From the armchair

Dr. Miguel Hoeltje has just accepted an offer to become a postdoctoral research fellow with our group. Miguel’s primary research interests are in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of logic, and he also has interests in the philosophy of mind and action, philosophy of science, metaphysics, logic and Frege. His doctoral dissertation was Truth, Meaning and Form: An Examination of the Davidsonian Program. Some of his work with our research group will focus on the relationship between language understanding and logical reasoning capacities. He will also work on questions concerning the relative priority between language and thought, with a special focus on recent relevant empirical psychological results.

Miguel received his PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin, and he currently works with the Phlox Research Group in Berlin. He will be joining us in November 2010.

Dr. Jacek Brzozowski has just accepted a position as postdoctoral research fellow with our group. Jacek works primarily in metaphysics, and has interests in the philosophy of mind and epistemology. His doctoral dissertation, Location, Parts and Properties concerns metaphysical accounts of the spatiotemporal locations of composite material objects. As part of his work with our research group he will be looking at arguments for contingentism, the view that central claims of metaphysics are merely contingently true or false.

Jacek received his PhD from the Australian National University, and is currently a Mellon Fellow at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He will join our group in early 2011.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2 years)

Starting date: 1. September 2010 or soon thereafter

Salary Level: TV-L E13, appr. 37000 – 44000 Euro per year

We are currently seeking applications for a 2-year postdoctoral research fellow position. The successful candidate will be employed and based at the University of Cologne, and will be expected to carry out original work on topics closely related to the focus of the research group, participate in the organization of international conferences, regular workshops and other events, contribute to the supervision of doctoral students, fulfill some administrative duties and be an active member in the academic life of the research group. There are no teaching duties connected to this position. However, the successful candidate might teach seminars for the Philosophy Department if they wish. The working language of the research group is English. The exact length of the appointment will be 23 months.

Candidates must hold a PhD in philosophy, have strong academic qualifications in at least some of the areas covered by the research group, be fluent in English and have good communication and organization skills. We are especially interested in candidates whose areas of specialization and/or competence include epistemology, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics or the philosophy of language.

Applications must include: (1) a cover letter describing the applicant’s research interests and plans, (2) a CV, (3) a sample of written work, (4) two or three letters of reference, which should be sent independently. All application materials should be in English, and formatted as PDF-files if sent electronically. The deadline for applications is 15. May 2010.

Applications should be sent by e-mail to: mbalcerakjackson@me.com, or via regular mail to: Emmy Noether Research Group, Philosophy Department, University of Cologne, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Koeln, Germany.

All enquiries about the position should be directed to Dr. Magdalena Balcerak Jackson: mbalcerakjackson@me.com. A pdf version of this announcement can be downloaded here.

The University of Cologne is an equal opportunity employer, and we strongly encourage applications from women and under-represented minorities.

Wolfgang Schwarz has accepted a post-doctoral position at the Philosophy Program of the Research School for Social Sciences, Australian National University. He’ll be leaving the Emmy Noether Group at the end of June. We wish him great success in his new position!

Great news! Magdalena has just received word that she’s been awarded the Offermann-Hergarten-Stiftung Prize for her book, Intentional Horizons: The Mind from an Epistemic Point of View (Mentis 2009). Her book was selected from submissions by members of the University of Cologne from across all the disciplines of the humanities. In addition to recognition for her good work, the prize carries with it a substantial cash award. Congratulations, Magdalena!

Welcome to our new webpage! We’ve re-designed the pages, and have added some new information about the people involved in our project, as well as about upcoming events. We hope you find it useful.