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37Four conceptions of social pathologyEuropean Journal of Social Theory 22 (1): 80-102. 2019.This article starts with the idea that the task of social philosophy can be defined as the diagnosis and therapy of social pathologies. It discusses four conceptions of social pathology. The first two conceptions are ‘normativist’ and hold that something is a social pathology if it is socially wrong. On the first view, there is no encompassing characterization of social pathologies available: it is a cluster concept of family resemblances. On the second view, social pathologies share a structure…Read more
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41Between normativism and naturalism: Honneth on social pathologyConstellations 26 (2): 286-300. 2019.
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9Negative Organicism: Adorno, Emerson, and the Idea of a Disclosing Critique of SocietyCritical Horizons 21 (3): 222-239. 2020.ABSTRACT This article articulates the idea of a disclosing critique of society. It starts from the assumption that the curiously organicistic undertones of Adorno’s negative social ontology is part and parcel of a disclosing gesture in his social criticism. It then traces Adorno’s debate with social organicists to the point where the critical theorist’s own concept of society emerges with a claim to be critical in itself. It is argued that this critical claim is enforced by a disclosing gesture.…Read more
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47Social wrongsCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 26 (7): 1048-1072. 2023.In this paper we elucidate the notion of ‘social wrongs’. It differs from moral wrongness, and is broader than narrowly political wrongs. We distinguish conceptually monadic wrongness (1.1), dyadic wronging (1.2), and the idea of there being something ‘wrong with’ an entity (1.3). We argue that social and political wrongs share a feature with natural badness or wrongness (illnesses of organisms) as well as malfunctioning artifacts or dysfunctional organizations: they violate so called ought-to-b…Read more
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4Das andere Leben: Deweys naturalistische Sozialontologie und ihre kritische AufgabeIn Felix Petersen, Martin Seeliger & Hauke Brunkhorst (eds.), Pragmatistische Sozialforschung: Für Eine Praktische Wissenschaft Gesellschaftlichen Fortschritts, Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 151-169. 2021.John Dewey entwickelt eine naturalistische Sozialontologie. Dieser geht es allerdings nicht nur darum, eine regionale Ontologie der sozialen Realität zu erarbeiten, sondern stets auch darum, die Realität selbst als sozial zu begreifen. Das Soziale stellt für ihn sowohl ein Prinzip der ganzen Realität, als auch einer besonderen Existenzweise dieser Realität unter anderen dar, nämlich derjenigen der menschlichen Sozialität im engeren Sinn, wie in einem ersten Schritt gezeigt wird. Im weiteren Verl…Read more
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10Unsocial Society: Adorno, Hegel, and Social AntagonismsIn Paul Giladi (ed.), Hegel and the Frankfurt School, Routledge. 2020.Adorno’s reading of Hegel’s theory of civil society shapes his way of addressing the core question of his critical theory of society: “Why do social crises not lead to social transformation?” Our chapter investigates the philosophical innovations at the heart of Hegel’s and Adorno’s respective approaches to the problems revealed by the antagonisms of civil society. We will do this by asking the questions: 1. How does Hegel conceive of the antagonistic structure of civil society? 2. How does Hege…Read more
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7Anpassung und Erschließung. Naturgeschichte als kritische GesteAllgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie 47 (2): 201-222. 2022.
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43Critical Naturalism: A ManifestoKrisis 42 (1): 108-124. 2022.The Critical Naturalism Manifesto is a common platform put forward as a basis for broad discussions around the problems faced by critical theory today. We are living in a time, e.g. a pandemic time, when present-day challenges exert immense pressure on social critique. This means that models of social critique should not be discussed from the point of view of their normative justification or political effects alone, but also with reference to their ability to tackle contemporary problematic issu…Read more
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19Vicious circles: Adorno, Dewey and disclosing critique of societyPhilosophy and Social Criticism 48 (10): 1369-1390. 2022.At the centre of Adorno’s critical theory of society lies the problem of Bann or Bannkreis: why do individuals systematically act in ways that reinforce conditions that are obviously incompatible with their freedom and pursuit of happiness? Despite criticism of Dewey’s experimentalism by several Frankfurt School critical theorists claiming that the American pragmatist fails to account for systematic blockages to critique, Dewey does in fact formulate his approach to social critique as a response…Read more
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15Naturalism and Social Philosophy: Contemporary Perspectives (edited book)Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2023.This book explores the many facets of naturalism in social philosophy, investigating the consequences of concepts such as "second nature" and "forms of life" analyse the ways in which social action, gender, work and morality and embodied and surveys the conceptions of nature at play in social criticism.
Zürich, ZH, Switzerland
Areas of Specialization
3 more
History of Western Philosophy |
Social Philosophy |
Aesthetics |
Metaphilosophy |
Metaphysics |
Virtue Ethics |
Philosophy of Education |
Social Ontology |
Areas of Interest
2 more
20th Century Philosophy |
Philosophical Methods |
Metaphor |
Negation |
Ludwig Wittgenstein |
Theodor W. Adorno |
Sigmund Freud |