Faculty members
Paolo A. Bolaños
Professor II; Philosophy Graduate Program Lead
AB (UST), MA (UST), MA (Brock, Canada), PhD (Macquarie, Australia)
pabolanos@ust.edu.ph
research
SPECIALIZATIONS
Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Adorno, Gilles Deleuze, Critical Theory, Post-Marxism
professional affiliations
Professor II, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Santo Tomas
Fellow, Research Center for Culture, Arts and Humanities, UST
Program Lead: Philosophy Program, University of Santo Tomas Graduate School
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher: Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, https://www.kritike.org, ISSN 1908-7330.
Editor-in-Chief: Suri: Journal of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines, https://suri.pap73.org/, ISSN 2244-386X.
Associate Editor: The Antoninus Journal: A Multidisciplinary Journal of the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, ISSN 2423-3048.
Editorial Board: Diwa: Studies in Philosophy and Theology, ISSN 0115 – 592x.
Consultant: Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy, ISSN 2546-1885.
Editorial Consultant: Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy, eISSN 2546-1885.
Fellow, Research Center for Culture, Arts, and the Humanities, UST
Invited Member, Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research (PAPR)
Inaugural Paper: “The Vulnerability of Philosophy: Nietzsche and Adorno on the Ethical Struggle of Thinking,” an inaugural paper read before the members of the Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research (PAPR), 9 December 2012, 154 B. Gonzales St. Loyola Heights, Helenica Building, Quezon City.
Member of the following philosophical associations:
Philosophical Association of the Philippines (PAP)Philosophical Association of the Visayas and Mindanao (PHAVISMINDA)Philosophy Circle of the Philippines (PCP)Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC, Canada) www.brocku.ca/eptc-tcep/en/members.htmlAustralasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP)
Board Member: Philosophical Association of the Philippines (PAP)
recognitions received
GRANTS
- Recipient, Postgraduate Research Funding (PGRF), 2008-2009, granted by the Higher Degree Research Unit, Macquarie University.
- Scholarship Winner, International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (iPRS), 2006-2009, granted by the Government of Australia through Macquarie University.
- Scholarship Winner, International Macquarie University Research Scholarship (iMURS), 2006-2009, granted by the Higher Degree Research Unit, Macquarie University.
- Scholarship Winner, The John Mayer Graduate Scholarship, 2005-2006, granted by the Office of Graduate Studies, Brock University.
- Full Scholarship Winner, Government of Canada Awards, 2004-2005, granted by Foreign Affairs Canada and administered by the International Council for Canadian Studies and the Canadian Bureau for International Education.
- Recipient, CHED Center of Excellence for Philosophy Thesis Writing Grant, 2002, granted by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education and the University of Santo Tomas.
AWARDS
- Recipient, Silver Series for Research, 2012-2014, granted by the Office of Research and Innovation, University of Santo Tomas, in 2016.
- Recipient, Silver Series for Research, 2010-2012, granted by the Office of Research and Innovation, University of Santo Tomas, in 2014.
- Recipient, Silver Series for Research, 2008-2010, granted by the Office of the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and Research, University of Santo Tomas, in 2012.
educational background
Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy
Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (thesis submitted 2009, degree granted 2010)Thesis: “Language, Critique, and the Non-Identical: Nietzsche and Adorno on the Ethics of Thinking”Supervisors: Dr. Robert Sinnerbrink and Dr. Jean-Philippe Derantyexamined by Dr. John Rundell (University of Melbourne, Australia), Dr. Karin Bauer (McGill University, Canada), and Dr. Nikolas Kompridis (York University, Canada and University of Western Sydney, Australia)
Master of Arts in Philosophy
Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (2005)Thesis: “On Affirmation and Becoming: A Deleuzian Reading of Nietzsche’s Critique of Nihilism”Supervised by Dr. Richard S.G. Brown and examined by Dr. Constantin Boundas (Trent University, Canada) and Dr. Rohit Dalvi (Brock University, Canada)
Master of Arts, Major in Philosophy (magna cum laude)
University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines (2002)Thesis: “The Pathos of the Self in Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Man: A Reading of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil”Supervised by Dr. Romualdo E. Abulad
Bachelor of Arts, Major in Philosophy
University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines (1999)Thesis: “The Human Condition in Camus: From Suicide to Rebellion”Supervised by Dr. Jove Jim Aguas
publications
BOOKS
- Thought-Pieces: Nietzschean Reflections on Anti-Foundationalism, Ethics, and Politics (Davao City: Aletheia Publishing House, 2021): ISBN: 978-621-8155-13-8
- Nietzsche and Adorno on Philosophical Praxis, Language, and Reconciliation: Towards an Ethics of Thinking (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield/Lexington Books, 2020). ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-7936-0802-4; ISBN (eBook): 978-1-7936-0803-1
- On Affirmation and Becoming: A Deleuzian Introduction to Nietzsche’s Ethics and Ontology (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014). ISBN (10): 1-4438-6683-0; ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-6683-5
BOOK CHAPTERS/SECTIONS/OPINION PIECES
- “The Spectre of Terror: Philippine Democracy and the Threat of the New (Ab)normal” (with Jove Jim S. Aguas and Jovito V. Cariño), in Interfere Journal, 28 August 2020, https://interferejournal.org/2020/08/28/the-spectre-of-terror/.
