Professor Fabian Freyenhagen
![Professor Fabian Freyenhagen](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/FREYE91801.jpg)
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Email
ffrey@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872713
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Location
5B.113, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
Fabian Freyenhagen read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Exeter College, Oxford, and then completed a PhD in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. He is the author of Adorno’s Practical Philosophy (CUP 2013) and papers in journals such as Kantian Review, Hegel Bulletin, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, and Politics, Philosophy & Economics as well as chapters in edited collections, such as The Cambridge Companion to Philosophical Methodology or The Routledge Companion to the Frankfurt School. Main Interests: Frankfurt School (especially Adorno); Ethics and Philosophy of Action; Social and Political Philosophy; Philosophy of Psychiatry; and re-activating the interdisciplinary research programme of the early Frankfurt School, such as projects at the intersection of philosophy, public health, politics, psychiatry, and sociology. Current research: social pathology (can society be ill or make us ill?), with a particular focus on mental distress and its social conditions; reason and language in the early Frankfurt School (and possible parallels to the works of the later Wittgenstein); acting irrespective or without hope; and ethics after Auschwitz. Fabian is a member of the Human Rights Centre and also teaches for the Interdisciplinary Studies Centre. Academic Support Hours, Summer Term 2024, Weeks 30-32: Tu., 1-2pm Th., 1-2pm
Qualifications
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BA Oxford
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PhD Sheffield
Appointments
University of Essex
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Partnership Lead, PHAIS, University of Essex (1/8/2023 - present)
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PGT Director, PHAIS, University of Essed (1/9/2023 - present)
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Director of Graduate Studies, SPAH, University of Essex (1/8/2022 - 31/8/2023)
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Partnership Lead, SPAH, University of Essex (15/8/2021 - 31/7/2023)
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PGT Director (Philosophy), SPAH, University of Essex (1/10/2019 - 30/9/2022)
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Head of School, SPAH, University of Essex (1/8/2014 - 31/7/2017)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Theory, history and practice of autonomy
Frankfurt School (especially Adorno)
Ethics (particularly critique of Kant's and Kantian ethics)
Political Philosophy
Current research
Critical Theory and the notion of social pathology;
Autonomy and its (social) conditions;
Ethics after Auschwitz
Conferences and presentations
Normality Proper to this Time is Sickness
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 (Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History), Cambridge, United States, 6/10/2023
Sick Normality: Using the idea of social pathology to critique medicalisation and a neoliberal society making its members sick by its own lights
Political Theory in Times of Uncertainty, Section for Political Theory and History of Ideas of the German Political Science Association (DVPW), Bremen, Germany, 28/9/2023
Normality Proper to this Time is Sickness
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Interdisciplinary Materialism, Kassel, Kassel, Germany, 4/11/2022
»Aber was das Unmenschliche ist, das wissen wir sehr genau.« Adorno und dialektische Anthropologie
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, »Dialektische Anthropologie«? Der Stellenwert der Anthropologie in der Kritischen Theorie, Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, 30/3/2022
Normality Proper to this Time is Sickness
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Colloque Clinique et Critique Sociale, Paris, Paris, France, 20/1/2022
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Modern Revolutions in Science, Politics, and Culture (CS101)
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Interdisciplinary Research and Problem-Solving: An Introduction (CS111)
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Ways of Knowing (CS112)
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The World in Question: The Social, Cultural, Political & Environmental Legacies of the Enlightenment (CS201)
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Capitalism and its Critics (PY429)
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The Frankfurt School (PY952)
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Self and Identity (PY110)
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Dissertation: Social and Political Thought (PY970)
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Final Project: Draft Journal Article (PY980)
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Dissertation: Continental Philosophy (PY981)
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Dissertation: Critical Social Theory (PY983)
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Dissertation: MA Philosophy (PY984)
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Dissertation: Philosophy and Art History (PY985)
