About the group
Friendship plays a significant role in contemporary culture and societies, affecting personal belonging and growth, as well as social, cultural, and political dynamics.
The research group "Aesthetics of Friendship" (AF) explores how the conditions and significance of friendship are evolving in our time. We also investigate the concept of friendship within a wider historical framework.
We employ a diverse range of approaches, including philological studies of antiquity, contemporary aesthetics, critical theory, biopolitics, cognitive approaches, and cultural studies in a wide sense.
Research Interests
Our research interests include:
- How do philosophers and writers describe various forms of friendship?
- What characterizes the "friendship plot" in the epic and the novel?
- How is the significance of friendship redefined on new digital platforms?
- How should one understand the relationship between the aesthetics and ethics of friendship?
- To what extent and in what ways can political and social infrastructure facilitate, stimulate, or discourage friendship?
- How have ideals of friendship, brotherhood, sorority, comradeship, and community been linked to political ideals in European culture?
- What potential and what problems follow from the notion of a politics of friendship?
Take a look at our seminars and meetings.