- “Speed and its Impact on Education,” in Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 October 2019, https://opinion.inquirer.net/124900/speed-and-its-impact-on-education
- “Introduction” (with Alfredo P. Co), ACTA: Proceedings of the Quadricentennial International Philosophy Congress (Thomism and Asian Cultures: Celebrating 400 Years of Dialogue Across Civilizations) (Manila: UST Publishing House, 2012), xv-xx.
- “From Rigidity to Receptivity: Articulating an Ethics of Thinking via Nietzsche and Adorno,” in Representation and Contestation: Cultural Politics in a Political Century, ed. by John McSweeney and Ching-Yu Lin (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2010), 167-179.
- “Thinking Difference: Nietzsche and Adorno on the Ethics of Thinking,” in Culture, Politics, Ethics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. by Scott H. Boyd, Ana Cristina Gil and Baldwin Wong (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2009), 53-62.
- “Alfredo P. Co: A Biographical Note,” in Across the Philosophical Silk Road: A Festschrift in Honor of Alfredo P. Co (Manila: University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2009).
- “Quest for Peace Amidst the Death of God: Perspectives on Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Affirmation and Camus’s Ethics of Solidarity,” in Engaging Philosophical Traditions: Filipino Perspectives on Certain Philosophical Topics, ed. by Rolando M. Gripaldo, et al. (Manila: Philosophical Association of the Philippines, 2007), 44-55.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
- “A Report on Teaching and Doing Philosophy in the Philippines: Critique and Intervention,” in SURI: Journal of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines, 9:2 (2021), 1-42. Co-authored with Gian Agbisit, Jovito Cariño, Franz Cortez, Marella Mancenido-Bolaños, and Roland Theuas Pada.
- “Becoming-virus, Life from the Point of View of a Virus,” in PHAVISMINDA Journal, 19 (2020), 190-193.
- “Critical Theory and the Prospects of Radical Democracy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 14:2 (December 2020), 19-36.
- “Social Justice as a Normative Foundation for Critical Theory,” in Diwa: Studies in Philosophy and Theology, 43:1 (May 2019), 35-48.
- “A Battlefield of Theoretical Leverages: Habermas and Early Critical Theory,” in Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy, 4:2 (October 2018), 1-14.
- “Between Struggle and Peaceful Dialogue: An Overture to Honneth and Ricoeur on Recognition,” in Budhi: Journal of Ideas and Culture, 20:2 (2016), 85-117.
- “The Promise of the Non-Identical: Adorno’s Revaluation of the Language of Philosophy,” in Discipline Filosofiche, 26:2 (2016), 151-166.
- “Metaphysical and Epistemic Anti-Foundationlism in Nietzsche and Buddhism,” in Siribayat: Journal of Philosophy, 3:1-2 (2015), 79-89.
- “What is Critical Theory? Max Horkheimer and the Makings of the Frankfurt School Tradition,” in Mabini Review, 2:1 (2013), 1-19.
- “Philosophy from the Standpoint of Damaged Life: Adorno on the Ethical Character of Thinking,” in Budhi: Journal of Ideas and Culture, 16:3 (2012), 78-93.
- “The Ethics of Recognition and the Normativity of Social Relations: Some Notes on Axel Honneth’s Materialist Philosophical Anthropology,” in SURI: The Official Journal of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines, 1:1 (2012), 15-24.
- “Hegel and Nietzsche on Modernity, History, and Metaphysics (Some Notes on Elective Affinities),” in Scientia: Research Journal of the College of Arts & Sciences San Beda College, Special Issue on the Liberal Arts (June 2011), 225-248.
- “Isang Reaksyon sa ‘Ang Demokratikong Sistema at ang mga Modelo ng Pamumuno sa Pilipinas’,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 4:1 (June 2010), 50-53, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_7/bolanos_june2010.pdf.
