This course is intended as a general introduction to the discipline of philosophy through an examination of various attempts throughout history to answer the very fundamental question, “What does it mean to be human?” Topics discussed include happiness, the soul, virtue, good and evil, and the like. Readings from classical sources include Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Hume, Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and others.
This course provides an examination of philosophical concepts and ideas that address questions regarding the problem of knowledge (epistemology), methods of reasoning and the nature of reality (metaphysics). Special attention will be given to applying these topics to an introduction to the philosophy of natural science. Readings include classical sources such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Hegel, as well as contemporary works.
School: College of Arts & Letters
Department: Philosophy / CAL 105
Program: Philosophy
Research & Education
Education
Privatdozent, University of Freiburg, 2006 Ph.D., University of Tübingen, 1998 M.A. University of Tübingen (including B.A.), 1993
Research
Ethics, Bioethics 19th- and 20th-Century Continental Philosophy
Experience & Service
General Information
Michael Steinmann is currently working on the forms of rationality that are used in bioethics. As a reflection crossing the borders of disciplines bioethics constantly has to deal with the clash of different rationalities. Scientific, medical, or legal reasoning stands against ethical, cultural, religious and even existential narratives. These forms of discourse do not always communicate well between each other. This makes it necessary to determine what the rational nucleus in each of them is. One way to reach that goal is to reflect on the link between narrativity and justification.
In another project Steinmann is working on an introduction to Heidegger's Being and Time. Particular importance is laid on the idea of negativity. The introduction will elucidate the necessary function of the negative for the constitution of selfhood.
Experience
Lecturer for Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University, 2007-2008 Visiting Professor at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 2007 Co-Director of the Program for Basics in Ethics and Philosophy, 2005-2007 Research Fellow, Interdepartmental Center for Ethics in the Sciences and in the Humanities and Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen, 2003-2005 Research Fellow and Lecturer, from 2006 as Privatdozent, Department of Philosophy, University of Freiburg 2002-2007 Research Fellow and Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Tübingen, 1999-2002
Selected Publications
Books
Michael Steinmann, Peter Sykora, Urban Wiesing (eds.). (2009). Altruism Reconsidered. Exploring New Approaches to Property in Human Tissue (in preparation), Ashgate.
Michael Steinmann. (2008). Die Offenheit des Sinns. Untersuchungen zu Sprache und Logik bei Martin Heidegger (Engl.: The Openness of Meaning. Investigations on Language and Logic in Martin Heidegger), Mohr Siebeck.
Michael Steinmann (ed.). (2007). Martin Heidegger und die Griechen. Schriften der Martin-Heidegger-Gesellschaft, Bd. 8. (Engl.: Martin Heidegger and the Greeks), Vittorio Klostermann.
Cathrin Nielsen, Michael Steinmann, Frank Topfer (eds.). (2007). Das Leib-Seele-Problem und die Phanomenologie (Engl.: The Mind-Body-Problem and Phenomenology), Konigshausen & Neumann.
Heiner Raspe, Angelika Raspe, Michael Steinmann. (2005). Empfehlungen zur Begutachtung klinischer Studien durch Ethikkommissionen (Engl.: Recommendations for the Survey of Clinical Studies through Ethics Committees), Deutscher Arzteverlag .
Michael Steinmann. (2000). Die Ethik Friedrich Nietzsches (Engl.: Friedrich Nietzsche's Ethics), Walter de Gruyter.
