Henrik Bohlin

Address: Södertörn University, F813
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
Tel. +46 8 6084355 (office), +46 730740135 (cell phone)
E-mail address: Henrik.Bohlin@sh.se

I have published on a wide range of topics in philosophy and intellectual history, including David Humes philosophy, empathetic understanding, critical thinking, relativism, tacit knowledge, Bildung, education, and skepticism.

I spent the autumn semester of 2010 as a visiting professor at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, and the spring semester of 2014 as a visiting lecturer at College of St. Benedict & St. Johns University, St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota, US.

Works in English

• "Effects on the Mind as Objects of Reasoning: A Perspectivist Reading of the Reason-Passion Relation in Humes Sentimentalism", forthcoming in Hume Studies, Vol. 40, No. 1 (full text, login required External link.).
• "Bildung and Intercultural Understanding", Intercultural EducationVol. 24, No. 5, 2013, pp 391-400.
• "Universal moral standards without an Archimedean point: Humes refutation of relativism in A Dialogue", Philosophy Vol. 88, No. 4, pp 593 - 606 (abstract External link.).
• "Simulation Theory", in Anne L. C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo (eds.) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2013, pp 2146-2152.
• "Sympathy, Understanding, and Hermeneutics in Humes Treatise", Hume Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1-2, 2009, pp 135-170.
• "Perspective-dependence and Critical Thinking", Argumentation. An International Journal on Reasoning, Volume 23, Issue 2, April 2009, pp 189-203.
• Groundless Knowledge. A Humean Solution to the Problem of Skepticism. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International 1997 (doctoral dissertation) (full text External link.).

