What is it like to be a philosopher in Norway?

This is the twenty-seventh installment of The Cocoon Goes Global, a series that gives a sense of what the philosophy profession looks like outside of the Anglophone West. 

This guest post is written by Melina Duarte (Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy at UiT The Arctic University of Norway) and Tor Ivar Hanstad (Head of the Department of Philosophy at the UiT The Arctic University of Norway). 

A Norwegian landscape, picture by Tor Ivar. 

1. General Information

Norway is a narrow, but relatively long strip of coastal land on the Western side of the Scandinavian peninsula. In fact, if you could tip the country south around its southernmost point, the otherwise northernmost point of the Norwegian landmass would reach the Mediterranean. In addition to the mainland territory, the Islands of Svalbard and Jan Mayen are also counted as belonging to Norway. The nearest, and closest neighbor is Sweden, and the long eastern border is the longest border Norway share with any of its neighbors. To the south, and although separated by the Skagerrak sea, is Denmark, and in the north-east, Norway also shares borders with Finland and Russia. Topographically, Norway is characterized by her fjords and substantial archipelago running almost all the way to the north of the coastal line. In addition, in the major part of the country a mountain ridge stretches from the south and all the way up to the northernmost county. Norway offers exciting landscapes for visitors.

Although holding a relatively large territory, Norway is small country with regards to population: 5,3 million inhabitants. The population is concentrated in the southeastern region and especially in the capital Oslo (app 1 000 000 inhabitants). The whole country (apart from the mountains), however, is inhabited, and contrary to for example Sweden, in Norway one will find people living, although scattered, all over the mainland.

Norway did not reach the status of fully sovereign state until 1905. At first, Norway was in a union with Denmark lasting from 1521 to 1814 (often referred to as the 400-year night). In 1814, Norwegian politicians wrote and adopted the current constitution, declaring Norway as a sovereign state, and the date of signing, still remains the national day of Norway (17^th May). However, Norway still had to stay in a union for almost one more century – this time with Sweden. In 1905, the union with the latter came to an end, and since then, Norway has been a sovereign kingdom. The current line of kings (and soon, queens) was elected in 1905, and came from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksberg. One significant consequence of the centuries Norway endured as a junior union partner with Denmark and Sweden, is that Norway never developed a strong aristocracy.

Norway is today one of the richest countries in the world. Although traditionally a relatively poor nation of farmers and fishermen, the discovery of oil off the coast in the south-western sea, meant that Norway enjoyed a rapid increase in income since the drilling started in the late 1960’s. One reason to the increase in wealth is due to the fact that Norway chose to establish her own public oil company as the main operator, as well as establishing a trust, where the surplus of the oil revenue has been, and still is, channeled to the people.

Politically, Norway is a democracy, and the King’s role is only ceremonial. The real power sits with the Parliament, and in Norway the parliamentarism practiced is the so-called negative parliamentarism, meaning that the Government does not have to leave as long as there is not a majority in the Parliament against it. After the end of WWII, Norway had several decades where the Labor party was in sole majority. Due to this, Norway is one of the most “social democratic” countries in the world with respect to income equality and welfare systems and leads the ranking of the gender equality index. Of course, helped by the oil revenue, Norwegians enjoy free education (including universities), free health care, and a highly advanced system of social welfare. Norway is regularly among the top countries in rankings of the best countries to live in (security, welfare, freedom and so on), and together with her Nordic neighbors (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) is also among the countries that enjoys the highest level of trust between citizens and between citizens and the Government.

Even though Norway for the most part shares the same cultural features as any other Western democracy, one specific Norwegian feature is worth mentioning, namely the high number of cabins and holiday homes (according to the latest figures, the number is 440,000). This is due to the strong interest in outdoor life among Norwegians, be it in the mountains or at sea. No doubt, Norway, with its large amount of easily accessible wilderness (mountains, forests) and long coastal line, is especially suited for having outdoor life as a major part of people’s leisure time.

2. Philosophy in Norway

Due to her relatively young age as a sovereign state, the Norwegian academic tradition is equally young, and publicly well-known philosophers do not enter the stage until the 20^th century. Here, two names stand out. The first is Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899-1990), who was a multitalented scholar who, in addition to academic work, also wrote theatre plays, fiction, poems, etc. He originally started as a jurist but switched to philosophy when he wrote his doctoral thesis. The thesis, titled On the Tragic situated Zapffe in the existentialist camp within philosophy, and the text is a grim and pessimistic outline of the future of humanity. The key argument is that humans, unlike any other living species we know, are unable to live in balance with nature. Hence, the success of humans will inevitably become the reason for its downfall once we overstretch the limits of the nature that we are dependent upon.

