Prof. Dr. Philip Hogh

• Critical Theory as Interdisciplinary Materialism
• Philosophy of Nature, particularly the ethics of climate change
• Anthropology, particularly psychoanalytic and body-centered approaches
• Philosophy of History

• August 2026 – Head of the “Criticism/Reflection” Methodology Division at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Raw Material Worlds: Cultures in Transition”
• March 2024 – September 2024: Parental leave
• 4/2022 – Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Kassel.
• 11/2021 Habilitation in Philosophy and award of the venia legendi for Practical Philosophy at Faculty IV of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.
• April 2021–September 2021: Guest professor of Critical Social Theory at Justus Liebig University Giessen.
• 1/2020–6/2020 Parental leave
• April 2018–June 2018: Parental leave
• Oct. 2017–Mar. 2018 Research fellowship at the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University in New York at the invitation of Axel Honneth.
• Oct. 2016–Mar. 2021 Research employee at the Institute of Philosophy at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg as part of the BMBF-funded project “Focus on Research-Based Learning (FLiF Plus).”
• 10/2015–3/2016 Lecturer at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) in Berlin.
• Oct. 2011–Sept. 2016: Research Employee at the Institute of Philosophy at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg as part of the BMBF-funded project “Focus on Research-Based Learning (FLiF)/Research-Oriented Teaching (FoL).”
• July 2010–February 2011: Visiting scholar at the Philosophy Department of the New School for Social Research in New York at the invitation of Jay M. Bernstein.
• Nov. 2007–Jan. 2013: Ph.D. studies at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (dissertation title: “Communication and Expression: A Philosophy of Language Following Adorno”).
• Oct. 1999–Dec. 2006: Studied philosophy, political science, and modern and contemporary history at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, the University of Basel (Switzerland), and the University of Durham (UK), completing a Magister Artium in December 2006.

New Publications:

4. Philip Hogh, “Critique of Common Nonsense: First Steps toward a Critical Theory of Common Sense,” in Journal of Social and Political Philosophy, 5.1 (2026), 98–108.

3. Philip Hogh, “The Normativity of Nature and the Pitfalls of Transformative Practice,” in: Thomas Barth, Ricarda Biemüller, Tobias Heinze, and Heiko Stubenrauch (eds.), Subjects of Ecological Devastation. A Critical Theory of the Climate Catastrophe, Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag 2026, 79–101. — Open Access

2. Ethical Materialism: A Critical Theory of Suffering, Hamburg: Meiner 2025. Open Access

Reviews:

Federica Gregoratto, “The Epistemic and Affective Resources of Suffering—or Why We Have Not Yet Lost the Future,” in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 74 (2026) 1, 98–105.

Giovanni Andreozzi, Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger 78 (2025) 4, 340–353.

Till Seidemann, “Critical Theory as an Object and the Objects of Critical Theory: A Literature Review,” in: Journal of Critical Theory 60/61 (2015) 31, 262–275.

1b. *Communication and Expression: Adorno’s Philosophy of Language*, London: Rowman and Littlefield 2017 (English translation from 2015).

Review:

George Wrisley, Choice Issue: July 2017, vol. 54, no. 11.

1a. Communication and Expression. A Philosophy of Language According to Adorno, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2015.

Reviews:

Manuel Paß, “Paradigm Shift” Revisited: On Recent Works in the Philosophy of Language Concerning Early Critical Theory, in: Journal of Critical Theory, 58/59 (2024) 30, 204–223.

Sebastian Schreull, “On Another ‘Linguistic Turn,’” www.portalideengeschichte.de.

Edited volumes:

Journal of Critical Theory, edited jointly with Sven Kramer and Dirk Stederoth, Zu Klampen Verlag, Springe.

Studies in Critical Theory, edited together with Maxi Berger, Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart; from Volume 6 onward, published by Verlag Karl Alber, Baden-Baden.

Volume 1: Martin Mettin, A Critical Theory of Listening: Studies on the Philosophy of Ulrich Sonnemann (2020).

Volume 2: Philipp Idel, Between “Verfransung” and “Entkunstung”: Reflections on an Aesthetics of the Installation According to Adorno (2022).

Volume 3: Maxi Berger and Philip Hogh (eds.), Negative Dialectics Today: The Primacy of the Object and Mediation in Dialectics (2023).

Volume 4: Dirk Stederoth, Real Avatars: On the Entanglement of Humanity in Network Culture (2023).

Volume 5: Gerhard Schweppenhäuser, Anxiety and Enlightenment. Peripheral Areas of Critical Theory (2024).

