Matthias Fritsch, PhD

My research interests are social and political philosophy, environmental ethics, and 19th and 20th Century European philosophy (especially German critical theory and deconstruction). I work primarily on justice in relation to history, time, and the environment: what do societies owe the dead, if anything, and what are our normative relations with future generations, especially in relation to political institutions and the environment? While continuing to write on environmental and intergenerational ethics, I am at present working on a monograph on phenomenology and the sources of normative critical theory (SSHRC-funded, 2020-2025). As co-organizer of the award-winning research network Nature-Time-Responsibility, I foster intercultural, comparative-philosophical work on environmental justice.

Education

Humboldt Scholar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main (2010-2011)

Ph.D., Villanova University, Department of Philosophy (1994-1999)
Doctoral Research, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Philosophy (1997-1998)
M.A., New York University, Department of Philosophy (1993-1994)
B.A., Universität zu Köln, Departments of Philosophy and of English (1990-1993)

Most significant research contributions

Eco-Deconstruction. Derrida and Environmental Philosophy. Co-edited with Phil Lynes and David Wood (Fordham University Press 2018)

The Promise of Memory: History and Politics in Marx, Benjamin, and Derrida, Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2005


Reason and Emancipation. Essays in Honour of Kai Nielsen (co-editor), Amherst, NY: Humanity Books, 2007.

Martin Heidegger, Phenomenology of Religious Life (co-translator), Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004.