Contact
Dr. Stefan Knauß
phone: ++345 55 24175
stefan.knauss@geo.uni-halle.de
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Research Cluster "Science and Culture in Motion"
Reichardtr. 6
D-06114 Halle (Saale)
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Dr. Stefan Knauß
Research Fellow (07/2015 - )
(Ph. D. Scholarship holder 10/2010 - 06/2014)
Defence of the thesis: January 28, 2015
1st Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Matthias Kaufmann
2nd Supervisor: PD Dr. Ralph Buchenhorst
Mentor: Dr. James M. Thompson
Overview
Current research project
"Natural Right, Contractualism, and Colonialism"
My current work „Natural Right, Conctractualism and Colonialism“ focuses mainly on three specific but interelated topics: 1) The transformation of the Natural Rights discourse within the works of Norther European authors in the 17th & 18th century 2) The contemporary Buen Vivir debate and the declaration of the rights of nature 3) Contemporary forms of Cosmopolitanism.
Subject of Ph.D. Thesis: Protection or Paternalism?
Political Concepts of Justice in the context of (post)colonial Latin America
My dissertation deals with human rights policy and its colonials roots between the responsibility to protect and the responsibility to respect the identity of groups and individuals. Today’s human rights policy and the related academic discourse on the ethics of international relations is characterized by a normative conflict of the (pre)modern narrative of development and the duty to support human flourishing among others as well as the conviction of postmodern ethics, i.e. that we have to avoid paternalistic structures in order to justify political hegemony. While the contemporary debate between universalistic and relativistic justifications of world politics arises within the context of humanitarian intervention and its related policies in the post-cold war era, its factual roots can be traced back to the renaissance discourse of mankind beginning with Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of America. The subsequent intellectual and political discussion among colonizers and missionaries about the necessity and justification of shaping the otherness of Latin American people formulated the categories of modern universalistic human rights thinking and its following postmodern critique during the period of decolonization.
My main interest involves the religious missions of the Jesuits and Dominicans during the 15th and 17th century and their aims of mission and ‘protection’ of autochthone people in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Contemporary Latin American thinkers like Enrique Dussel can, to a degree, be seen as continuing their projects in the theology of (national) liberation during the 1960s and the ethics of (cosmopolite) liberation in the times of globalization. What all of these thinkers have in common is their promised sensibility derived from their particular experiences of cultural otherness as a rhetorical figure in order to form a strategic argumentative counterpart to the hegemonic western discourse of world politics.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
| 2003-2009 | M.A. Studies in Political Sciences, Media- and Communication Studies and Philosophy (Halle, Catania, Parma) |
| 2009-2010 | Scientific collaborator at the Università di Catania (Italien) |
| 2010 | DFG Project at the University of Bahia (Brasil) |
| 2010-2012 | Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter bzw. Lehrbeauftragter für Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte (MLU Halle) |
| 10/2010-09/2012 | Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Ph.D. studies at the Graduate School Society and Culture in Motion (MLU Halle) |
| since 2011 | Lecturer in Philosophy (MLU Halle) |
| since 2015 | Research Fellow at the Graduate School "Society and Culture in Motion" (MLU Halle) |
Publications
| 2016 | „Von der Conquista zur Responsibility while Protecting - Die Debatte der humanitär gerechtfertigten Kriegsführung aus lateinamerikanischer Perspektive“, (Reihe Treffpunkt Philosophie), Frankfurt am Main u. a.: Peter Lang. (Dissertation) |
