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 race, and Kant.
My current research has two foci: 1) Together with Thimo Heisenberg (Bryn Mawr) and Helen McCabe (Nottingham), I am holding a SSHRC Connection Grant on the topic "Economic Pluralism: Past and Present", in which we examine widely neglected economic proposals of 19th-century philosophers, exploring how their heterodox insights can help us re-imagine the fundamentals of our economic order. You find a detailed descr…
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 race, and Kant.
My current research has two foci: 1) Together with Thimo Heisenberg (Bryn Mawr) and Helen McCabe (Nottingham), I am holding a SSHRC Connection Grant on the topic "Economic Pluralism: Past and Present", in which we examine widely neglected economic proposals of 19th-century philosophers, exploring how their heterodox insights can help us re-imagine the fundamentals of our economic order. You find a detailed description of this project here: https://economicpluralism.com/
2) My research also engages with 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. This research project has two foci: a) 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. b) 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.
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
