About

I am an assistant professor of philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University. My research interests are in Kant (especially, but not exclusively, his theoretical philosophy), early modern European philosophy (especially, Spinoza and Crusius), and aesthetics.

I was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, before moving to Germany to pursue my undergraduate studies. I received a BA in philosophy from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago.

The main theme of my current research is the role of reason (Vernunft) and its concepts of the unconditioned as key elements in Kant's conception of the telos of human cognitive activity: a cognitive achievement he calls 'comprehension' (Begreifen) or 'cognition from principles'. This notion can be traced back to early modern scientia and Aristotelian epistêmê. It also shares important features with 'understanding' as discussed in recent epistemology. My project seeks to (i) reconstruct Kant's account of comprehension in its theoretical and practical variety, (ii) contextualize it in relation to the early modern philosophical tradition, and (iii) apply it to illuminate Kant's own Critical philosophy, which, in my view, aims at self-understanding that meets the criteria of comprehension.

I also have interests in aesthetics, especially, the problem of aesthetic concepts and properties, the relationship between aesthetics and art historiography, and philosophical approaches to cinema. One of my smaller projects looks at Kant's influence on filmmaker and theorist Éric Rohmer (who describes his own films as 'transcendental idealist').

In my free time, I do photography (both analog and digital). You can have a look at some of my work under 'Photography'.

I prefer my name to be pronounced as written, in accordance with English phonology: 'Pirachula' as [pih-RAH-chu-la] or [pih-ra-CHOO-la] and 'Chulanon' as [CHOO-la-non]. The original pronunciation, if you're curious, is [pʰīːrátɕù'lāː tɕùlāː'nōn] (Help:IPA/Thai).

You can email me at pirachula@torontomu.ca.


Photo Credit: Reza Hadisi

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