FEATURED AUTHOR

Thomas Hilgers

Research Associate (Philosophy)
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and DFG-Priority Program 1688

Thomas Hilgers is a research associate at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the DFG-Priority Program 1688. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in December 2010. His fields of research are aesthetics, philosophy of film, philosophy of technology, metaphysics, and the history of German philosophy since Kant.

Subjects: Communication Studies, Film and Video, Literature, Media and Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Photography, Social Psychology, Theater

Biography

After completing his dissertation in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, Thomas Hilgers was a research associate at the Free University Berlin, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and Columbia University. He has also taught seminars in philosophy and film studies at UPenn, the Free University Berlin, the Kunstakademie, the Humboldt University Berlin, and Potsdam University. Currently, he is a research associate at the Priority Program 1688, which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

So far, Hilgers has mostly been working on the nature and value of aesthetic experiences and judgments, the ontology of film, and the concept of art. Methodologically, his work is influenced by transcendental philosophy, phenomenology, analytic philosophy, and critical theory. In particular, it very much relies on a critical engagement with Kant, German Idealism, Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Gadamer, and Adorno. In the future, Hilgers will focus on developing satisfying accounts of subjectivity and freedom, and will work on the nature and implications of digital technologies. In general, he belongs to those philosophers who intend to bridge the still existing gulf between the traditions of so-called analytic and continental philosophies.

Education

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Books

Featured Title