Works in Swedish

• Skola för bildning: idéhistoriska perspektiv på en nutidsfråga. ("School Education for Bildung: A Contemporary Problem in Historical Perspective"). Stockholm: Appell förlag, 2026 (232 s.) (ISBN: 978-91-990845-0-3). Summary: The idea of Bildung (in Swedish bildning) originated in late 18th century German thought with thinkers like Wilhelm von Humboldt, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Gottlob Fichte. originated in late 18th century German thought with thinkers like Wilhelm von Humboldt, Friedrich Schiller and Johann Gottlob Fichte. In Sweden, it became a key concept in early 19th century debates on school ecucation, and later in early 20th century debates on folkbildning, popular civic education and self-cultivation for active democratic citizenship. Since around 1990, Bildung has again become an important concept in Swedish debate on education and culture. The book outlines the development and influence of the idea in Swedish debate, concluding with a discussion of the possible meaning of "bildning" today.
• Medborgerlig bildning: om varför man studerar på högskola (Bildung for Citizenship: on the purposes of higher education). Lund: Studentlitteratur 2018.
• ”Sanningssökande, maktkritik eller generalistkompetens för arbetsmarknaden? Debatten om humaniora” ("Searching for Truth, Criticising Power, or Developing Generic Skills for the Labour Market? The Swedish Debate on the Humanities"), in Anders Burman & Lena Lennerhed (eds.), Samtider (The Intellectual History of the Present). Gothenburg: Daidalos, 2017.
• "Empati, dialog eller dialogisk empati? Gadamer och inlevelsetanken" ("Empathy, dialogue, or dialogic empathy? Gadamer and the Idea of Understanding through Einfühlung"), in Hans-Georg Gadamer och hermeneutikens aktualitet ("Hans-Georg Gadamer and the Contemporary Relevance of Hermeneutics"), ed. Anders Burman. Stockholm: Axl Books, 2104, pp 137-169.
• Horisontsammansmältning och paradigmskiften. Gadamers och Kuhns hermeneutiska omtolkningar av vetenskapen" ("Fusion of Horizons and Paradigm Shifts. Gadamers and Kuhns Hermeneutic Re-Interpretations of Science"), in Tillsammans. Politik, filosofi och estetik på 1960- och 1970-talen ("All Together. Politics, Philosophy, and Aesthetics in the 1960s and 1970s"), eds. Anders Burman & Lena Lennerhed. Stockholm: Atlas, 2014, pp 133-166.
• "Bildning, dialog och kritisk självreflektion" ("Bildung, Dialogue, and Critical Self-Reflection"), in Att växa som människa. Om bildningens traditioner och praktiker (To Grow as a Person. On the Traditions and Practices of Bildung), ed. Anders Burman, Södertörn Studies in Higher Education 5. Huddinge: Södertörn University, 2014, pp 118-131.
• "Inledning: den mångsidiga empatin" ("Introduction:The Many Aspects of Empathy"), in Henrik Bohlin & Jakob Eklund (eds.), Empati. Teoretiska och praktiska perspektiv ("Empathy: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives"). Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2013, pp 13-29.
• "Sympati och empati i David Humes teori om människans natur" ("Sympathy and Empathy in David Humes Theory of Human Nature"), in Henrik Bohlin & Jakob Eklund (eds.), Empati. Teoretiska och praktiska perspektiv ("Empathy: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives"). Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2013, pp 33-50.
• "Empati i vetenskapsteori och medvetandefilosofi" ("Empathy in Theory of Science and Philosophy of Mind"), in Henrik Bohlin & Jakob Eklund (eds.), Empati. Teoretiska och praktiska perspektiv ("Empathy: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives"). Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2013, pp 85-107.
• "Empati, dialog eller dialogisk empati? Gadamer och inlevelsetanken" ("Empathy, dialogue, or dialogic empathy? Gadamer and the idea of understanding through Einfühlung"), book chapter, forthcoming in anthology on Gadamer, ed. Anders Burman.
• "Kan liberal education fungera i Sverige?" ("Can Liberal Education Work in Sweden?"), in Anders Burman & Patrik Mehrens (eds.), Det goda lärandet. En antologi om liberal arts education. Lund: Studentlitteratur 2011, pp 81-97.
• "Bildning i massutbildningens tid" ("Bildung in a Time of Mass Education"), in Anders Burman (ed.), Våga veta Om bildningens möjligheter i massutbildningens tidevarv ("Dare to Know. On the Prospects of Bildung in the Era of Mass Education"), Södertörn Studies in Higher Education 2. Huddinge: Södertörns högskola, 2011, pp 75-96.
• "Måttstockarnas mångfald och dialogens möjlighet. Om relativism", ("The Multitude of Measuring Rods and the Possibility of Dialogue. On Relativism"), in Anders Burman & Lena Lennerhed (eds.), Sekelslut. Idéhistoriska perspektiv på 1980- och 1990-talen ("Turn of the Century. Perspectives on the Intellectual History of the 1980s and 1990s"). Stockholm: Atlas Akademi, 2011, pp 258-277.
• "David Hume och kulturrelativismen" ("David Hume and Cultural Relativism"), Humanisten. Tidskrift för kultur- och livsåskådningsfrågor, vol. 15, no. 3 2009, pp 18-21.

Doctoral dissertation

• Groundless Knowledge. A Humean Solution to the Problem of Skepticism. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International 1997.

Research grants

• Funding for 2013 within "Understanding Agency", research programme funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, project leader Pauliina Remes, Uppsala University.
• "Critical Thinking for a Pluralistic University", with Nils Ekedahl et al., research project 2008-2010, funding by the Swedish Research Councils Committee for Educational Science.
• "Perspective Dependence and Contrastivity in Empathy-Based Explanation of Action", research project 2008-2010, funding by the Swedish Research Councils Committee for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Academic positions

• Head of Department, History of Ideas, Shool of Historical and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University, from 2024.
• American-Scandinavian Foundation Swedish Visiting Lecturer, College of St. Benedict & St. Johns University, St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota, USA, Spring semester 2014, funded by American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York, NY.
• STINT Fellow, visiting lecturer, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA, Fall semester 2010, funded by the "Excellence in Teaching" scholarship of The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT).

Teaching

• Courses in philosophy of science, David Humes philosophy, intellectual history, methodology of the social sciences at Södertörn University, Stockholm University, and Karolinska Institutet from 1989.