Academic Work

Here you may find links to some of my published and unpublished articles in PPE, philosophy, economics, semiotics, ludology, etc.

Curriculum Vitae (Jan 2024): download here.

My Ph.D. thesis:

(2022) (Ph.D. thesis) Complex Adaptation and Permissionless Innovation: An Evolutionary Approach to Universal Basic Income.  Political Economy, King’s College London.

1. Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE):

(2025) (forthcoming) Power to the powerless: freedom, knowledge, and emancipation. In: “Liberal Emancipation: Explorations in Political and Social Economy.” (Ed. Mikayla Novak) Springer.

(2024) (forthcoming) Securing a Dignified Minimum Income: Uncertainty, Complexity, and UBI. In: “In Search for a Social Minimum: Human Dignity, Poverty, and Human Rights.” (Eds. Elena Pribytkova & Gottfried Schweiger.) In the series: AMINTAPHIL: The Philosophical Foundations of Law and Justice. Springer.

(2024) (forthcoming) Contemporary Welfare Policies. In: “Routledge Handbook on Classical Liberalism” (Eds. R. Epstein, M. Rizzo, & L. Palagashvili) New York: Routledge.

(2024) (forthcoming) Liberal Neutrality and the Paradox of the Open Future. In: “Basic Income and Narrative Economics.” (tentative title) FRIBIS. University of Freiburg, Germany.

(2024) Hillel Steiner on Territorial Justice. In: Global Encyclopedia on Territorial Rights. (Ed. Kevin W. Gray.) Springer.

(2023) (with N. Goodman) Intellectual Property, Complex Externalities, and the Knowledge Commons. Public Choice. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-023-01110-8

(2023) Poverty Relief as a Rule-Based Discovery Procedure: Is Universal Basic Income Compatible with a Hayekian Welfare State? In: “Transition Economies in Central and Eastern Europe: Austrian Perspectives,” pp. 140-154. (Ed. Alicja Sielska) London: Routledge.

(2023) Institutional Trust, the Open Society, and the Welfare State. Cosmos + Taxis, 11(9+10), pp. 14-29. https://cosmosandtaxis.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/lehto_ct_vol11_iss9_10-1.pdf 

(2023) Review of ‘The Problem of Property: Taking the Freedom of Nonowners Seriously.’ By Karl Widerquist. In: The Independent Review 28(2), Fall 2023, online edition. 

(2023) Review of ‘The Last Man Takes LSD: Foucault and the End of the Revolution.’ By Daniel Zamora and Mitchell Dean. KCL Centre for the Study of Governance and Society book reviews. 

(2023): Review of ‘Neoliberalism, Strong State and Democracy.’ By Hubert Gabrisch. In: Qeios. https://doi.org/10.32388/MZOW0M

(2022) Review of “A Brief History of Equality.” By Thomas Piketty. In: Basic Income Studies 17(2), pp. 239-242.

(2021) Permanent Crisis Management, the Rule of Law, and Universal Basic Income: A Polycentric Approach. In: Cosmos+Taxis, 9(5+6), pp. 122-136.

(2021) (with J. Meadowcroft) Welfare without rent seeking? Buchanan’s demogrant proposal and the possibility of a constitutional welfare state. In: Constitutional Political Economy, 32: 145–164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-020-09321-7

(2021) Book review of “Taxation in Utopia: Required Sacrifice and the General Welfare.” By Donald Morris. In: The Independent Review, 26(1), online edition.

(2019) (with M.P. Fleischer) Libertarian Perspectives on Basic Income. In: The Palgrave International Handbook of Basic Income (Ed. M. Torry): 439–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23614-4_22

(2019) Mitä hyötyä on sananvapaudesta? In: ”Mitä oikeudet ovat? Filosofian ja oikeustieteen näkökulmia.” (Eds. M. Aalto-Heinilä & V. Kurki.) Helsinki: Gaudeamus. https://kauppa.gaudeamus.fi/sivu/tuote/mita-oikeudet-ovat-/2523959

(2018) An Earthquake in Finland. In: “It’s Basic Income: The Global Debate” (Eds. S. Lansley & A. Downes): 165-170. Bristol University Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/2886089

(2018) Basic Income Around the World: The Unexpected Benefits of Unconditional Cash Transfers. Adam Smith Institute, London.

