Johannes Himmelreich / Political Theory Workshop

JOHANNES HIMMELREICH, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Ethics in Society

Johannes obtained a PhD in philosophy and an MSc in philosophy and public policy from the London School of Economics. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Johannes investigates the limits of agency in his work, exploring in particular whether agency can be found outside the human domain. He argues that corporations, states, or robots are agents that can be morally responsible for their actions. Currently he is analyzing situations in which different kinds of agency mesh, namely in joint actions between humans and artificial intelligence. Beyond this focus on theoretical issues, Johannes is interested in topics that challenge liberal democratic theory, such as the right to asylum, the constraints of sovereign debt, and the limits of privacy.

The Political Theory Workshop offers faculty and other scholars an opportunity to present "in progress" or recently completed work to a diverse audience from political science, philosophy, law, and other social sciences and humanities.  Workshop papers come from all areas of political theory, including normative and positive theory, legal theory, and the history of political thought.  Papers are circulated ten days before the seminar. Participants are expected to read the paper before the workshop.  Each session begins with comments and questions on the paper by a discussant, a brief response from the author, followed by a general discussion.