- “Nietzsche, Spinoza, and the Ethological Conception of Ethics,” in Minerva – An Internet Journal of Philosophy, 11 (2007), 113-127, http://www.mic.ul.ie/stephen/vol11/Deleuze.pdf.
- “The Critical Role of Art: Adorno between Utopia and Dystopia,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 1:1 (June 2007), 25-31, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_1/bolanos_june2007.pdf.
- “Hegel and the Pathologies of Freedom,” in Cogito, 4:1 (New Series 2006-2007), 37-43.
- “Deleuze’s Sense of ‘Sense’ and Nietzsche’s Nomadic Thinking,” in Unitas, 79:3 (September 2006), 569-580.
- “Derrida on the Case of Language and the Politics of Writing,” in Ad Veritatem, 3:2 (March 2004), 445-457.
- “The Quest for Peace Amidst the Death of God: Perspectives on Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Affirmation and Camus’s Ethics of Solidarity,” in Hingowa, 8:2 (March 2003), 1-14.
- “Nietzsche’s Critique of Nihilism and the Possibility of the Eternal Recurrence as Moral Imperative,” in Ad Veritatem, 2:2 (March 2003), 537-558.
- “The Psychology of Emancipation as Groundwork for Nietzsche’s Secular Humanism,” in Unitas, 76:3 (March 2003), 119-148.
- “Putting Nietzsche into Context: Toward a Philosophy of Man,” in Unitas, 75:3 (September 2002), 374-408.
- “From Nihilism to the Assertion of Life: The Revival of Hope (A Reading of Albert Camus),” in Unitas, 74:3 (September 2001), 480-501.
BOOK REVIEWS and REVIEW ARTICLES
- “Review Essay: Pilapil on the Theory and Praxis of Recognition,” in Budhi: Journal of Ideas and Culture, 20:3 (2016), 130-148.
- “Gerhard Richter, Thought-Images: Frankfurt School Writers’ Reflections from Damaged Life (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2007),” in Critical Horizons, 10:3 (2009), 435-440, http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/CR/article/view/7952/5378
- “Philosophy: Its Relevance to Daily Living,” in Unitas, 76:1 (March 2003), 169-173.
- “A Filipino Philosopher’s View on Contemporary Philosophy,” in Unitas, 75:4 (December 2002), 668-673.
- “A New Contribution to Ethnophilosophy,” in Unitas, 74:1 (March 2001), 149-153.
EDITORIALS/INTRODUCTIONS
- “Introduction to the Special Tribute Section: Abulad, Philosophy, and Intellectual Generosity,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 13:2 (December 2019), 1-15, https://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_25/bolanos_december2019.pdf
- “Introduction to the Kritike Special Issue: Critical Theory at the Margins,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 12:3 (April 2019), 1-7, https://www.kritike.org/journal/special_issue/bolanos_april2019.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 5:1 (June 2011), i-1v, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_9/editorial_june2011.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 4:2 (December 2010), i-v, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_8/editorial_december2010.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 4:1 (June 2010), i-iv, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_7/editorial_june2010.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 3:2 (December 2009), i-v, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_6/editorial_december2009.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 2:2 (December 2008), i-iv, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_4/editorial_december2008.pdf
- “Marking the First Year of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 2:1 (June 2008), i-iv, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_3/editorial_june2008.pdf
- “In this Issue of Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 1:2 (December 2007), i-iii, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_2/editorial_december2007.pdf
- “Welcome to Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy,” in Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy, 1:1 (June 2007), i-iii, http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_1/editorial_june2007.pdf
paper presentations
(recent five)
- Paper presenter: “Critical Theory at the Margins,” delivered at The Crisis of Critical Theory? Critical Theory From and Beyond the Margins,” sponsored by the University of Santo Tomas and the University of Macau, via Zoom, 24 October 2020.
- Paper presenter: “Philosophical Praxis: Language and Style as Critique of Philosophy,” delivered at the International Conference on Ethical Literary Criticism and Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Santo Tomas, 26-28 April 2019.
- Paper presenter: “The Making of a Society of Control: A Deleuzian Critique of Education,” delivered at Research Fortnight Activity of the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts, and the Humanities, University of Santo Tomas, 19 February 2019.
- Paper presenter: “Critical theory for/from the margins: Appropriating critical theory in the Philippines and what can critical theory learn from the margins,” delivered at the Fascism? Populism? Democracy? Critical Theories in a Global Context Conference, University of Brighton, UK, 23-25 January 2019.
- Invited speaker: “The Making of a Society of Control: A Deleuzian Critique of Philippine Higher Education,” delivered at the 6th Deleuze in Asia Conference, Ateneode Naga, Naga City, 5-7 July 2018.