| (forthcoming) | ● Vico zwischen Metaphysik und Geschichte – Seine Rechtslehre als Naturrecht oder Rechtspositivismus?, (Conference proceedings, Giambattista Vicos De Universi Juris Uno Principio et Fine Uno im Kontext der europäischen Naturrechtstradition und Vicos Bedeutung für die heutige Debatte). ● Buen Vivir vs. das Gute Leben? Philosophische Betrachtungen zweier Konzepte, (Dokumentation: Nachhaltigkeit neu leben - Buen Vivir? Das Gute Leben in Forschung, Schule und Alltag, October 17-19, 2013, Symposium in Halle). |
| 2013 | ● De la crítica a la normatividad? Materialidad y exterioridad como puntos de partida para una ética universal? In: Astrolabio. Revista internacional de filosofia Año 2013, Vol. 0, Núm. 15. http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Astrolabio/article/view/275049. ● Identity and the State - Critiques and Apologetics of the Liberal Model. In: Civiltá del Mediterraneo, Semestrale di ricerca e informazione, 23-24, Homelands in Translation, edited by Stefania De Lucia and Gabriella Sgambati. ● Propriedad privada y humanidad: Algunas reflexiones sobre la relación entre derechos y economía el la colonia. In: Abdo Ferez, Cecilia; Ottonello, Rodrigo; Cantisani, Alejandro, La bifurcación entre pecado y delito. Crimen, justicia y filosofía política de la modernidad temprana. |
| 2012 | ● ¿Hay una filosofía postcolonial en América Latina? Fuentes y argumentos de la contra-hegemonia, Astrolabio. Revista internacional de filosofía Año 2012 Núm. 13. ISSN 1699-7549. pp. 219-226 ● Europa aus lateinamerikanischer Sicht, in: Matthias Kaufmann / Fabrizio Lomonaco (Hrsg.): Geschichte und Gegenwart der europäischen Kultur / Storia e Presente della Cultura Europea. Pomigliano d'Arco, S. 77-93. |
| 2010 | ● Jesuit Engagement in Brazil between 1549 and 1609 – A legitimate support of Indians’ emancipation or Eurocentric movement of conversion?” Astrolabio. Revista internacional de filosofía. Año 2010 Núm. 11. ISSN 1699-7549. pp. 227-238 |
Research experiences
February/March 2013: „Die Rezeption von Gerechtigkeitstheorien in Lateinamerika. Humanitäre Interventionen - gerechte Kriege oder imperiale Machterweiterung? “, Centro de Investigaciones Filosoficas (CIF), Buenos Aires
February/March 2012: „International Justice and Latin American Reality“ Centro de Investigaciones Filosoficas (CIF), Buenos Aires (Scholarship DAAD)
February/March 2011: Research at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Project "Reflecting Postcolonialism and Feminism: The application of orthern concepts in the southern hemisphere."
Lectures
June 2017: Symmetry of Nature and Human - With Latin American Buen Vivir on the way to a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature?, ISEE, 14th Annual Meeting & Conference on Environmental Philosophy, Allenspark, Colorado, USA.
May 2017: Nature as a Person - With Latin American Buen Vivir on the way to a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature?, 14th International Conference on Persons, University of Calabria, Italy
May 2017: From being-in-the-world to being-as-powerful-as-the-world – Contemporary readings of Violence and Law in Environmental Ethics, Spring School “Deconstructing the Concept of Violence. Law and Power in Heidegger, Benjamin, Derrida and Foucault”, Halle (Saale).
November 2016: Wittgensteins „Vortrag über Ethik“, International Conference: Rule Following, Rule Creation, Rule Change. Challange for Autonomy and Universalism by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, Halle (Saale).
October 2016: A physio centric foundation of law - with Latin American Buen Vivir on the way to a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature?, THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY, Twentieth Annual Meeting 2016, Salt Lake City, Utah.
June 2016: Buen Vivir vs. Sumak Kawsay? - Theoretical and political challenges of a Latin American approach to Good Life and a closer relationship between community and nature, The 8th International Conference CEISAL 2016, A Post-Hegemonic Era: Society, Culture and Politics in Latin America, Instituto de Iberoamérica, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
November 2015: BUEN VIVIR UND DIE RECHTE DER NATUR - Philosophische Betrachtungen zweier Konzepte, bioethics cyclic lecture, Halle
November 2015: Postkolonialer Kosmopolitismus - Eine philosophische Perspektive auf die Rechte der Anderen, Vorlesungsreihe Justiz und Recht in Lateinamerika, Solidaridad e.V. Halle.
