Bjørn Sether Wastvedt
About
My philosophical expertise lies in ancient philosophy, virtue ethics, and classical philology. However, both my teaching and writing are grounded in the liberal arts tradition, and so my interests and reading are broad.
At NTNU, I have taught Examen Philosophicum in Ålesund since 2024. Prior to this, from 2014 to 2023, my teaching focused on ancient philosophy, with courses also in epistemology, environmental ethics, political philosophy, and virtue ethics. I am particularly keen on improving the student experience through creative and technology-enabled pedagogy. I especially welcome conversations with students interested in expanding their philosophical horizons beyond the introduction provided in ex. phil.
My research focuses on Aristotle's two ethical works, the Eudemian Ethics and the Nicomachean Ethics. For example, in the context of the former, I argue that habitual action shapes character through experiences of pleasure and pain and that thorough deliberation aims both at mundane goals set by desire and at a contemplative life of virtue. My earlier studies in mathematics and computer science occasionally incline me to digital humanities approaches to philosophical and philological issues.
Before coming to NTNU in the fall of 2024, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Universty of Lisbon. There, I wrote a journal article arguing that the Eudemian Ethics proposes a mechanical account of habituation and I conducted a modern stylometric analysis of Aristotle's ethical works, the first since Anthony Kenny's groundbreaking The Aristotelian Ethics (1978). In side projects, I argue that experiences of wilderness offer unique contributions to human well-being, that certain care ethical theories offer moral-psychological improvements to standard eudaimonism, and that Old Norse literature contains underexplored virtue-ethical ideas (in the Poetic Edda's Hávamál and the Hrafnkels saga freysgoða).
Publications
Review of Bonasio, *The Unity of the Virtues in the Eudemian Ethics*
Virtue of Character in Aristotle's *Eudemian Ethics*
2026
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Wastvedt, Bjørn Sether.
(2026)
Review of Bonasio, *The Unity of the Virtues in the Eudemian Ethics*.
The Review of Metaphysics
Book review
2021
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Wastvedt, Bjørn Sether.
(2021)
Virtue of Character in Aristotle's *Eudemian Ethics*.
University of Arizona
Doctoral thesis
Journal publications
-
Wastvedt, Bjørn Sether.
(2026)
Review of Bonasio, *The Unity of the Virtues in the Eudemian Ethics*.
The Review of Metaphysics
Book review
Student thesis or dissertation
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Wastvedt, Bjørn Sether.
(2021)
Virtue of Character in Aristotle's *Eudemian Ethics*.
University of Arizona
Doctoral thesis
Teaching
I teach examen philosophicum in Ålesund, both for health sciences (EXPH0400 and EXPH0450) and for economics (EXPH0500 and EXPH0550).
Supervision
I supervise at master's and PhD level, especially within ancient philosophy, virtue ethics, and environmental ethics.
Outreach
2026
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Other presentationWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2026) Radikalisering og demokratisk motstandskraft—veien inn og ut av ekstremisme. Radikalisering og demokratisk motstandskraft—veien inn og ut av ekstremisme
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2026) Aristotle on Non-Virtuous People Doing Virtuous Things. Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy meeting at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association
2025
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LectureTvedt, Oda Elisabeth W.; Wastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2025) Trygg for å være lykkelig?. Forskningsdagene i Ålesund
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2025) Nature is valuable. But what about wilderness?. Norwegian Environmental Ethics Network online research seminar
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LectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2025) Hva skal til for å være lykkelig? Og hva er lykke?. Researchers Night
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2025) Nature is valuable. But what about wilderness? An argument from non-ideal theory. DynamiTE Lunchtime Seminar
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2025) Expertise and explanation in the *Theaetetus*. Knowledge, expertise, and politics in Plato’s *Theaetetus*
2024
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2024) Goods simpliciter in the *Eudemian Ethics*. History of Philosophy Research Group Seminar
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2024) The *Eudemian Ethics* on non-virtuous people doing virtuous things. New Work on Aristotle’s Ethics
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LectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2024) Naturen er verdifull. Men hva med villmark?. Vitenskapsteoretisk Forum: Miljøfilosofi
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2024) The Development of Character in the *Eudemian Ethics*. American Philosophical Association, Eastern division meeting
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Conference lectureWastvedt, Bjørn Sether. (2024) A New Stylometric Evaluation of Aristotle’s Ethical Works. On Rowe’s *Eudemian Ethics*: A Workshop on Philosophical and Textual Creativity at Durham University.