Volume 6: Felix Brandner and Till Seidemann (eds.), Interstitial Worlds of Critical Theory: Contributions to Systematics and History (2024).

Volume 7: Till Seidemann, Transcending Idealism: Adorno and Husserl (2025)

Volume 8: Mirko Stieber, Leonhard Geffke et al. (eds.), Critical Theory from Paris and Frankfurt (2026)

Individual Titles and Special Issues:

4. With Alexandra Colligs (ed.), Special Issue: Critical Theory of Antisemitism, in: Journal of Critical Theory, 31 (2025) 60/61.

3. With Sven Ellmers (eds.), Why Critique? Forms of Justification in Critical Theories, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2017.

Reviewed by Martin Gloger, https://www.socialnet.de/rezensionen/24116.php

2. With Stefan Deines (eds.), Language and Critical Theory, Frankfurt Institute for Social Research Series, Frankfurt/New York: Campus 2016.

Reviewed by Fabian Burt, *Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger* 69 (2016) 4, 327–332.

Reviewed by Alex Holznienkemper, *The German Quarterly* 91 (2018) 1, 92–94.

Reviewed by Manuel Paß, “Paradigm Shift” Revisited: On Recent Works in the Philosophy of Language Concerning Early Critical Theory, in: Journal of Critical Theory, 58/59 (2024) 30, 204–223.

1. With Nils Baratella et al. (eds.), “Subject and Violence in Law,” special issue of *Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie*, 101 (2015) 4.

Journal and book articles (* = peer-reviewed):

*39. “First Natures and Fate,” in: British Journal for the History of Philosophy (forthcoming 2026)

38. The Normativity of Nature and the Pitfalls of Transformative Practice, in: Thomas Barth, Ricarda Biemüller, Tobias Heinze, and Heiko Stubenrauch (eds.), Subjects of Ecological Devastation, Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag (forthcoming, 2026)

37. The Suffering of the Concrete Generic Being: A Materialist Attempt, in: Marcus Döller and Florian Uckmann (eds.), Politics of Lifestyles, Basel: Schwabe Verlag (forthcoming, 2026)

*36. “Critique of Common Nonsense: First Steps Toward a Critical Theory of Common Sense,” in: Journal for Social and Political Philosophy 5 (2026) 1, 98–108.

*35. With Alexandra Colligs, Introduction to the Special Issue: Critical Theory of Antisemitism, in: Journal for Critical Theory, 31 (2025) 60/61, 93–108.

*34. Progress, Understood Materialistically, in: Journal for Critical Theory, 29 (2023) 56/57.

33. “Beyond Morality: On the Relation of Indifference and Resistance,” in: Mario Wenning and Thomas Byrne (eds.), *The Right to Resist: Philosophies of Dissent*, New York: Bloomsbury, 2023.

32. “Negative Dialectics of Natural History: Adorno and Ethical Materialism,” in: Maxi Berger and Philip Hogh (eds.), Negative Dialectics Today: The Primacy of the Object and Mediation in Dialectics, Stuttgart: Metzler 2023.

31. Theodor W. Adorno, *Minima Moralia*, in: Robin Celikates, Rahel Jaeggi, and Martin Saar (eds.), *Handbook of Critical Theory*, Stuttgart: Metzler (forthcoming, 2026).

30. Anthropology/Nature, in: Robin Celikates, Rahel Jaeggi, and Martin Saar (eds.), Handbook of Critical Theory, Stuttgart: Metzler (forthcoming, 2026).

*29. “Two Sorts of Natural History: On a Central Concept in Ethical Naturalism and Critical Theory,” in *European Journal of Philosophy* 30 (2022), 1248–1267.

*28. The Social Destabilization of Nature and the Return of the Fear of Nature. Critical Reflections on the Anthropocene, in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 69 (2021) 6, 1020–1035.

*27. “Nature, Too, Awaits the Revolution.” Approaches to an Advocatory Ethics of Nature in Critical Theory, in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 69 (2021) 5, 742–764.

26. “Situation,” in: Anne Eusterschulte and Sebastian Tränkle (eds.), Theodor W. Adorno: Aesthetic Theory (Interpreting the Classics, ed. by Ottfried Höffe), Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter 2021, 43–58.

*25. The Linguistic Similarity of Music, the Musical Similarity of Language. A Gap in Adorno’s Aesthetics of Music, in: Music and Aesthetics 1/2020, 58–78.

24. Language, Truth, Discourse. On the Reception and Public Impact of Three Central Aspects of Habermas’s Work in Germany, in: Luca Corchia, Stefan Müller-Doohm, William Outhwaite (eds.), Habermas Global. The History of a Work’s Impact, Berlin: Suhrkamp 2019, 154–191.