Current supervision
Previous supervision
![Plamen Detelinov Andreev](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/ANDRE92315.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 20/10/2023
![Niclas Jonathan Rautenberg](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/RAUTE02005.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 12/6/2023
![Franco Palazzi](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/PALAZ11301.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 11/5/2023
![Tobias Heinze](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/HEINZ56205.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree type: Occasional Postgraduate Study
Awarded date: 15/1/2023
![Ricardo Samaniego De La Fuente](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/SAMAN91004.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 19/1/2021
![Maite Rodriguez](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/RODRI72706.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 6/1/2021
![Jaakko-Ilkka Nevasto](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/IMMON90904.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 1/11/2019
![Stanislava Georgieva Dikova](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/DIKOV17005.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Literature
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 10/6/2019
![Thomas William Whyman](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/WHYMA49807.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 12/1/2016
![Daniel Rosenhaft Swain](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/SWAIN25502.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 13/2/2015
![Vivienne Louise Ashley](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/ASHLE87903.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 12/8/2014
![Vivienne Louise Ashley](http://www1.essex.ac.uk/people-images/ASHLE87903.jpg?mh=60&)
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Master of Arts (by Dissertation)
Awarded date: 22/4/2010
Publications
Journal articles (37)
Freyenhagen, F., Misinterpreting Negativism: on Peter E. Gordon’s "A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity". European Journal of Philosophy
Freyenhagen, F., (2024). Why Professor Habermas would fail a class on "Dialectic of Enlightenment:. Res Philosophica. 101 (2), 245-269
Freyenhagen, F., (2023). The linguistic turn in the early Frankfurt School: Horkheimer and Adorno. Journal of the History of Philosophy. 61 (1), 127-148
Freyenhagen, F., (2022). Book Review of "The Shadow of God: Kant, Hegel, and the Passage from Heaven to History". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Freyenhagen, F., (2021). Kein scharfsinniger Unsinn, aber auch nicht einfach Unsinn. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 69 (2), 331-337
Freyenhagen, F., (2021). Normality Proper to the Time is Sickness. Krisis | Journal for Contemporary Philosophy. 41 (2), 87-88
Freyenhagen, F., (2020). Acting irrespective of hope. Kantian Review. 25 (4), 605-630
Curk, P., Gurbai, S. and Freyenhagen, F., (2020). Removing Compliance: Interpersonal and Social Factors Affecting Insight Assessments. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 11, 560039-
Freyenhagen, F., (2019). Dogmatischer Dogmatismusvorwurf: Eine Replik auf Stefan Müller-Doohm und Roman Yos [‘Dogmatic Allegation of Dogmatism: A Reply to Stefan Müller-Doohm and Roman Yos’]. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 67 (1), 42-58
Freyenhagen, F., (2019). Characterising social pathologies: an analytic grid. Studies in Social and Political Thought. 28, 15-20
Owen, G., Freyenhagen, F. and Martin, WM., (2018). Assessing Decision-Making Capacity after Brain Injury: A Phenomenological Approach. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology. 25 (1), 1-19
Owen, G., Freyenhagen, F. and Martin, WM., (2018). Authenticity, Insight and Impaired Decision-Making Capacity in Acquired Brain Injury. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology. 25 (1), 29-32
Freyenhagen, F., (2018). Reply to Pickford. Critique
Owen, GS., Freyenhagen, F., Martin, W. and David, AS., (2017). Clinical assessment of decision-making capacity in acquired brain injury with personality change. NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION. 27 (1), 133-148
Freyenhagen, F., (2017). Autonomy's Substance. Journal of Applied Philosophy. 34 (1), 114-129
Freyenhagen, F., (2017). What is Orthodox Critical Theory?. World Picture. 12 (3), 456-469
Freyenhagen, F., (2017). A whole lot of misery: Adorno's negative Aristotelianism—Replies to Allen, Celikates, and O'Connor. European Journal of Philosophy. 25 (3), 861-874
Freyenhagen, F., (2016). Was ist orthodoxe Kritische Theorie?. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 65 (3), 456-469
Freyenhagen, F., (2016). Reply to Skirke
Owen, GS., Freyenhagen, F., Hotopf, M. and Martin, W., (2015). Temporal inabilities and decision-making capacity in depression. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 14 (1), 163-182
Freyenhagen, F., (2015). Honneth on Social Pathologies: A Critique. Critical Horizons. 16 (2), 131-152
Freyenhagen, F., (2014). Adorno’s politics: Theory and praxis in Germany’s 1960s. Philosophy and Social Criticism. 40 (9), 867-893
Freyenhagen, F., (2013). XIII-Ethical (Self-)Critique. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 113 (3pt3), 253-268
