Jeff Malpas FAHA is an Australian philosopher and emeritus distinguished professor at the University of Tasmania in Hobart.

Known internationally for his work across the analytic and continental traditions, Malpas is also at the forefront of contemporary philosophical research on the concept of "place" (topography or topology), as first and most comprehensively presented in his Place and Experience: A Philosophical Topography[1]—now in its second edition—and further developed in numerous subsequent works.

Malpas joined the University of Tasmania in 1999 and, there, was actively engaged for twenty years.

During that time, he held both academic and administrative positions, including professor and chair of philosophy, Australian Research Council (ARC) Professorial Fellow, and director of university collections.

In 2011, Malpas was recognised as distinguished professor and continued with a university-wide appointment that spanned a broad range of disciplines, including architecture, geography, and environmental studies, and involved collaborative research projects in those as well as other disciplines, such as archaeology, design, the creative arts, history, sociology, anthropology, and medical humanities.

His supervision of sixty doctoral students reflects similarly diverse disciplines and topics.

Current endeavours primarily focus on select research, publication, and consultancy activities, as well as commenting on issues of contemporary ethics and politics.

Malpas has devoted considerable attention to the idea of the transcendental, particularly as it links with hermeneutic themes, and places special emphasis on notions of ground and limit.

He sees the transcendental as providing an important point of connection between philosophers such as Davidson, Gadamer, and Heidegger, even as it also connects to Malpas’s own development of what he has termed “philosophical topography.” The latter idea not only draws on phenomenological and hermeneutic resources but also is heavily indebted to analytic approaches in philosophy of mind and of language.

[2] Although his positions have been primarily in research, Malpas has also taught across nearly all areas of philosophy, from ethics to logic, and has additionally lectured in related fields, including architecture, landscape architecture, geography, and other spatial disciplines.

[2] The main charge levelled against Malpas’s “philosophical topography” is that the notion of place is inherently regressive and conservative—as typified in an article by John Wylie, for example.

[9] Malpas has responded to such charges, contesting the assumptions about both place and belonging on which they rest, as well as their reliance on certain ideological presuppositions rather than genuine engagement with the issues at stake.

[10] Malpas’s emphasis on mortality and finitude as essential to the human, and to the very possibility of a life, has been specifically taken up in various discussions, including that in an essay by Nick Trakakis.

[11] A broader engagement and critique of Malpas’s work has appeared in papers presented in the International Journal of Philosophical Studies[12][13] and, by Paloma Puerte-Lozano, in Place, Space, and Hermeneutics.

Translated in Italian, by Giulia Ballocca, as Malpas has edited (or co-edited) twenty-four volumes, including: ——— and Ingo Farin, eds.

“Uprostorjenje oblikovanja: arhitektura v dobi tehnološkega kapitalizma—oblast, vertikalnost in ulica” [“The Spatialization of Design: Architecture in the Age of Technological Capitalism—Power, Verticality, and the Street”].

“In the Presence of Things.” In After Discourse: Things, Affects, Ethics, edited by Bjørnar Olsen, Mats Burström, Caitlin DeSilvey, Þóra Pétursdóttir, 59-71.

“The Modesty of Architecture.” In Political Theory and Architecture, edited by Duncan Bell and Bernardo Zacka, 255-276.

“The House of Being: Poetry, Language, Place.” In Paths in Heidegger’s Later Thought, edited by Günter Figal, Diego D’Angelo, Tobias Keiling, and Guang Yang, 15-44.

“Dying in a Liberal Society.” In Considering Religions, Rights, and Bioethics: For Max Charlesworth, edited by P. Wong, S. Bloor, P. Hutchings, and P. P. Bilimoria, 51-62.

Originally published in Turkish as “Zamanın Ruhu/Yerin Ruhu,” Sabah Ülkesi [Quarterly Journal of Arts, Culture, and Philosophy] 58 (2019):36–39.

“Five Theses on Place (and some associated remarks): A Reply to Peter Gratton.” Il Cannocchiale: rivista di studi filosofici 42 (2017): 69–81.

In addition, Malpas has published review articles, encyclopaedia entries, electronic publications, magazine articles, conference proceedings, interviews, book forewords, reports, and book reviews, and has made other contributions via newspapers, radio, television, and online platforms.