Prof. Dr. Markus Stepanians conducts research on topics of political philosophy and philosophy of law, in particular on the theory of justice, freedom and autonomy, the theory of subjective rights and human rights, and the philosophy of international law (crimes against humanity, genocide).
The research of Prof. Dr. Anna Goppel focuses on political philosophy, normative and applied ethics. She is currently working on the ethical issues of migration, political co-determination and citizenship, the ethics of voting, moral complicity, and the normative significance of close relationships.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Müller deals mainly with underlying questions of practical philosophy (i.e., the nature of normative reasons and their role in rational thinking) and with issues of normative ethics (i.e., on the moral relevance of consent). In this context, he also works on problems of applied ethics, especially in the field of medicine and sexuality. His other research interests concern questions of responsibility attribution in the use of complex computer systems, such as the control of surgical robots or autonomous weapon systems.
The research of Prof. Dr. Claus Beisbart focuses on general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics. In particular, he researches the epistemology of modeling and simulation, probabilities and limits of knowledge, e.g., in cosmology. He is also interested in philosophical methods, in particular, the equilibrium of thought and explication, and the foundation of ethics.
The main research areas of Prof. Dr. Vincent Lam are the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of climate science, the general philosophy of science, metaphysics, and epistemology. He leads the SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) project “The Epistemology of Climate Change”, which investigates climate science and climate modeling from a methodological and epistemological point of view in the broader context of a scientific-philosophical perspective on climate change. In the philosophy of physics, he is particularly interested in fundamental questions of space and time, and the interaction between physics and metaphysics in the context of interpretation of fundamental physical theories.
Prof. Dr. Georg Brun has a keen interest in methods of conceptualization, argumentation, justification, and rational decision-making. Thematically, his work covers a broad spectrum: from the use of formal methods in logic to theories of epistemic justification and understanding to questions of metaethics, symbol theory, and environmental philosophy. In his research, Georg Brun tries to provide explications and equilibria, as well as better understand these methods.
Dr. Matthias Egg researches on topics at the interface of philosophy and natural science, in particular on scientific realism and the philosophical implications of quantum physics. In addition to the importance of physical theories in the narrow sense, he is also interested in the influence of natural science on our general worldview and self-perception.
Jonas Werner works on a diverse range of metaphysical topics. His research focuses on essentialist positions in the metaphysics of modality and on non-causal relations of dependence. He also likes to think about e.g. mereology, social ontology, and dispositions. Jonas Werner has further research interests concerning the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and epistemology.
Prof. Dr. Richard King's research covers ancient philosophy, especially Aristotle and Plotinus, as well as ancient Chinese philosophy.
Dr. David Machek works on ancient Greek and Chinese philosophy, with a particular focus on ethics and moral psychology. He is also interested in cross-cultural comparative philosophy and uses it as a methodological tool that can contribute to our understanding of writings from both philosophical traditions in their cultural context. His SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) project is concerned with the philosophical perceptions of motivational conflicts in the Greek and Chinese tradition.
The main research area of Dr. Jorge Torres is ancient philosophy, with an emphasis on Plato, Aristotle, and Greek medicine. His most recent publications deal with the influence of Hippocratic medicine on Plato’s moral philosophy.
