I am post-doctoral researcher in the Relevance Project, working on the topic of explanatory relevance. Before joining the project, I have been part of Richard Woodward’s group Ontology After Quine and held a position as research associate at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Hamburg, affiliated to Benjamin Schnieder’s Phlox-Group. In 2021 and 2022 I was deputy chair for Theoretical Philosophy at Saarland University. I rejoined the project on a 50% basis in September 2022. Since then I am also the executive director of the Centre for Philosophy of Science at WWU Münster.
I work on grounding and explanation, and I have a strong interest in the history of philosophy, in particular in the work of Bernard Bolzano and his rationalist predecessors. Recently, I have become interested in understanding and epistemic responsibility. Before coming to Hamburg I held positions and scholarships at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the VU University Amsterdam, and UC Berkeley. I obtained the PhD with a thesis on Bolzano’s theory of grounding at the VU University Amsterdam in 2014. My PhD-research was part of the ERC-Project “Tarski’s Revolution: A New History”, led by Arianna Betti.
Publications
Books:
- (2022) Bolzano’s Philosophy of Grounding. Translations and Studies. Oxford University Press (co-edited with Benjamin Schnieder)
- (2017) Bolzano’s Conception of Grounding. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann. (Book ca. 270pp)
Articles:
- (202X) “Was gehört zum Explanans? Eine Verteidigung des explanatorischen Realismus”. In te Vrugt, Michael (ed.) Wissenschaft und Metaphysik. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
- (2021) “In Defence of Explanatory Realism“, Synthese 199, pp. 14121-14141
- (2021) “Metaphysical Explanations and the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation“, Philosophical Studies 179, pp. 1971-1991
- (2020) “Bolzano“, in M. Raven The Routledge Companion to Metaphysical Grounding. Routledge, pp. 76-89
- (2019) “Fundamental Truths and the Principle of Sufficient Reason in Bolzano’s Theory of Grounding“, Journal of the History of Philosophy 57(3), pp. 675-706 (w/ Benjamin Schnieder)
- (2019) “Bolzano and Kim on Grounding and Unification“, Synthese 196(7), pp. 2971-2999
- (2018) “Grounding and the Explanatory Role of Generalizations“, Philosophical Studies 175(8), pp. 1985-2003
- (2017) “Difference-Making Grounds“, Philosophical Studies 174(5), pp. 1191–1215 (w/ Stephan Krämer)
- (2016) “Simplicity and Economy in Bolzano’s Theory of Grounding“, Journal of the History of Philosophy 54(3), pp. 469-496 (w/ Antje Rumberg)
- (2016) “Gründe aller Arten. Der Anspruch auf Vereinheitlichung in Bolzanos Abfolgetheorie”. In Michael Quante (ed.) Geschichte Gesellschaft Geltung, Hamburg: Meiner, pp. 891– 912 (w/ Benjamin Schnieder)
- (2015) “A Note on the Logic of Worldly Ground“, Thought 4(1), pp. 59-68. (w/ Stephan Krämer)
- (2014) “Bolzano on Necessary Existence“, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 96(3), pp. 320–359. (w/ Paul Rusnock)
- (2014) “The Transition from Formula-Centered to Concept-Centered Analysis. Bolzano’s Purely Analytic Proof as a Case Study”. Philosophia Scientiae, 18(1), pp. 113-129. (w/ Iris Loeb)
- (2013) A priori Knowledge in Bolzano. Conceptual Truths and Judgements, in M. van der Schaar (ed.): Judgement and the Epistemic Foundation of Logic (Series: Logic, Epistemology and the Unity of Science), Springer, pp. 101-130
Relevance 