The second philosopher worthy a mention, is Arne Naess (1912-2009). Naess started his career as a classic logical positivist and was at one point affiliated with the Vienna circle. He was also the first professional philosopher who became publicly known in Norway and became full time Professor already at the age of 27. However, in his mid- and late career, Naess shifted the philosophical gaze towards environmental philosophy, and perhaps his most important work, is a book on what he labeled “ecosophy” or “deep ecology”. The book is, contrary to Zapffe’s pessimism, an attempt to show that an ecological alternative is still open to humanity if the species is willing to change to a more ecologically sustainable lifestyle. Hence, the best-known philosophers in Norway were, at least indirectly, concerned with environmental philosophy, and given their personal lifestyles as dedicated mountain climbers with a passion for outdoor life in the mountains, their philosophical orientation is not surprising.

Although the two best-known Norwegian philosophers dealt with environmental philosophy, this does not reflect the current overall situation in Norwegian philosophy. On the contrary, Norwegian philosophy is today as multifaceted as what one finds in the rest of the world. It is also fair to say that Norwegian philosophers splits in a very ordinary way between analytic and continental philosophy, even though the majority today sits better in the analytic camp than the opposite. There are currently ten universities in Norway, and of these, four are regarded classic universities (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsoe). Although there are philosophers working at all universities, only the classic universities have philosophy departments. The biggest department, by margin, is found in Oslo, and the department covers most sub-disciplines within philosophy. For the others, a crude description is that UiB is strong on the philosophy of science, NTNU strong on applied ethics and the philosophy of technology, while at the UiT the expertise is within practical philosophy (political philosophy, ethics, environmental philosophy, and feminist philosophy).

3. Opportunities in Norway

Among the 10 universities in Norway, five of them have philosophy programs: UiT, UiA, UiB, UiS, and UiO. Every university in Norway, however, offers introductory courses in philosophy for new students in most fields. These courses are mandatory and regulated by the Ministry of Education and are meant to facilitate the students’ understanding of the foundational structures of thought, clarify the meaning of ideas and events across time and cultures, elevate human values and cultivate imagination. In practice, this means that medical students, for example, need to learn the basics of history of philosophy, philosophy of science, ethics, and political philosophy and that Humanities students have to learn these and a bit more in a deepening mandatory course in philosophy specialized for the field. These courses are common in University Colleges and Colleges around Norway as well, which gives philosophers plenty of job opportunities in the country. Most of these courses, however, are taught in Norwegian and therefore is it common that these positions are announced with language requirements and, in addition, filled by University Lecturers.

 

In Norway, there is quite a sharp distinction between teaching and research positions, despite recognized problems with this system. University Lecturers, Senior Lectures, and Docents have designated teaching positions, while Associate Professors and Professors have both teaching and research included in their positions. What it is very curious is how these two different career paths can cross each other without changes in the work contract. In the teaching line, positions are locked to a 80/20 or 70/30 share between teaching and administration even if one manages to acquire professor competence. In the research line, Associate Professors are already hired with a 50/50 share between teaching and administration and nothing, but the title, changes with the promotion to professorship. It is therefore a good idea to have a good look at the job advertisement and checking whether the vacant position suits your career ambitions before applying; once you get the job, your position is locked to your work contract.

 

Norwegian Language skills are usually not required at PhD and postdoc levels (English suffices) and tend to be more flexible for associate professor positions, though those in the latter category are expected to learn Norwegian within three years after the starting date. All job announcements are advertised at www.jobbnorge.com and applications are submitted through this official online platform. It might take a year for you to get a reply from your application. The evaluation is slow because it goes through two or three assessment committees that privilege fairness over speed. PhDs are considered to be a hybrid of staff and students a. PhD students receive a full salary (likely higher than the average in Europe) for a period of three years for research and, depending on the funding source, plus one year for teaching. The full salary includes pension, paid holidays and eventually any leave one might have to take such as sick leave or parental leave. Every employee is expected to get a membership into a union (e.g. Forskerforbundet, Akademikerne). The unions will trade with the university on your behalf and protect your interests.

