Associate Professor of Philosophy
Johns Hopkins University
Katharina Kraus is Miller Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Miller Department of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, where she is also Associated Faculty of the German Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Before moving to Hopkins in January 2023, she taught for six years at the University of Notre Dame, where she also served as a member of the steering committee of the newly established History of Philosophy Forum. Before that, she taught at the University College Freiburg of the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg and was a post-doctorial fellow of the Martin Buber Society at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
After her studies of physics, mathematics, and philosophy, she received a Diplom in physics (including a BA and MA equivalent) from the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg in 2008, a MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science in 2010 and a PhD in philosophy in 2014, both from the University of Cambridge.
Kraus is the author of Kant on Self-Knowledge and Self-Formation (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and numerous articles on Kant’s theoretical philosophy. She is currently working on a short monograph on Kant’s Ideas of Reason (Cambridge Elements Series). In her new research project, The Life of the Mind, she examines theories of mental development and personal growth in the tradition of transcendental philosophy and philosophy of life that model the mind on a conception of life and place particular emphasis on intellectual life (“geistiges Leben”). More recently, she has developed a strong interest in the work of women philosophers of the German tradition in the long nineteenth century and studies in particular Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861–1937) and Edith Stein (1891–1942).
Her systematic research interests include topics such as self-consciousness, the first-person perspective, personal identity, and self-constitution, as well as analytic theories of expressivism, contextualism, and perspectivalism.
The Life of the Mind in the History of Philosophy
Could we understand thinking as an activity of life, rather than as an abstract logical operation? How could we make sense of the (human) mind as something living, or as fundamentally instantiated by living beings? This colloquium draws together various models of the ‘life of the mind’ from across the history of philosophy.
Kant 300: Tercentennial Gala at Johns Hopkins!
Come to our staged reading of Thomas Bernhard’s Immanuel Kant (8 March)!
Join our conference “Kant and the World Today” at Johns Hopkins University (8-9 March)!
Katharina T. Kraus: Kant on Self-Knowledge and Self-Formation: The Nature of Inner Experience (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
This book explores the intricate relationship between becoming an individual person and knowing oneself as such by studying Kant’s distinctive account of psychological personhood.
Research Projects
Women Philosophers in the German Tradition
This project focuses on Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937) and Edith Stein (1891-1942).
The Life of the Mind: A Theory of Personal Development in Modern Thought
This book project aims to present a theory of the mental development of persons. It builds on conceptions of the mind from the Enlightenment and the post-Kantian periods, according to which the mind is understood in terms of a living being endowed with mental powers.
Kant’s Ideas of Reason. Elements in the Philosophy of Immanuel Kant (CUP).
This book presents a novel contextualist interpretation of Kant’s ideas of reason, reconciling noumenalist and fictionalist readings of ideas.
Current Courses
The Nature of Consciousness in Kant and beyond
This course examines Kant’s theory of consciousness and discusses contemporary challenges to Kant’s theory.
Women Philosophers in the German Tradition
This course examines the works, influence, and legacy of women philosophers in the German tradition in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on Lou Salomé, Edith Stein, and Hannah Arendt.
Readings and Skills in Contemporary Philosophy
This Proseminar provides skills training for all 1st and 2nd year PhD students.