See also my profil:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eva-Weber-Guskar
Areas of Specialization
Current Research Projects
If time is a topic in current philosophical theories of well-being (or “the good life”), it is mostly discussed in terms of duration or the velocity of life. In any case, it is discussed as something “external” to humans, for example by considering the question of how to use slots of time in a meaningful way (Calhoun 2018) or how to arrange things given the fact that time is just passing by completely beyond our control The present project,“The Time of Your Life. How to Lead a Good Life in Time,” focuses on another understanding of time, in the tradition of phenomenology, namely on time as an internal structuring of human life, as something that is inherent to human consciousness, acting, and existence. It raises the question of the degree to which the possibility of a good life depends on these structures and their concrete configuration. The central thesis is that the integration of the three modes of time, the “past”, “present”, and “future,” is an important condition for a good human life. The project runs from October 2019 - to September 2024.
Changes in our interaction with each other via social media and with AI systems pose a central challenge for modern society. Messenger services, chatbots, robot co-workers: Our everyday interactions are no longer limited to human beings. Which changes does this development bring about? How do we shape and manage them? And what are the risks and opportunities that come along with it? Our interdisciplinary research group combining humanities, social, and behavioral sciences at Ruhr University Bochum addresses these questions. Eva specializes on AI emotion recognition systems, their underlying concepts of emotions and the phenomenon of affective relations with social robots and other emotionalized AI systems.
You can find out more about the project (running from November 2021 to October 2024) on our homepage.
A "leaky pipeline" as far as women in science is concerned can be observed across all disciplines. Although the proportion of female professors in the humanities in 2019 is relatively high at 39% compared to the so called MINT-subjects, where it is only 20%, philosophy is among the laggards at 28%. Among philosophy students, the ratio is still balanced, but already among PhDs, only 31% are women. It is now well established empirically that the performance of women in traditionally male professions, as philosophy is one, is systematically rated lower and that the so-called "Stereotype Threat" can cause members of stereotyped minorities to perform worse in certain tasks than members of the majority group.
The initial hypothesis of the joint project is that the lack of visibility of women in the discipline plays a special role in this. Increasing the visibility of women in philosophy thus not only means finally giving important female thinkers the place they deserve on the basis of their work; it also contributes to the sustainable promotion of equal opportunities and makes it easier for future female philosophers to fully develop their scientific potential. Against the storm of factors disadvantaging women in academic philosophy, then, what is needed is an iconoclasm (a „storm of pictures” as the German expression “Bildersturm” has it), i.e., a new image of those who do philosophy successfully. This iconoclasm is the name and goal of our collaborative project.
We are a network of 13 philosophers and 3 psychologists at different points of our academic careers, located at seven German universities.
Individual subprojects proceed in different ways. Among other things, we investigate socio-psychologically how stereotypes influence the behavior of women philosophers, analyze philosophical-historical debate contributions of women philosophers, and argue normatively why the underrepresentation of women in philosophy is a problem and how to promote fairness. Through conferences, handouts, collections of materials, podcast series, and an online portal, the project addresses the academic community of those who practice philosophy, philosophy teachers as multipliers, and the general public interested in philosophy.
The network began its work in January 2023 and will run until April 2025. It is funded by the BMBF and is part of the meta-initiative IFiF.
Emotions matter - because without them nothing would matter at all. But after an extremely fruitful phase for emotion research, especially in philosophy and in parts of systematic theology, interest in the subject has noticeably waned. The network picks up these threads by offering, for the first time in this compilation, a suitable institutional framework for it. The fundamental question is: What role do emotions play within the framework of an analytical philosophy and theology of existence with regard to questions of self-understanding, the deciphering of world and subject, and engagement as an expression of personal identity? This problem fans out into five interlinked sub-areas. 1: What about the possibility of general theories of emotion on the guideline of a critical-corrective debate on emotion-theoretical cognitivism? 2: (How) is it possible to determine genuine 'religious' emotions? 3: How do everyday life and faith practices relate to the question of the (non-)rationality of emotions? 4: What concrete role do (religious) emotions play in accessing the self and the world - and how, if necessary, do they close off this 'access'? 5: What contribution do emotions make in motivational terms, both as an implication of one's own identity (in faith) and in terms of moral and political engagement? The constellations outlined in (1) to (5) do not offer separate individual questions, but rather unfold a tense but consistent field of research that can at the same time profitably impact other fields.
The network started in February 2022, consists of 20 philosophers and theologians, and meets regularly in Berlin and Oxford.
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Last update: Nov 25, 2023