I specialize in post-Kantian European philosophy (primarily the German tradition). I am especially interested in political, social, cultural, and aesthetic issues. My areas of competence include ethics, philosophy of biology, and Kant.
My current research centers on the history of the “philosophy of life” (Lebensphilosophie): from its first systematic formulations in Schopenhauer and Schlegel, through its main forms in the late nineteenth century (Nietzsche, Dilthey and Simmel) and in the Weimar Republic, all the way to its entanglement with National Socialism. My research project has two foci: 1) I examine the contribution of philosophy of…
I specialize in post-Kantian European philosophy (primarily the German tradition). I am especially interested in political, social, cultural, and aesthetic issues. My areas of competence include ethics, philosophy of biology, and Kant.
My current research centers on the history of the “philosophy of life” (Lebensphilosophie): from its first systematic formulations in Schopenhauer and Schlegel, through its main forms in the late nineteenth century (Nietzsche, Dilthey and Simmel) and in the Weimar Republic, all the way to its entanglement with National Socialism. My research project has two foci: 1) I examine the contribution of philosophy of life to the emergence of the problem of relativism. It is my goal to show that both the history of the concept of life and the historical debates on relativism should be brought to bear on current debates. 2) I critically examine Nazi ideology and explore how philosophers contributed to the justification of Nazi racism. I understand my work on the history of racism as a groundwork for a thorough critique of its current forms.
After finishing my PhD at the University of Vienna in 2012 and until 2014, I worked at the Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL) in Berlin as a postdoctoral researcher. From 2014 to 2019, I was a postdoc on the ERC project "The Emergence of Relativism" (PI: Martin Kusch) at the University of Vienna. In 2019, I took up an Assistant Professorship (tenure-track) in Philosophy at McMaster University (Hamilton, ON).
Here is a video talk of mine on "Dehumanizing Strategies in Nazi Ideology and their Anthropological Context:" https://www.macvideo.ca/media/TalkA+Dehumanizing+Strategies+in+Nazi+Ideology+and+their+Anthropological+Context/1_prhqyqct
For details about my former projects see:
https://www.zfl-berlin.org/projekt/diskurse-des-lebens.html
https://www.zfl-berlin.org/projekt/susan-taubes.html
