Research

My research is located in the empirically orientated philosophy of mind. That is, I am interested in multiple core aspects of the philosophy of mind while taking into account findings from neuroscience, psychology, biology, and clinical medicine.

My research focuses on mental phenomena related to human suffering which appears to me as one of the most enigmatic, but also fascinating research subjects. I have intensively worked on pain and other bodily sensations. My research encompasses the phenomenal character, neural implementation, causal embeddedness, and biological function of these mental phenomena. My investigations relate to topics, such as the construction of quality spaces, the challenges of intentionalism, and the debate surrounding scientific eliminativism.

Recently, I have extended my field of research to different kinds of suffering and developed multiple follow-up projects located at the interface of philosophy and clinical medicine. This includes a better understanding of how to model suffering in chronic illness and how to best approach it by means of therapeutical measures. Core concepts of situated cognition are proving to be increasingly influential in such research (e.g. affordances, scaffolding, niche construction).

Another research area of mine is the philosophy of social understanding, especially the plurality of epistemic strategies and the role of mindreading. Furthermore, I am currently exploring the relevance of experimental philosophy with respect to pain reports.