Childhood and Existence

In his postdoctoral research, Jan Varpanen introduces the notion of childhood into philosophical theories of meaning in life and human existence. Varpanen’s research takes an explicitly spatial and post-fenomenological lens in asking where are the children in general accounts of human existence and meaningful life. He draws on and extends the work of historical key figures of phenomenology such as Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, their successors like Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida, as well as more contemporary thinkers like Tim Ingold, Jeff Malpas, Annabelle Dufourcq and Antti Salminen and Tere Vadén. Varpanen combines readings of these philosophers with empirical investigations of childhood(s) and meaningfulness in children’s lives. The project seeks to introduce more explicit theorisations of meaningful life into the field of childhood studies but also to allow childhood studies to ’speak back’ at broader theorisations of existence and meaningful life.