23. Adorno and Language, in: Richard Klein, Johann Kreuzer, and Stefan Müller-Doohm (eds.), Adorno Handbook, 2nd ed., Stuttgart: Metzler 2019, 463–471.

*22. Forms of Language: On the Relationship Between Philosophy, Rhetoric, Everyday Language, and Scientific Language, in: Marc Sommer and Mario Schärli (eds.), The Nuisance of Philosophy: Metaphysics in Adorno’s Negative Dialectics, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2019, 77–101.

*21. Ethical Materialism. Max Horkheimer and the Contradiction in Natural Normativity, in: Journal of Practical Philosophy, 6 (2019) 1, 15–42.

20. With Jessica Cronshagen, André Munzinger, and Timm Wöltjen, “What Is the Point of Higher Education? Interdisciplinary Projects in Research-Based Learning,” in: Harald Mieg and Judith Lehmann (eds.), Research-Based Learning. A Practical Guide, Potsdam: FHP-Verlag 2018, 230–243.

19. “Critical Theory and the Philosophy of Language,” in: SAGE Handbook of Frankfurt School Critical Theory 2018, 1223–1238.

18. Apathy, Coldness, Reification. On the Social Reality of Moral Indifference, in: Sven Ellmers and Philip Hogh (eds.), Why Critique? Forms of Justification in Critical Theories, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2017, 22–50.

17. With Sven Ellmers, Introduction, in: Sven Ellmers and Philip Hogh (eds.), Why Critique? Forms of Justification in Critical Theories, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2017, 7–21.

16. Not Everything and Not Nothing. Adorno and Habermas on Communication, in: Stefan Deines and Philip Hogh (eds.), Language and Critical Theory, Frankfurt Institute for Social Research Series, Frankfurt/New York: Campus 2016, 219–240.

15. With Stefan Deines, “Language and Critical Theory: On the Introduction,” in Stefan Deines and Philip Hogh (eds.), *Language and Critical Theory*, Frankfurt Institute for Social Research Series, Frankfurt/New York: Campus 2016, 9–28.

14. Forms of Judgment: On the Relationship Between Language and the Language of Art, in: Marc Grimm and Martin Niederauer (eds.), Aesthetic Enlightenment: Art and Criticism in Theodor W. Adorno’s Theory, Weinheim: Beltz Juventa 2016, 36–52.

13. The Limits of Habit. Reflections on Strangeness in the Experience of Art, in: Werner Fitzner (ed.), Art and the Experience of the Strange: Alienation, Affects, Discoveries, transcript: Bielefeld 2016, 177–196.

*12. Power, Practice, and the Blind Spot of History. On the Understanding of History in Contemporary Aesthetics, in: Journal for Critical Social Theory and Philosophy, 3 (2016) 2, 256–278.

*11. With Jessica Cronshagen and Timm Wöltjen, “Teaching in the Format of Which Research? Reflections on the Concept of Research Using the Examples of History, Philosophy, and the Sociology of Sport,” in: Birte Heidkamp, David Kergel, and Alexander Sieg (eds.), Research-Based Learning 2.0—Participatory Learning Between Globalization and Media Transformation, Berlin: Springer 2016, 229–244.

10. The Tradition of Language Criticism and Sociolinguistics: Benjamin, Adorno, Habermas, in: Nikola Kompa (ed.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Language, Stuttgart: Metzler 2015, 69–79.

9. Expressivity, Communication, and Linguistic Content. A Literature Review on the Current English-Language Reception of Adorno’s Philosophy of Language, in: Journal for Critical Theory 38/39, 2014, pp. 235–252.

8. With Julia König, “Indeterminabilità determinata. Sulla seconda natura nella prima e sulla prima natura nella seconda,” in Filippo Rancchio and Federica Gregoratto (eds.), *Contesti del riconoscimento. Libertà, seconda natura, potere, Milan: Mimesis 2014 (Italian translation of a shorter version of 4.).

7. On the Becoming of Language as Second Nature. Reflections on the Genesis of Language and Subjectivity in Adorno, in: Christine Kirchhoff and Falko Schmieder (eds.), On the Prehistory of Modernity. Freud and Adorno, Berlin: Kadmos 2014, pp. 25–50.

6. Second Nature. Critical and Affirmative Interpretations in John McDowell and Theodor W. Adorno, online publication of the XXII German Congress of Philosophy, Munich 2011, epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12604/

5. With Julia König, “Nature as a Thorn: Why Human Freedom Is Inconceivable Without Nature,” in: Myriam Gerhard and Christine Zunke (eds.), The Nature of Man, Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann 2012, pp. 225–250.

