The Leiden Centre for Continental Philosophy (LCCP) is a research community based at the Institute for Philosophy at Leiden University. LCCP is envisaged as an open space for stimulating discussion, critical debate and inventive co-operation in the local and international philosophical community. We…

The seminar is dedicated to the work-in-progress of Leiden Centre for Continental Philosophy staff and doctoral students. The paper is sent in advance and discussed in the meeting. On 18.2 and 22.4. the seminar is proud to host guest speakers. We warmly encourage all interested people to participate…

This two-year master’s programme in Philosophy of the Arts combines in-depth philosophical training in continental philosophy and aesthetics with the academic study of one or more arts, such as visual, musical, literary, and performing arts. Of the 120 EC of the programme, 40 EC will be taken in a discipline…

The master's programme in Modern European Philosophy at Leiden University focuses on continental philosophy ranging from German Idealism and Phenomenology via Deconstruction and Poststructuralism through 21st century developments in the field. It explores different approaches to thinking in a critical…

The one-year master's programme in Philosophy at Leiden University offers advanced training in an array of philosophical approaches in a pluralistic and collegial environment. We offer specializations in the major branches of both analytic and continental philosophy, as well as in global and comparative…

Assesses the importance of Merleau-Ponty to current and ongoing concerns in contemporary philosophy.

The philosophers at the Institute for Philosophy develop new perspectives and insights not only on topical themes such as immigration and climate change, but also on more fundamental philosophical questions.

While self-driving cars and autonomous weapon systems have received a great deal of attention in media and research, the general requirements of ethical life in today’s digitalizing reality have not been made sufficiently visible and evaluable.

Explore philosophical research and education at the Leiden Institute for Philosophy. Our scholars study knowledge, ethics and existence, connecting classical and contemporary thought.

Learn about the Institute’s mission, structure and academic community within Leiden University’s Faculty of Humanities.

Learn about PhD research at Leiden University’s Institute for Philosophy: information for current and prospective candidates, supervision, and academic development within the Faculty of Humanities.

Nietzsche’s concept of the agon or Wettkampf, a measured and productive form of conflict inspired by ancient Greek culture, has attracted a good deal of interest in Nietzsche studies and beyond. This book, by a leading expert on the topic, brings together research conducted over 20 years with a focus…

Explore the research of the Institute for Philosophy, organised into five centres that connect historical and systematic approaches to ethics, logic, and the history of ideas.

While Nietzsche's works and ideas are relevant across the many branches of philosophy, the themes of contest and conflict have been mostly overlooked. Conflict and Contest in Nietzsche's Philosophy redresses this situation, arguing for the importance of these issues throughout Nietzsche's work.

The thesis reconstructs Carl Schmitt's 1956 monography on 'Hamlet'. By scanning and unearthing books, essays, think-pieces, articles, personal diaries and private correspondence, this investigation fully addresses the unwritten philosophy of history -partially developed- in Schmitt's late thought. The…

Nietzsche says

Many stimulating philosophical analyses have been written on contemporary technology; this book examines on the contrary how changes in contemporary technological environment have been reflected onto philosophy itself. The book shows how technological changes have marked a number of key concepts of…

In what way is constructivist logic able to account for both the role of the judging agent in inference and the universal claims of logical validity?

This thesis investigates Søren Kierkegaard’s place in Martin Heidegger’s first Freiburg period lecture courses.

The Centre for Political Philosophy (CPP) at Leiden University is an interdisciplinary platform for political thought. It aims to bring together all those with an active interest in the field from different institutes, branches and fields of study at Leiden University.

The aim of this project is to study what makes an act or form of violence a specifically political reality.

Kazimierz Twardowski (1866-1938) is the founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School with its strong tradition in logic and its scientific approach to philosophy. Twardowski’s unique way of doing philosophy, his method, is of central importance for understanding his impact as a teacher.

Inaugural lecture by Prof. Susanna Lindberg On the acceptance of her position of professor of Continental Philosophy at the Universiteit Leiden on Monday November 20, 2023

Indirect Method, Critique, and Responsibility in Derrida, Hegel, and Heidegger. Explores why Derrida, Hegel, and Heidegger conceive of their thought as a “movement” rather than as a presentation of results or conclusions.

Perfect for use at advanced undergraduate and graduate level, this is the first text to offer students a unified narrative regarding the place of the body in Western thinking. The book investigates the ways in which the fact of human embodiment makes the notion of ambiguity central to all major areas…

Nietzsche's most famous and infamous book Thus Spoke Zarathustra is perhaps the most read, but probably also the least understood, book in Nietzsche's oeuvre. Nietzsche considered it his highlight. He called it a symphony, a holy book, a fifth gospel and even the greatest gift ever given to humanity.…

This project studies the theory and practice of moral education in the (Neo)Platonic tradition.

Explores the relationship between technics and humanity, tracing the emergence of a bio-technical conception of existence in contemporary continental philosophy. Suny Press

Do humans have free will? Does the world look different than it really is? Can moral judgements be right or wrong? In the Dutch-taught Bachelor's programme Philosophy at Leiden University you will ask questions that cross different disciplines and you will study the theories of classical thinkers,…

Susanna Lindberg(ed.), Artemy Magun (ed.), Marita Tatari (ed.) With this book, we would like to resume the passionate conversation that Jean-Luc Nancy was engaged in throughout his life, with philosophers and artists from all over the world. Now that he has passed away, it is not enough for us to…

Porosity between Politics and the Economy addresses the relationships between politics and the economy in deeply original ways. It is a book motivated by a sense of urgency aroused by both the failure of modern capitalism and the environmental crisis.

In this thesis the most dominant academic perspectives pertaining to the relationship between myth and philosophy are questioned and repositioned and Plato’s use of myth is analyzed to demonstrate this reevaluation.

An overview of the educational profile of the Leiden Institute for Philosophy, including its global teaching focus, curriculum themes, and supervision model.

This dissertation concerns the role of analogy in Kant’s “Critique of the Teleological Power of Judgment”, especially the role of analogy for the formation of the concept of a natural end (Naturzweck). A ‘natural end’ is a ‘regulative concept’ of the reflective power of judgment, that is, a heuristic…

This dissertation deals with Hegel’s theory of the sublime (das Erhabene). I focus specifically on die heilige Poesie (sacred poetry), a form of art that he identifies with the Judaic Psalms and which I claim to be the core of Hegel’s approach to sublimity. I claim that Hegel’s apparent lack of interest…

The following dissertation reconstructs Paul Natorp's philosophical psychology. It argues that psychology's main object is the lived experience of concrete subjects, understood as a transcendental structure of logical-reflexive conditions for the recognition, appropriation, and evaluation of objective…

The dissertation focuses on the work of German philosophers Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, founders of critical theory at the Frankfurt School. Specifically, it is a study of the “early” writings, dated between 1925 and 1940, to reconstruct the early stages of critical theory. The thesis argues…