 

The work environment in Norway is normally very accommodating and friendly, even more so for introverts. University employees have a great deal of independency in their jobs, Norwegian colleagues tend to be very welcoming, and most of all, Norwegians can teach you some good lessons on how to live well and value a balanced life between work and private lives (if you so wish). A large part of the students at the BA and MA levels has part-time jobs outside academia and it is not uncommon that they have a family and a house mortgage to care about. This means that you should not be expecting the students to be full-time dedicated to their studies and not all of them would be interested in reading the classics in the original language. While some can see this as a disadvantage for achieving academic excellence, it is positive that a university degree is more accessible and inclusive for a greater parcel of the population in comparison with other higher educational systems. The spring semester goes from Jan-Jun and the Autumn semester, from Aug-Dec. Only academics with no parental responsibilities can be seen on campus in July.

4. Research Fellowships and Funding 

PhD positions in philosophy are basically financed from two sources. One is by the University and the other is by the Research Council of Norway. The number of vacancies in a department depends on the success of the work done by current staff in applying for funding to finance these positions in relation to what is out for grabs. Normally the positions financed by the Research Council do not include the extra year dedicated for teaching, which might be negative when applying for jobs that require teaching experience, but not necessarily when applying for a postdoc. Postdocs are not really expected to teach in Norway and are mostly financed by external funding linked to a larger project. For applying for funding for a project as a PI one must be affiliated to a Norwegian institution, but there are no restrictions for collaborators; international collaboration is actually strongly encouraged. It is not legally possible to have two postdocs in the same institution in Norway. The reason behind this regulation is to counteract the constant raising of the bar for permanent positions in the internationalized market that conflicts with social-democratic ideals and prevent researchers to be obliged to spend too long time in temporary contracts in order to stay in academia. This does not mean, however, that you have only one shot. It is possible to engage in other types of contracts such as PI in case you get external funding for your project or, in some cases, as a researcher. The chances of getting a project funded by the Research Council have been around 10-15%, but it might increase after the second attempt. There is quite a bit of bureaucracy involved in the application process, particularly when you have many partners and a complex budget, but the project proposal is as long as eleven pages currently divided into three parts designated to research excellence, impact, and implementation. Other funding programs in the Nordic and European contexts are NordForsk and Horizon Europe. The odds might not be the most encouraging, but this is an area where your extra efforts pay off in Norway.

Comments

[Melina Duarte]

If you get motivated to become a philosopher in Norway, here is a couple of vacant positions at the Department of Philosophy in Tromsø:

Postdoc: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/204763/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-philosophy?fbclid=IwAR3Bup6DZDB1Cdx6DQr2wQTrP1sgkycrWz_OUO7yIEEoLthJeQGH-MRmlis

PhDs: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/206159/phd-fellow-in-philosophy

[Anna]

Thanks so much Melina for this insightful write-up. One thing I have always wondered about is the meaning of 'associate professor' and 'senior lecturer' for Scandinavian jobs. These sometimes seem like they are entry-level permanent positions that could be taken by e.g. postdocs. But in the Anglophone world my experience is that titles like these would typically not be available to those who don't already have a tenure-track-style job, and would usually follow by promotion from something like 'assistant professor' or 'lecturer'. Any chance you'd shed some light on this? Thanks yet again for all the information here.

[Melina Duarte]

Hi Anna, thanks for your comment! This is indeed very confusing. I will try to unpack it here to the best of my abilities. First, there is no tenure-track positions in Norwegian academia, i.e. academics are not hired temporarily with the planned possibility of getting a permanent job. This, however, happens sometimes because labor laws are strong in Norway. Temporary employees working for more than three years in the same position acquire the right to remain in that position, but universities are well trained to avoid this kind of hiring. Thus, there is only temporary and permanent positions in Norway. For moving from a temporary to a permanent position, one has then to apply for a new job. Second, the only formal requirement for an associate professorship is a PhD degree. In the past, PhD degree was not required for a senior lecturer (experience and publications would count as equivalent to a PhD degree), but this is no longer the case. Both associate professor and senior lecturer can be employed either temporarily or permanently--all depends on the work contract which is tied to the job announcement. Senior lecturer positions have a higher percentage of teaching (70% teaching, 30% research and teaching development) and associate professor, a higher percentage of research (50% teaching, 50% research).
Hope it helps! Let me know if you have more questions! Best, Melina

[Melina Duarte]

Hi Anna, I came back to finalize the answer to your question. Normally, you won’t find job advertisements for temporary associate professor or for a senior lecturer positions, but temporarily employed lecturers can get a promotion and obtain these titles while still remaining a temporary employee.