May 2015: Vico zwischen Metaphysik und Geschichte – seine Rechtslehre: Naturrecht oder Rechtspositivismus?, Deutsch-italienische Tagung in Kooperation mit der Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II Giambattista Vicos De Universi Juris Uno Principio, et Fine Uno im Kontext der europäischen Naturrechtstradition und Vicos Bedeutung für die heutige Debatte, Halle (Saale).
November 2014: Dekolonialität, Materialität und das Gute Leben – Lateinamerikanische Perspektiven, Material Matters in Times of Crisis Capitalism: Transnational Feminist and Decolonial Approaches, International Conference, 13th – 15th November 2014 Institute of Sociology, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen.
November 2014: Lateinamerika und die Menschenrechte, ein schwieriges Verhältnis? Historische und systematische Überlegungen, Vorlesungsreihe Politik und Perspektiven der Menschenrechte in Lateinamerika, Solidaridad e.V. Halle.
June 2014: Finding the new man? - Remarks on some difficulties of intercultural communication in connection with Vilem Flusser (“The Dynamics of Transcultural Management and Governance in Latin America”, XI Workshop: “Understanding Transnationalization”, Graduate Institute, Maison de la Paix, Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2, Geneva
October 2013: Buen Vivir vs. das Gute Leben? Philosophische Betrachtungen zweier Konzepte , (Nachhaltigkeit neu leben - Buen Vivir? Das Gute Leben in Forschung, Schule und Alltag, October 17-19, 2013, Symposium in Halle)
October 2012: De la crítica a la normatividad, Materialidad y exterioridad como puntos de partida para una ética universal? (9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 2012, „Political Philosophy: Between Normativism and Criticism”, November 27-30, 2012 in Barcelona)
November 2011: Der Blick auf die europäische Kultur aus südamerikanischer Perspektive (Erasmus-Tagung 16. -17. November 2011, Geschichte und Gegenwart der europäischen Kultur/ Storia a Presente della cultura europea, Halle)
October 2011: ¿Hay una filosofía postcolonial en América Latina? Fuentes y argumentos de la contra-hegemonia (8th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 2011, „Figures of Domination“, 21.10 - 24.10. 11 in Barcelona)
March 2011: ¿Hay una filosofía postcolonial en América Latina? Notas sobre el discurso de la identidad y del saber (Encuentro de discusión sobre postcolonialismo/decolonialismo en América Latina, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Buenos Aires)
Nov. 2010: Jesuit Engagement in Brazil between 1549 and 1609 – A Legitimate support of Indians’ emancipation or Eurocentric movement of conversion? (7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 2010, „Figures of Emancipation“, Barcelona)
Sept. 2010: National Identity and the State (Summer School HOMELANDS IN TRANSLATION in Neapel)
Translations
Magnano San Lio, Giancarlo (2013): Biographie, Politik und Kulturgeschichte im Werk Rudolf Hayms aus dem Italienischen von Stefan Knauß mit einem Vorwort von Fulvio Tessitore, ISBN-13: 978-3-929 887-43-3
Magnano San Lio, Giancarlo (2013): "Philologie, Anthropologie und Geschichte: Dilthey und Usener", 369-387. In: D'Anna, Giuseppe; Johach, Helmut; Nelson, Eric Sean (2013): Anthropologie und Geschichte : Studien zu Wilhelm Dilthey aus Anlass seines 100. Todestages, Würzburg.
Magnano San Lio, Giancarlo (2011): "Groce und Schleiermacher ", 45-55. In:Furnari Luvarà, Giusi; Di Bella, Santi (2011): Benedetto Croce und die Deutschen, Academia Verlag.
Memberships
International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP)
International Society for Environmental Ethics (ISEE)
Languages
German: native, English and Italian: fluent, Spanish, Portuguese, classic Greek and Latin: basics