Christine Abbt

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Political Philosophy

Radical Democracy

Deconstruction

Critical Theory

Social Philosophy

Full Professor of Philosophy with Chair at the University of St. Gallen 

Before:

• Full Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Graz, 2020-2023
• SNSF Professor of Philosophy, University of Lucerne, 2015-2019
• Senior Lecturer for didactics of philosophy, PH Lucerne
• Research Assistant in political philosophy, University of Zurich
• Head of continuing education program "Science and Wisdom", University of Zurich
• Certified Teacher of Literature and Philosophy, Kantonsschule/Gymnasium Hohe Promenade, Zurich
• Research Assistant in Applied Ethics, University of Basel

Current projects

• Political Orders of Indeterminacy. Rethinking the Democratic Ethos
• The political leeway. Democratic self-understanding and identity politics
• Transformative concept of freedom. Historical developments, systematic foundations
• Separating powers. Why Montesquieu instead of Locke

Finished projects

•   Meddlesomeness (Fremd- und Vieltun) (greek: allotrio-/polypragmosyne). About the meaning of forms of the non-identical for democracy in the antiquity, European enlightenment and the present. (promoted by the Swiss National Fund (SNF) and the research commission of the University of Lucerne, 2025-2019)
• Thinking with texts. A philosophy of literature (with Prof. Christian Benne, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 2019-2023)
• I forget. Possibilities and limits of thinking from a philosophical perspective (habilitation in philosophy, promoted by the SNF and the IFK Vienna/University of Linz)
• The Wordless Suicide. The Literary Shaping of Abandonment by Language as a Challenge for Ethics (Doctoral Thesis in Philosophy, funded by UZH and SNF)
• Applied Ethics and Public Mandate (Master's Thesis in Applied Ethics, University of Zurich)
• Storytelling Saves Lives. Ethical Effects of the Depicted Act of Narration (Master's Thesis in Literary Studies, University of Zurich)

• 2012 Research Fellow, Cluster of Excellence Normative Orders, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
• 2011 Visiting scholar, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, USA
• 2011 Research Fellow, International Research Center for Cultural Studies (IFK), Vienna, Austria
• 2005 Member, School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University, Ithaca/NY, USA
• 2005 Research Fellow, Swiss Institute Rome for the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration between science and art, Rome, Italy
• 2004 SNF Scholarship, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE), Melbourne, Australia
• 2003 SNF Scholarship, International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences (IZEW), University of Tübingen, Germany
• 2000 Member as a doctoral candidate, Collegium Helveticum, Interdisciplinary Research Center of ETH Zurich, Switzerland

• 2020 - 2025 Journal for Practical Philosophy
• Since 2021 To the Point. The Essay. Mohr Siebeck Publishing, Tübingen

Memberships in Commissions, Advisory Boards, Coordination Teams at the University of St. Gallen since 2024:

• Equality Commission
• Research Commission
• Art Commission
• Habilitation Committee
• Collegium St. Gallen, led by Prof. Dr. Claudia Brühwiler
• Contextual Studies: Coordination Focus Area Society together with Prof. Dr. Patrik Aspers

First Supervision of Dissertations in Philosophy since 2015. Completed Doctorates include:

• Isabel Bolli: Philosophy and peacebuilding, ongoing
• Damian Nussbaumer: Institution of alterity. Alterity of the institution, ongoing
• Nahyan Niazi: The Unleashing of Moral Energy. Self-realization and External Control in the State and Spirit according to Wilhelm von Humboldt. University of Lucerne, 2024
• Estefania Cuero: Justice-oriented Perspectives on the Human Rights Approach. University of Lucerne, 2024
• Anja Ringhofer: The Perpetuation of Racial Injustices by Migration Policy. University of Graz, 2023
• Leire Urricelqui: Antitypes. On the Authority and Demarcation of (In)human Life. University of Lucerne, 2023
• Miriam Hefti: Silence. Approaching the Perception of Absence. University of Lucerne, 2022
• Francesca Nobili: Locke as an Ethicist. Examination of the Early Writings. University of Lucerne, 2020
• Susanne Schmieden: Actors and Theatrical Science. Democratic Subjects in Denis Diderot and Bertolt Brecht. University of Lucerne, 2019
• Michel Borner: The Ethical Dimension of Autobiographical Writing Illustrated by Christine Lavant and Thomas Bernhard. University of Lucerne, 2019