*4. With Julia König, “Determined Indeterminability: On the Second Nature in the First and the First Nature in the Second,” in *Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie*, 59 (2011) 3, pp. 419–438.

3. In Search of the Lost First. Social Oblivion and Metaphysics in Brain Research, in: Myriam Gerhard and Christine Zunke (eds.), “We Must Make Science Human Again.” Aspects and Perspectives of the Philosophy of Nature, Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann 2010, pp. 45–65.

2. A Force Field between Nature, Society, and Reason. Approaching Adorno’s Philosophy of Language, in: Studies in Social and Political Thought, Vol. 17/2010, pp. 31–43.

1. “Antilogos Auschwitz: A Response to Donatella di Cesare,” in: Information Philosophie 2/2008, pp. 114–116.

Reviews:

9. No Change in the World Without an Understanding of the World. On Georg Bertram, *The Freedom of Understanding: A Hermeneutic-Critical Theory*, in: *Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie* 73 (2025) 6, pp. 774–778.

8. Daniel Martin Feige, *The Nature of Man: A Dialectical Anthropology*, *Hegel-Studien* 57 (2024), 187–190.

7. Bert Zantvoort and Rebecca Comay (eds.), *Hegel and Resistance: History, Politics, and Dialectics*, *Hegel-Studien* 53/54 (2020), 344–347.

6. Tom Moderlak, “Intersubjectivity as a Philosophical-Anthropological Category: Arnold Gehlen and Michael Tomasello,” *Yearbook for Interdisciplinary Anthropology*, 6/2018, 243–248.

5. Filippo Ranchio, “Dimensions of Second Nature: Hegel’s Practical Philosophy,” Hegel-Studien 51 (2018), 258–261.

4. Fabian Freyenhagen, Adorno’s Practical Philosophy. Living Less Wrongly, in: Journal of Philosophical Literature, 2 (2014) 1, 12–21 (available online at: www.zfphl.de/index.php/zfphl/article/view/31).

3. Axel Honneth: “The Pathologies of Individual Freedom,” in: Studies in Social and Political Thought, Vol. 19/2011, 168–172.

2. Going All the Way. Review of Robert Menasse: The Destruction of the World as Will and Representation, in: Jungle World 17/2006.

1. Write Again! Review of Christoph Türcke: From the Mark of Cain to the Genetic Code: A Critical Theory of Writing, in: Jungle World 1/2006.

Translation:

Translated from the American: Jay M. Bernstein, “Mimetic Rationality and Material Inference: Adorno and Brandom,” in Stefan Deines and Philip Hogh (eds.), Language and Critical Theory, Series of the Institute for Social Research Frankfurt, Frankfurt/New York 2016: Campus, 199–218.

Miscellaneous:

Reason for Self-Criticism. On the Negligible Significance of Antisemitism in Contemporary Critical Theories, in: Neues Deutschland – Die Woche, Oct. 20, 2023.

Selected Research Bibliography, in: Stefan Deines and Philip Hogh (eds.), Language and Critical Theory, Frankfurt Institute for Social Research Series, Frankfurt/New York 2016: Campus, 331–350.

• 10/2017-3/2018 PostDoc short-term scholarship from the DAAD for a research stay at the Philosophy Department of Columbia University in New York.
• 10/2015 Award for my dissertation with the prize "Geisteswissenschaften International" (donated by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the VG Wort, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Federal Foreign Office), which supports the translation into English.
• 5/2015 Certificate in the university didactic qualification program "Research-based teaching and learning" of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg in cooperation with the Competence Center for University Didactics in Lower Saxony (KHN).
• 9/2011-4/2012 Doctoral scholarship from the Anna Ruths Foundation.
• 8/2010-1/2011 International scholarship from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for a stay at the New School for Social Research in New York.
• 7/2008-6/2011 Doctoral scholarship from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Memberships

• Adorno Research Center (Oldenburg)
• German Society for Philosophy
• German Society for Aesthetics
• Research Center for Critical Theory
• Union of Education and Science
• Kassel Institute for Sustainability
• Käte Hamburger Research Center : Worlds of Raw Materials. Cultures in Transition
• Editorial Board of the Journal of Critical Theory

• Scientific Center for the Genealogy of the Present (Oldenburg)

Review Activities

• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• Constellations
• German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Diacritics, Hegel Bulletin
• Journal of the History of Philosophy
• Krisis
• National Science Center of Poland
• Philosophy & Social Criticism
• Psychology and Social Criticism
• German National Academic Foundation
• Journal of Philosophical Literature
• Journal of Practical Philosophy
• Journal of Sociology