(2015)  ‘Better welfare, better markets? A review of “Basic Income and the Free Market: Austrian Economics and the Potential for Efficient Redistribution.”’ In: Basic Income Studies 10(1), pp. 157-160. https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2015-0007

(2015) The Three Principles of Classical Liberalism from John Locke to John Tomasi: A Consequentialist Defence of the Limited Welfare State. (MA Thesis in Social and Moral Philosophy.) University of Helsinki.

(2014) Performing Culture and Breaking Rules. In: “Philosophies of Performance.” (Eds. D. Martinelli, E. Tarasti, & J. Torvinen.) Acta Semiotica Fennica XLIII. Helsinki: Suomen Semiotiikan Seura.

(2011) Reason and Madness in the Holocaust:  Mythologizing a Modern Narrative in 20th Century Prose. (BA Thesis in English Philology.) University of Helsinki.

The Limited Welfare State as Utopia: The Case for a Libertarian Basic Income

Was Adam Smith a Classical Liberal?

Comparisons of the Nature of Law and Duty in Hobbes and Kant 

Socializing Liberty and Liberalizing Society: Rawls, Sen and Nussbaum

Imperialism & Perpetual Revolution – The Radical Lure of the Empire

2. Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Semiotics:

(2023) Cosmologies of Life after Peirce, Heidegger, and Darwin. In: Transcending Signs: Essays in Existential Semiotics. (Ed. Eero Tarasti.) Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 273-288. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110789164-017

(2023) Markkinat, mieli, ja merkitys: kyberneettisiä ja semioottisia unelmia Chilessä. In: Synteesi, 1/2023. (In Finnish.)

(2010) Vapauden illuusion loppu – Spinoza ja radikaali determinismi. Synteesi 2/2010, pp. 2-6. (In Finnish.)

(2009) Studying the Cognitive States of Animals: Epistemology, Ethology and Ethics. In: Sign Systems Studies 37(3-4), pp. 369-419. Tartu: Tartu University Press. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2009.37.3-4.02 

Nothingness as Nihilism: Karatani Kojin and Nishitani Keiji

The Background and Implications of John McDowell’s (2009) Revised Theory of Perception

The Transparency of Light – Our Crystalline Society

Humanism, Existentialism, Semiotics

On The Frontiers of Psychology – A Dialogue on the Practice and Malpractice of Power

3. Arts, Aesthetics, and Religion

(2009) The Collapse and Reconstitution of the Cinematic Narrative: Interactivity vs. Immersion in Game Worlds. In: E/C Journal, issue on  “Computer Games Between Text and Practice.” (Eds. D. Compagno & P. Coppock.) Italian Association of Semiotic Studies.

Music’s Pre-Existence as Ideal Sound: The Pythagorean Legacy in Music

Transgressions and Regressions: The Rigidification of Form as Genre-Genesis

The Cinema of David Lynch

Kommentteja Wagnerista (in Finnish)

The Hermeneutics of Kurt Cobain

Minimalism, Philip Glass & Electronic Aesthetics

Eco, Derrida, Joyce, Borges – Interpretation and Hallucination

The Hero Myth and the Apocalypse in Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” 

The Ghosts of Derrida

Beckett’s Fatal Silence

Simo Parpola’s “Tree of Life” theory Revisited – Mysteries and Myths of Assyrian Kabbalah

The Seven Veils of Ishtar and the Ten Sefirot of Israel

St. David [a short story]

philosopher, political economist, public intellectual, composer, and blogger.