Fabien Muller

Hi, I'm Fabien. I'm a historian of metaphysics. I completed my PhD at Heidelberg University in 2022 and I'm currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the "Program in the Study of Mysticism" at Tampere University, Finland. Previously, I carried out a postdoctoral research project in the "Transcendence and Transformation" Initiative at Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions (2024-25). Below, you can find details on my specializations, activities, and publications.

Areas of Specialization

Comparative Philosophy - Buddhist and Neoplatonist metaphysics
Patristics - Late ancient Greek and Syriac traditions (Origen, Evagrius Ponticus, John of Scythopolis, Maximus Confessor, Ps.-Dionysius Areopagita)
Ancient Greek Philosophy - Middle Platonism & Neoplatonism from Alcinous to Damascius
Buddhist Philosophy - Madhyamaka and Yogacara
Medieval Scholasticism - Meister Eckhart, Dietrich von Freiberg, Albert the Great
German Idealism - Hegel, Baur, Marheineke, Daub
Christian Theology - Nineteenth-century German Protestant theology (Harnack, Ritschl, Bultmann, Barth)
Philosophy of Religion - From John Caird to Paul Tillich
Marxist Philosophy & Critical Theory - Karl Marx, Georg Lukacs, Lucien Goldmann, Rosa Luxemburg, Stuart Hall, Theodor Adorno
Aesthetics & Cultural Studies - Counterculture, Music Studies (heavy metal, hardcore punk)

Books

  • Fabien Muller, Porphyry of Tyre: On Theology and Theurgy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2026, 258pp.

  • Fabien Muller, Kenologische Versuche. Der Johannesprolog zwischen Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu und Meister Eckhart. Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2022, 457pp.

Papers

N.b. preprints of my papers can be downloaded from my PhilPeople Profile.

  • Fabien Muller, “Anti-Hegelian Bias in Yogācāra Studies.” Sophia (2025): Online first.

  • Fabien Muller, “The catuṣkoṭi as Metaphysics. A Cross-Reading of Hegel and Nāgārjuna.” Continental and Comparative Philosophy (2025): online first.

  • Fabien Muller, “‘Redirect the Hate.’ Plato, Powerviolence, and the Metaphysics of Anger.” Popular Music and Society 48, no. 1 (2025): 41–56.

  • Fabien Muller, “The Metaphysics of Evagrius Ponticus.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 98, no. 3 (2024), 267–292.

  • Fabien Muller, “‘We Should Escape from Here.’ Metaphysical Acosmism as a Paradigm for Greco-Indian Comparative Philosophy.” In press at Revue Philosophique de Louvain.

  • Fabien Muller, “Cemetery Meditations and Morbid Visions: Death Metal as a Spiritual Exercise.” Culture and Religion 23, no. 4 (2023), 448-468.

  • Fabien Muller, “The Neoplatonism of Evagrius Ponticus.” Revue Philosophique de Louvain 120, no. 2 (2023), 183-206.

  • Fabien Muller, “Buddhist Remedies against Greek Maladies: Ritschl, Harnack, and the Dehellenization of Intercultural Philosophy.” Buddhist-Christian Studies 43 (2023), 181-210.

  • Fabien Muller, “The Problem of Yogācāra Idealism.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 51, no. 5 (2023), 707-730.

  • Fabien Muller, “What is Evagrian ΓΝΩΣΙΣ?” Heythrop Journal 64, no. 5 (2023), 608-623.

  • Fabien Muller, “Caducitas and śūnyatā. A Neoplatonist Reading of Nāgārjuna.” Comparative Philosophy 14, no. 1 (2023), 78-99.

  • Fabien Muller, “Die Johannesminne. Ein mittelalterliches Plädoyer für die Irrelevanz der Kunst.” Philokles 25 (2023), 33-57.

  • Fabien Muller, “L’esprit au-delà de la dualité. Evagre le Pontique et Vasubandhu.” In Jean-Michel Counet (ed.): La non-dualité. Perspectives philosophiques, scientifiques, spirituelles, Leuven: Peeters, 2021, 75-88.

  • Fabien Muller, “God before Being. A proontological approach to John of Scythopolis, Maximus Confessor and Meister Eckhart.” Theologica 5, no. 1 (2021), 204-218.

Eduction & Experience

YearsDegree or appointment
2025-Postdoc at Tampere University (PRISM)
2023-2025Postdoc at Harvard University (CSWR)
2022-2023Scientific Assistant at Heidelberg University
2018-2022PhD in Philosophy at Heidelberg University
2014-2018Life as a Benedictine Monk at Clervaux Abbey (Luxembourg)
2012-2014MA in Philosophy at UCLouvain (Europhilosophie Program)
2009-2012BA in Philosophy & History at Bonn University