Research projects and PhDs

Applicant: Professor Dr. Matthias Schloßberger
Disciplinary assignment: Practical Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Sociological Theory
Funding: since 2025
Project ID: German Research Foundation (DFG) - project number 548645524
To the project homepage: follows

Description
The aim of the project is to reconstruct Scheler's social philosophy from the point of view of how various of Scheler's major themes are systematically connected with one another. From a systematic perspective, the aim is to show the extent to which solidarity is dependent on sympathy: we want to reconstruct Scheler's thesis that solidarity with other people and solidarity with nature is dependent on the various forms of sympathy in order to introduce it into the dialogue on the major issues of the present. The starting point of Scheler's social philosophy is the problem of intersubjectivity, which for Scheler can only be understood from an anthropological perspective. Because human beings relate to each other sympathetically through the expressive behaviour visible in their bodies, they can understand each other. Human intersubjectivity is only possible because people are connected to each other through the bond of vital love, only because their feelings can affect others in the expression of their bodies and become understandable. People are connected to one another through the various forms of sympathy, through shared feelings and participation in the lives of others through empathy. Scheler's social philosophy is not limited to the human being. In contrast to many other social philosophies, Scheler thinks of the human being as a living being in vital contact with the living nature around him, which is conceived as a special form of participation (understood in the classical sense as "being part of something"). Starting from the simple forms of encounter, Scheler thus succeeds in illuminating the intertwining of descriptive and normative dimensions of human existence. Our aim is to understand the interplay between the major problem complexes addressed here: love, life, sympathy, nature, sociality and solidarity. In doing so, we want to distinguish epistemological, ontological and metaphysical perspectives much more clearly than in previous research and show that a full understanding of Scheler's social philosophy, designed as a system, is only possible if these three perspectives are clearly distinguished and considered in their respective rights. The reconstruction of Scheler's social philosophy is carried out with the intention of showing that it has great potential to make an important contribution to the major pressing issues of the present, but above all to demonstrate their interrelation. On the one hand, these are the theoretical questions about the nature of empathy and compassion, about the fundamental importance of vital sympathy (resonance), of shared feelings, of protective and marginalising feelings (shame and resentment), and on the other hand, the practical questions about how solidarity is possible in highly complex, socially differentiated societies, how we can think of our relationship to nature differently than within the framework of a thinking that is merely oriented towards cost-benefit calculations.

DFG procedure: Grants in kind
International reference: France
Partner organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
Cooperation partner: Professor Dr Olivier Agard

Applicant: Professor Dr Matthias Schloßberger
Subject classification: History of Philosophy
Funding: since 2022
Project ID: German Research Foundation (DFG) - Project number 469960485
To the project homepage: http://konschel.org/

Description
The current boom in Scheler's philosophy is fuelled by a reassessment of his fundamental contributions to the theory of intersubjectivity, the philosophy of emotions and the theory of values. However, many new interpretations do not see Scheler as an isolated thinker, but rather as an author of early phenomenology, whose thought movements can only be understood from constellations. The applicants share this perspective, but are of the opinion that the eminent French influence on Scheler must also be taken into account in these constellations. Scheler was in contact with many French authors, but not only absorbed a great deal, he also had a remarkable impact in France, which was essential for the establishment of phenomenology in France. How did Scheler's impact in France come about? Perhaps only a combination of various factors can explain this effect. In addition, the attraction of the public intellectual Scheler, who captivated with his brilliant diagnoses of the times, must be taken into account when explaining how phenomenology came to France. The aim of the project is to link current research on the development of Scheler's thought and its reception, which is particularly strong in Germany and France, even more closely in order to understand Scheler's German-French constellations. For our context, this means (1) a study of Scheler's immediate environment, which can be reconstructed by including letters, lectures and talks and the specific, very different milieus of the journals in which Scheler published. (2) Many important traces for constellation research can be found in unpublished materials from the estate. The approach of constellation research therefore makes it necessary to combine the content-related questions of our philosophical-historical project with editorial projects. (3) Constellation research aims to reconstruct not only the author of a text in his environment, but also his thought movements in his environment. (4) The development of thought movements can be reconstructed particularly well on the basis of the development of texts that have been repeatedly supplemented and reworked. The historical-critical edition of texts is therefore a prerequisite for the possibility of comprehensive constellation research. Our systematic, philosophical-historical project is therefore to be combined with the creation of a digital database. This could also represent a way out of the frequently described desolate textual situation of Scheler's Collected Works. The material is to be prepared on a website in such a way that it is freely accessible (open access).

