Prof. Dr. Jan Slaby

Principal Investigator

Research Stream: Social Interactions

Mail: slaby@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Website: https://janslaby.com/

Short Vita

I am Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Emotions at the Free University of Berlin. I have written numerous publications on the social situatedness of human affectivity and am working on a “political philosophy of mind”, which is concerned with the formation and deformation of the mind in the course of social power relations. Since 2015, I have been a sub-project leader in the DFG Collaborative Research Center 1171 Affective Societies – Dynamics of Living Together in Moving Worlds at the FU.

What I find exciting about this research initiative

Affective polarization is on everyone’s mind, but neither the psychological foundations nor the social conditions of the associated phenomena have been well researched. The project promises insights into the affect dynamics of the political on several levels, including a sharp diagnostic view of the affective political climate in Germany. What I find exciting about this project network, apart from the high relevance of the topic, is the interdisciplinary cooperation. An integrative science of cognition and affect, supplemented by social, political and media dimensions, is emerging that does not yet exist in this form.

What my discipline can contribute to this research initiative

Philosophy is the discipline of concepts, which is why the focus of interest is on sharpening existing concepts and possibly developing new ones. This applies in particular to the understanding of affects and emotions, the concept of affective polarization, which has so far been defined differently depending on the theoretical tradition, and the concept of political emotions. In addition, philosophy contributes to theory formation at the interface of psychology, sociology and cognitive science (situatedness approaches, enactivism, exteded mind, etc.) and supports critical reflection on the normative and democratic theoretical foundations of the CAP project.

Key publications

  • Slaby, J. (2024). Habits of Affluence: Unfeeling, Enactivism, and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism. Mind & Society. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-024-00309-6 

  • Slaby, J. (2023). Structural Apathy, Affective Injustice, and the Ecological Crisis. Philosophical Topics 51(1), 63-83.

  • Szanto, T., & Slaby, J. (2020). Political Emotions. In: Szanto, T., & Landweer, H. (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Emotions (pp. 478-494). New York: Routledge.

  • Slaby, J. & von Scheve, C., eds., (2019). Affective Societies: Key Concepts. New York: Routledge.

  • Slaby, J., Mühlhoff, R., & Wüschner, P. (2019). Affective Arrangements. Emotion Review 11(1), 3-12, DOI: 10.1177/1754073917722214.