Matteo Johannes Stettler

Italian of Swiss origin, Matteo is a former Master (MA) and Research Master (ReMA) student at the Institute of Philosophy of KU Leuven (Belgium). His early research interest was dominated by an irresistible fascination for American thought: especially, Dewey’s experiential pragmatism, and Thoreau and Emerson's transcendentalism. A former member of the Thoreau Society of Concord, he was eventually introduced to Pierre Hadot and Michel Foucault’s works on ancient spirituality, which now constitute the central axis of all his investigations in the history of philosophy. A staunch supporter of Modern Stoicism, Matteo has now been awarded the Deakin University Postgraduate Scholarship (DUPRS) to pursue his doctoral studies at Deakin University (Australia), under the supervision of Prof. Matthew Sharpe. He collaborates with the 'Philosophy as a Way of Life' research group of the Pontificia Università Gregoriana of Rome, and the 'Art of Living' research group of the NOVA Institue of Philosophy (Ifilnova) of Lisbon, which he is currently visiting.

His current research aims at unveiling the reception of Aristotle’s lost Protrepticus in the Latin Christian tradition (Minucius Felix, Lactantius, Augustine, up to Boethius, as mediated by Cicero's Hortensius) as a fundamental chapter in the history of spirituality. Matteo has published specialistic articles for Classical Receptions and Philosophy Today, as well as essays, book reviews, and translations for a variety of non-specialistic journals and magazines.