you can email me.

I am currently leading a research group investigating artworks and ethics of technology, as a part of the NWO funded Esdit Project which investigates ethics of socially disruptive technologies. I am also working on the epistemology of altered states of consciousness. You can hear some of my thoughts on this topic here on the Brainforest Podcast.

Philosophy belongs to everyone. It is not just an academic discipline, but a human activity. I am passionate about bringing non-academic philosophy (from fiction, myths, niche online discourse and 4am conversations) to academic scrutiny. Likewise, I am passionate about bringing academic work to the scrutiny of non-academic audiences. To get an impression, see my talk (in Dutch) at Brainwash Festival 2022 or this, more recent, televised interview (in Dutch) from December 2024, where I talk about technological bullshit. Otherwise see this co-authored piece on sense of humor in Aeon Psyche Webmagazine, which won the Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Prize 2023.