DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

All meanings necessary – A hermeneutics of ideology and its critique

My dissertation defends a hermeneutic conception of ideology and its critique that situates both in the world-disclosing function of language.

I argue that we must conceive of ideologies as world-disclosing embodied interpretive schemas insofar as they guide our cognitive, affective, and conative access to reality by providing the background knowledge, meanings, and pre-understandings through which we interpret it. On this view, ideologies appear more radical and comprehensive than traditional views, which conceptualize them as “systems of belief.” In addition, the hermeneutic approach not only explains why ideologies persist even after people change their beliefs but can account for the tenacity of ideologies as a function of their ability to make themselves (appear to be) true.

As a consequence of their world-disclosing nature, the successful critique of ideologies requiresa type of critique that transcends the given interpretive context in order to challenge its dominant world-disclosure through counter-hegemonic disclosures which give rise to a comparative standpoint and emerge through“conceptual labor in company with others” (Mills). By means of new disclosures (such as the concept of sexual harassment), ideology critique can invalidate the ideological schema and its dominant interpretations (e.g., “flirting”). Embedded in the model of dialogue, the critic of ideology as a virtual participant in discourse neither paternalistically imposes her own views on others nor breaks dialogical symmetry, because it is “[t]he same structures that make it possible to reach an understanding [that] also provide for the possibility of a reflective self-control of this process.” (Habermas)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

“Grundlinien der Anerkennung im Raum der Freiheit, der Sicherheit und des Rechts”, 441 pages, Verlag Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen 2016 (Series: Ius Internationale et Europaeum).

Reviews

• Samo Bardutzky, Common Market Law Review 54 (2017), pp. 1258-60.
• Werner Schroeder, Die Verwaltung 50 (2017), pp. 614-6.

“A Democratic Solution to the Crisis – Reform Steps towards a Democratically Based Economic and Financial Constitution for Europe” (Nomos: Baden-Baden 2012) 150 pages, with Ingolf Pernice, et al.

Journal articles and bookchapters

“Disillusioning ideology: From empty reference to world-disclosure,” forthcoming in Constellations.

“Let’s talk about trust, baby! Theorizing Trust and Mutual Recognition in the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice,” European Law Journal 24 (2018), pp. 124-41.

“The Pitfalls of Post-Conflict Justice: Framing the Duty to Prosecute in the Aftermath of Violence,” in Nelson Camilo Sánchez, Rodrigo Uprimny et al. (eds.) Beyond the Binary – Securing Peace and Promoting Justice after Conflict (Colleción Dejusticia: Bogotá 2019), with Howard Varney.

“Der Europäische Gerichtshof bestätigt die Sollbruchstellen der Anerkennung – Anmerkung zum Urteil des EuGH vom 5. April 2016, verb. Rs. C-404/15 und C-659/15 PPU (Aranyosi und Căldăraru)”, Europarecht 51 (2016), pp. 422-30.

“A Memorandum of Misunderstanding – The doomed road of the European Stability Mechanism and a possible way out: enhanced cooperation”, Common Market Law Review 51 (2014), pp. 389-424.

“In keinem unbekannten Land – Der Staat in Waldemar Bonsels ‘Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer’ in der Tradition der Bienengleichnisse”, 61 Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts der Gegenwart n.F. (2013), pp. 495-511.

“Die Menschenwürde als Ende der europäischen Wertegemeinschaft? Eine realistische Perspektive auf das Schutzdefizit nach Art. 1 der Grundrechtecharta”, 50 Der Staat (2011), pp. 533-66.

“Europa in der Horizontalen – Zur Abgrenzung des Prinzips gegenseitiger Anerkennung vom Rechtsinstitut des transnationalen Hoheitsakts” in Alfred G. Debus et al. (eds.), Verwaltungsrechtsraum Europa (Nomos: Baden-Baden 2011), pp. 255-78.

“Zum polizeirechtlichen Umgang mit sog. Facebook-Partys – ‘Ab geht die Party und die Party geht ab!’…oder doch nicht?” 126 Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt (2012), pp. 10-17, with Ilya Levin.

“Alkohol in der Schwangerschaft? Warnhinweispflichten zum Schutz der Leibesfrucht”, JURA (2011), pp. 379-84.