I am a University Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. I specialize in aesthetics and the philosophy of culture, as well as social and political philosophy. I also find myself frequently occupied with metaphysical problems andwith  questions of method that relate to these fields. I have a strong interest in the history of philosophical thinking and I enjoy exchanging ideas with colleagues from neighboring disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, art history, or literary studies.

Before joining the University of Amsterdam in February 2017, I held post-doc positions at the Univerity of Cologne and the University of Oxford. I received my PhD (Dr. phil.) from the University of Cologne in 2014 (for a dissertation on the aesthetic experience of mobile music headphone listening) and my M.A. degree (Magister Artium) from Leipzig University in 2009.

I like to combine the work on concepts, which is at the heart of philosophy, with the analysis and interpretation of aesthetic phenomena. I currently pursue two research projects in this spirit:

1) The first project is called "A Planetary Aesthetics for the Future Democratic Society" (funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation). This project is conducted together with two PhD-candidates: Nick Psomas and Emma Ricketts. The project address the (im-)possibility of imagining the planet (i.e., the habitable planetary system) as such. Yet, imagining concretely the dynamics of the planet seems inevitable for making planetary concerns (like preventing ecological catastrophy) the guiding principle of political decisions—and not just the decision of experts, but of the "demos". Therefore, the project turns to the aesthetic forces of speculative fiction to explore the open future of democratic co-existence on this planet (and perhaps others). Yet, the art of science fiction shall not be reduced to "prognosis", "advice", or "cautionary tales": the products of this extremly rich genre are works of art in their own right, some of which have pushed the bounderies of human imagination.

2) In my other project, I seek to understand the persistent power of myth in contemporary society through the pop-cultural phenomenon of Star Wars. This phenomenon seems particularily suitable for examining the dialectical relationship between myth and art, between deception and reflection, and between the desires of disenchantment and re-enchantment.

Next to these projects I have a keen interest in the history of philosophy and keep revisiting classical positions to explore the potential of their style and methods, their arguments, concepts, and claims for today and perhaps the future. While I am inspired by many different philosophical sources (like critical theory, phenomenology, and pragmatism), I have in recent years published especially on the work of Adorno, but also Cassirer, Dewey, Simmel and others. I am not quite through with Adorno's style yet, but I will keep exploring philosophical sources from throughout the history of thought and from all across the globe.