About me
I am a philosopher and coordinator of the Cognitive Science programs at the Institute of Cognitive Science at Osnabrück University, Germany. I mainly work on topics in the metaphysics of science and mind, and my thinking is deeply rooted in the analytic philosophical tradition. In the philosophy of mind, I have a strong interest in the debates around the mind-body problem and the thesis of physicalism. In the philosophy of science, I currently work on the metaphysics of mechanisms in the new mechanist framework of explanation. I also have some interests in the philosophy of language connected to my work in the metaphysics of mind.
Before becoming a philosopher, I worked as a computational neuroscientist at the Institute for Theoretical Computer Science at Graz University of Technology, Austria. My research focused on biologically inspired learning mechanisms and working memory processes. I also collaborated with colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, and analyzed neurophysiological recordings from macaque monkeys engaged in short-term memory tasks.
I studied philosophy at the Universities of Graz and Osnabrück and telematics (now called 'information and computer engineering') at Graz University of Technology. I hold a PhD degree in computer science and another one in philosophy (or strictly speaking in cognitive science, with a philosophical topic). For details about my background, see my CV.
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News
Interview (December 2023): I was interviewed by the Kaleidoscience Podcast, run by students of our Cognitive Science program, about my academic journey. The podcast episodes can be found on the usual Podcast platforms and the webpage of the Cognitive Science Student Journal.
Interview (November 2023): I was interviewed by Markus Schrenk, the president of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP), about my Book "Understanding Physicalism". The interview (in German) can be found on the Youtube channel of the GAP (Link).
New duties (November 2022): I just started to work as a coordinator of the Bachelors' and Masters' programs at the Institute of Cognitive Science at Osnabrück University. I have also been elected as the Dean of Studies of the Institute of Cognitive Science.
Award (September 2022): I am very proud to announce that I received the Wolfgang Stegmüller Award (Link) of the German Society of Analytic Philosophy (GAP) for my book Understanding Physicalism (Link). You can find some photos of the award ceremony on the web page of the GAP.11 conference (Link).
New book (November 2021): I was given the honor to newly translate the seminal 1971 paper Identity and Necessity by the famous philosopher Saul Aaron Kripke into German for the series Great papers by the publishing house Reclam. The book with the original paper in both languages and an in-depth explanatory note on the historical embedding and content of the paper, written by me, has just come out in early November.
New duties (May 2021): I now work as a scientific coordinator of the DFG-funded research training group "Situated Cognition" (Link), based at the Universities of Osnabrück and Bochum.
New book (August 2020): I am glad to announce that my philosophical PhD thesis has appeared as a monograph called "Understanding Physicalism" in the peer-reviewed series "Epistemic Studies", published by DeGruyter.