Organization of Workshops and Conferences (Selection) with Publications:

• 2025 Human freedoms in the age of digitalization. International conference, supported by SAGW as part of the Recto Verso annual theme “Freedom”, organized together with Michael Räber, University of St. Gallen.
• 2025 Democratic Projects II. Derrida, Laclau, Mouffe, workshop, supported by FOKO University of St. Gallen, organized with Leire Urricelqui, Matthias Flatscher and Oliver Marchart, University of St. Gallen.
• 2024 Democratic Projects. Derrida, Laclau, Mouffe, Workshop, with Oliver Marchart, Matthias Flatscher, and Leire Urricelqui, University of Vienna.
• 2023 Neutrality. Political-Philosophical Reflections, International Workshop with Gregor Berger, Dr. Dagmar Comtesse, Prof. Katrin Meyer, Prof. Astrid Séville, University of Graz.
• 2022 "The World Becomes an Immense Question Mark". Questions as a Method in Literature and Philosophy, with Prof. Christine Weder, University of Geneva. Guest Edition "Figurations", Böhlau, 2024.
• 2019 Thoughtfulness, International Conference, with Hartmut von Sass, Donata Schoeller, Collegium Helveticum ETHZ. Anthology Diaphanes/Zurich, Berlin, New York
• 2019 Self-realization and External Determination in the Work of Wilhelm von Humboldt, International Conference, with Nahyan Niazi, University of Lucerne.
• 2019 Do not be seduced / To Toil and Depletion! (B. Brecht). Political Theatre in the German-speaking World 1918-2018, International Conference, with Susanne Schmieden, University of Lucerne.
• 2018 Alterity Revisited, International Workshop Consortium TransPositions, Post-Graduate Programme of University of Utrecht, Lucerne, and Berne, University of Lucerne.
• 2018 In Terms of Exclusion. Thinking the Barbarian in Antiquity and Today, International Conference, with Leire Urricelqui, University of Lucerne. Anthology (Spanish), Laertes/Barcelona
• 2018 'To Each His Own? Me Everything!' – Inequality and Injustice in Current Political Debates, International Conference, with Prof. Peter G. Kirchschläger, University of Lucerne. Guest Edition "Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie (FZPhTh)", Fribourg
• 2016 Politics and Performance. Denis Diderot, International Conference at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies of the University of Linz in Vienna, with Prof. Michael Festl. Guest Edition "Swiss Journal of Philosophy/Studia Philosophica", Basel
• 2016 Forms of the Political. Diderot's Virtuosity and its Reception in the German-speaking World (1746-2016), International Conference with Prof. Peter Schnyder, University of Lucerne. Anthology, Rombach/Freiburg im Breisgau
• 2015 Foreignness and Busyness. On the Significance of αλλοτριοπραγμοσ?νη and πολυπραγμοσ?νη in Philosophical, Literary, and Historical Texts of Antiquity, Conference, with Nahyan Niazi, University of Lucerne. Anthology, Colmena/Basel
• 2014 Displeasure. Study Day, with Prof. Christine Weder at Cabaret Voltaire Zurich. Guest Edition, Journal "Figurationen", Böhlau
• 2012 Vita interactiva. Cultural Theoretical Approaches to Digital Life Forms, Study Day, with Prof. Doris Agotai (ETHZ and FHNW) at Museum Rietberg Zurich.
• 2012 Aesthetic Disobedience, International Conference, with Prof. Jonathan Neufeld, Prof. Helmut Lethen at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies of the University of Linz, Vienna.
• 2010 Forgetting. Spaces of Thought?, SGKS Conference, with Prof. Hans-Georg von Arburg, University of Zurich