PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

Professor Christine Blaettler

This field is organised around the questions, posed from the point of view of Social Philosophy and Philosophy of Culture, what does ‘knowledge’ actually mean, how it comes into being and how it is produced. While knowledge claims acceptance and validity, it is not simply given: theories, methods, epistemological norms, scientific facts and technical inventions have their history too.

PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

Professor Ludger Heidbrink

In Practical Philosophy, fundamental issues of morality, politics, society and economics are dealt with, reflecting not only on the justification of moral, social and economic principles of action, but also on their practical implementation in today’s complex world of globalisation. The historical and systematic prob-
lems of ethics, the rationality of action and the relationship of economics and morality are at the centre of teaching and research activities.

PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHICAL DIDACTICS

Professor Ralf Konersmann

The guiding interest is to work out in which ways thinking and knowledge express and affect the self-conception of cultures. In Philosophical Didactics we have to deal with the visible and exemplary side of philosophy and we have to explain its cultural significance. In Cultural Philosophy we have to show what it means that we usually understand the realities in which we live as interacting expressive forms of human culture.

PHILOSOPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Professor Konrad Ott

The core task in this area is a critical analysis of the past decades’ increasing discussion about the global ecological crisis and the possibilities of a morally responsible way of dealing with non-human nature. This is done by reconstructing the basic presuppositions of environmental ethical arguments and, in a more practical vein, by examining the possible justifications of environmentalism, conservationism and animal protection. Special fields of research interest are concepts of sustainability, climate ethics including climate engineering, nuclear waste disposal, large scale land acquisition, biodiversity, and water cultures.

THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY

Professor Dirk Westerkamp

This field deals with questions of epistemology, knowledge and culture as well as problems of logic, language and interpretation. Since our conception of ourselves, of others, and the world depends on different media and symbolic orders, one of the key areas of interest is the relationship between culture, language and consciousness.

ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING PHILOSOPHY IN KIEL

– excellent infrastructure of Kiel University (CAU): Career Centre, certified family-friendly university

– large number of possible subject combinations

– individually tailored studies thanks to a comprehensive range of taught courses

– various key research areas

– international research projects

– philosophy and environmental ethics network

– Kiel Forum for Economic Ethics and Political Philosophy

– Internship with the Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie (Journal for Cultural Philosophy)

– Yearly research seminar with excursion