Freyenhagen, F. and O'Shea, T., (2013). Hidden substance: mental disorder as a challenge to normatively neutral accounts of autonomy. International Journal of Law in Context. 9 (01), 53-70
Freyenhagen, F., (2013). Is Making Movies after Auschwitz 'Barbaric'? Lanzmann's Shoah as an Adornian Film. The Holocaust in History and Memory. 6
Martin, W., Freyenhagen, F., Hall, E., O'Shea, T., Szerletics, A. and Ashley, V., (2012). An unblinkered view of best interests. BMJ. 345 (dec05), creators-Martin=3AWayne=3A=3A
Freyenhagen, F., (2011). Taking reasonable pluralism seriously: an internal critique of political liberalism. Politics, Philosophy & Economics. 10 (3), 323-342
Freyenhagen, F., (2011). Adorno's Ethics Without the Ineffable. Telos. 2011 (155), 127-149
Freyenhagen, F., (2011). Empty, Useless, and Dangerous? Recent Kantian Replies to the Empty Formalism Objection. Hegel Bulletin. 63/64 (1-2), 163-186
Freyenhagen, F. and Schaub, J., (2010). Hat hier jemand gesagt, der Kaiser sei nackt? Eine Verteidigung der Geussschen Kritik an Rawls? idealtheoretischem Ansatz [?Did Somebody Just Say the Emperor is Naked? In Defence of Geuss's Objections to Rawls's Ideal-Theoretical Approach?]. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 58 (3), 457-477
Freyenhagen, F., (2009). Personal autonomy and mental capacity. Psychiatry. 8 (12), 465-467
Owen, GS., Freyenhagen, F., Richardson, G. and Hotopf, M., (2009). Mental Capacity and Decisional Autonomy: An Interdisciplinary Challenge. Inquiry. 52 (1), 79-107
Freyenhagen, F., (2008). Reasoning Takes Time: On Allison and the Timelessness of the Intelligible Self. Kantian Review. 13 (02), 67-84
Freyenhagen, F., (2008). Book Review: History and Freedom: Lectures 1964—1965. By Theodor W. Adorno. Edited by R. Tiedemann. Translated by R. Livingstone. Cambridge: Polity. Pp. 272. £18.99. Journal of European Studies. 38 (1), 93-94
Freyenhagen, F., (2006). Adorno’s negative dialectics of freedom. Philosophy and Social Criticism. 32 (2), 429-440
Freyenhagen, F., (2004). Kant and modern political philosophy. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 12 (1), 100-103
Freyenhagen, F., (2004). Kant and liberal internationalism: Sovereignty, justice, and global reform. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 12 (1), 100-103
Books (8)
Freyenhagen, F., (2013). Adorno's Practical Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. 9781107543027
(2012). Introduction: The Habermas–Rawls Dispute— Analysis and Reevaluation. Routledge
Brooks, T., Andreou, C., Bevir, M., Chambers, C., Freyenhagen, F., Mulgan, T. and Shapiro, I., (2012). Preliminary Material
Finlayson, JG. and Freyenhagen, F., (2010). Habermas and Rawls: Disputing the Political. Routledge. 978-0-415-87686-5
(2007). The Legacy of John Rawls. Continuum International Publishing Group. 0826478433. 9780826499875
Brooks, T. and Freyenhagen, F., (2005). PREFACE
Brooks, T. and Freyenhagen, F., (2005). INTRODUCTION
Brooks, T. and Freyenhagen, F., (2005). THE LEGACY OF JOHN RAWLS
Book chapters (11)
Freyenhagen, F., (2024). Adorno’s Politics Revisited. In: The Oxford Handbook of Adorno. Editors: Pickford, H. and Shuster, M., . Oxford University Press (OUP). 9780190932558
Freyenhagen, F., (2019). Adorno (and Horkheimer) on Anti-Semitism. In: Blackwell Companion to Adorno. Editors: Hammer, E., Gordon, P. and Pensky, M., . Wiley. 103- 122. 9781119146919
Freyenhagen, F., (2018). Critical Theory and Social Pathology. In: The Routledge Companion to the Frankfurt School. Editors: Gordon, P., Hammer, E. and Honneth, A., . Routledge. 978-1138333246
Freyenhagen, F., (2017). >>Aber was das Unmenschliche ist, das wissen wir sehr genau<< Zur Normativitätsproblematik bei Adorno. In: Warum Kritik? Begründungsformen kritischer Theorien. Editors: Ellmers, S. and Hogh, P., . Velbrück Wissenschaft. 229- 257. 3958320635
Freyenhagen, F., (2016). Critical Theory's Philosophy. In: The Cambridge Companion to Philosophical Methodology. Editors: D'Oro, G. and Overgaard, S., . Cambridge University Press. 356- 378. 9781107121522
Freyenhagen, F., (2014). Moral philosophy. In: Theodor Adorno: Key Concepts. 99- 114
(2012). Conceptions of Critique in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy. In: Conceptions of Critique in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy. Editors: de Boer, K. and Sonderegger, R., . Palgrave Macmillan UK. 175- 192. 9781349318971
Finlayson, JG. and Freyenhagen, F., (2012). Introduction: The Habermas–Rawls dispute: Analysis and reevaluation. Editors: . Routledge. 1- 21
Freyenhagen, F., (2012). The Empty Formalism Objection Revisited. In: Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Wiley. 43- 72. 9781405188135
Freyenhagen, F., (2009). No Easy Way Out: Adorno's Negativism and the Problem of Normativity. In: Nostalgia for a Redeemed Future: Critical Theory. Editors: Ludovisi, SG. and Saavedra, GA., . University of Delaware Press. 39- 50. 9780874130720
Freyenhagen, F., (2008). Moral philosophy. In: Theodor Adorno. Acumen Publishing Limited. 99- 114. 9781844651191
Reports and Papers (1)
Martin, W. and Freyenhagen, F., (2014). Use or Weigh? or Use and Weigh? A Note on the Logic of MCA sec. 3(1)
Grants and funding
2019
Social Pathology: systemic obstacles to addressing development challenges
University of Essex (GCRF)
2011
Contested Autonomy
Arts And Humanities Research Council
2010
Visiting Fellowship - Frankfurt : Rethinking Justice
Goethe Universitat - Frankfurt
2009
Deciding for Oneself: Autonomous Judgement
Arts And Humanities Research Council