DFG procedure: Grants in kind
International reference: France, Russian Federation
Partner organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
Co-responsible persons: Professor Dr. Gerald Hartung; Dr Christian Sternad; Professor Dr Ingrid Vendrell Ferran
Cooperation partners: Professor Dr Olivier Agard; Professor Dr Mikhail Khorkov

Natur, Mensch und Natur des Menschen: Eine anthropologische Perspektive auf die Naturvorstellungen der antiken griechischen und modernen europäischen Philosophie.

Das Promotionsprojekt beschäftigt sich mit der Entstehung und Entwicklung des Naturbegriffs in der antiken griechischen und modernen europäischen Philosophie. Ziel des Projektes ist es, eine kritische Perspektive auf die ökologischen und ökophilosophischen Debatten der Gegenwart zu erarbeiten. Im Hintergrund stehen die problematischen Dichotomien wie "Natürlichkeit-Künstlichkeit", "Natur–Kultur" sowie das generelle Problem eines Anthropozentrismus in der Philosophie.
 

Vom Monismus zur Memetik? Eine wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Einordnung der Mneme-Theorie Richard Semons

Dieses Promotionsprojekt hat zum Ziel einen erweiternden Beitrag zur Rezeption Richard Semons, dem Begründer der Mneme-Theorie, zu leisten. Da die Mneme-Theorie eng mit dem biografischen Werdegang von Semon verknüpft ist, werde ich eingangs die bewegte und in gewissem Sinne – wissenschaftlich wie auch menschlich – tragische Geschichte von Semon ausarbeiten. Den zentralen Teil der Arbeit wird die wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Verortung und Einschätzung der Mneme-Theorie bilden, wobei ich neben der Rekonstruktion der kritischen Auseinandersetzungen und Debatten der damaligen Zeit auch der Frage nachgehen möchte, inwiefern der Mneme-Ansatz trotz seiner im engen Sinne wissenschaftlichen Überholtheit trotzdem eine direkte Inspiration für weitere Denker, wie bspw. Warburg, Russell und Cassirer, war. Es wird dabei herauszuarbeiten sein, was den generellen Reiz an diesem Denkansatz ausmachte, so dass dieser vor dem Hintergrund der späteren wissenschaftshistorischen

Debatten trotz seines inhaltlichen Scheiterns eine akademische Relevanz behielt.
 

Charakterologische Standpunkte - Ein problemgeschichtlicher Beitrag

Sowohl die etwas antiquiert anmutende Rede vom Charakter eines Menschen als auch die moderne von seiner Persönlichkeit stellt uns vor erkenntnistheoretische und ontologische Probleme. Was ist das eigentlich und wie können wir (sinnvoll) Aussagen darüber treffen? Das Projekt nähert sich diesen Problemen über die Auseinadersetzung mit vier Autor*innen aus dem Umfeld des Jahrbuchs für Charakterologie und der phänomenologischen Bewegung die unterschiedlicher kaum sein könnten:  Ludwig Klages, Alexander Pfänder, Emil Utitz und Else Voigtländer. Es soll sowohl einen Beitrag zu einem der zentralen Probleme der Philosophie der Psychologie als auch zur Geschichte der Phänomenologie dastellen.
 

Über Gegensätzlichkeit: Eine sprachphilosophische, phänomenologische und sozialphilosophische Untersuchung

Tag~Nacht, Groß~Klein, Schwarz~Weiß, Körper~Geist, Frau~Mann sind alles Wortpaare, mit denen wir auf die ein oder andere Weise Welt und Wirklichkeit ordnen und verstehen. Gerade der Eindruck einer gewissen Gegensätzlichkeit scheint den Paaren dabei einen grundlegenden, wesenhaften Charakter zu verleihen. Was ist diese Gegensätzlichkeit, die diesen ansonsten so verschiedenen Paaren gemein zu sein scheint, woraus schöpft sich ihre unmittelbare Überzeugungskraft im Ordnen und Verstehen von Welt und Wirklichkeit?

Im Rahmen meiner Promotion werde ich mich zum einen mit bereits bestehenden theoretischen Ansätzen über Gegensätze bzw. Gegensätzlichkeit auseinandersetzen. Zum anderen möchte ich eine eigene Perspektive auf Gegensätzlichkeit als sprachlich-leiblich verankertem und kulturell ausgeformtem Phänomen entwerfen. Insbesondere möchte ich so zur Kritik und Transformation bestimmter etablierter, aber möglicherweise nicht notwendiger Dualismen wie Frau~Mann, Natur~Kultur, Körper~Geist beitragen.
 

Composition as critique and terrestrial paradigm

In the context of ecological crises, Bruno Latour proposes a "more realistic realism" that implies a relational (i.e. material as well as spatial/terrestrial) connection to the premises of preserving the habitability of the earth. The dissertation project examines Latour's conception of compositionism, which aims at an immanent practice of critique beyond dichotomies between nature and culture/society or subject and object as well as dualisms between universalism and relativism.