Profile of Professorship

Eva Weber-Guskar has been Heisenberg Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Emotions at the Institute of Philosophy I at Ruhr-Universität Bochum since December 2019. Her research interests in normative ethics are currently mainly on questions of time and temporality in theories of the good life; previously on the concept of human dignity and on theories of value. In applied ethics, she is currently focusing on ethics of digitization and artificial intelligence, more specifically on philosophical and ethical questions of affective computing (or "emotion AI"); in addition, she is also concerned with issues in medical ethics. Finally, she is interested in issues in moral psychology and aesthetics, both times strongly related to the philosophy of emotions (moral emotions, aesthetic emotions, empathy).

She is PI in the interdisciplinary research project "INTERACT! New Forms of Social Interaction with Intelligent Systems" and member of the DFG network "Religion and the Emotions".

To promote academic philosophy to the public, she occasionally writes journalistic articles herself and became a co-founding member of PhilPublica, a platform that emerged from the working group "Philosophy and the Public" of the German Society for Philosophy (DGPhil) and the Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP). 

Eva Weber-Guskar is Associate Editor of the "International Journal of Social Robotics" and member of the Advisory Board of ZEMO (Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie).

News

Workshop announcement

The 5th PhilPublica Philosophy Journalism Workshop for philosophy students, graduates and doctoral candidates has been announced. This time with Dr. Manuela Lenzen (freelance science journalist) and Dr. Peter Neumann (Die Zeit, Feuilleton) in Bielefeld. Details can be found here: https://www.philpublica.de/resources/2024-07-Denkstueck.pdf

New event series

DENKRAUM. Theater & Philosophy in Oberhausen

Theater and philosophy deal with existential questions of human existence. And both thrive on intensive exchange - whether more emotional in the aesthetic events between stage and audience or more discursive in the argumentative dialogue between interlocutors.
Eva Weber-Guskar conceives, curates and moderates the DENKRAUM series for Theater Oberhausen - always on Sunday mornings after a performance. She reflects on themes of the play with invited philosophers by highlighting and deepening philosophical aspects and invites them to discuss them together. The first event follows the first performance of TIME OF JOY and will take place on November 12. More information here.

New Project (2023-2025)

Bildersturm/ Iconoclasm. Making women in philosophy visible and establishing new role models. BMBF joint project

A network of 13 philosophers and 3 psychologists at seven German universities has set itself the goal of changing the male-dominated image that many people still have of people who practice philosophy by making visible the achievements of women both in the history of philosophy and in its present. The network addresses different groups, such as the academic community, the interested public, and those active in educational contexts, with measures developed precisely for each group. Through conferences, handouts, collections of materials, podcast series, online portals, and the like, the aim is to demonstrate the great intellectual potential that philosophy can gain when it adequately honors the work of women. An accompanying socio-psychological investigation will show how women can be facilitated to remain in academic philosophy and how this potential can thus be permanently secured and further developed. In addition, normative reflections will be made on how women can be promoted fairly, that is, also without unjustifiably disadvantaging others.

NEW RESEARCH PROJECT (2021-2024)

INTERACT! New Forms of Social Interaction with Intelligent Systems

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.

Talks

Conferences

At this international conference, the focus will be on the role of time as it pertains to a good life. What does it mean in regards to the possibility of a successful life that we live in time, that we are temporal beings (i.e. living in hours, days and years), and that we speak of earlier, simultaneously and later, as well as of the past, present and future? When time is discussed in the context of a practical way of life, it is usually only in two respects: either as the duration of life and thus as the classic problem of its finite nature or as the speed and acceleration that is associated with the modern way of life. However, at least four other issues can be distinguished, too: the way of life (which unit of time is needed and why do we prefer a happy ending?), the use of time (how should we use time?), the arranging of oneself with time (in particular with the constant, irretrievable "flow" of time) and the reference to different time modes (what relationship to past and future do we need in order to live well in the present?).

Conference Program
 
Online participation is free. Please register by May 12, 2021 by sending an E-Mail to bianca.janzon@rub.de. Once you are registered, the program and zoom invitation will be sent to you in due time.

PhilPublica is Online

The web portal for German speaking public philosophy: philpublica.de