What are you going to work with at IFIKK?
I am part of the GoodAttention ERC project where I research the role of attention in democratic deliberation. What kind of norms should govern citizens’ attention when they deliberate on common problems and make decisions together in democratic fora? Politicians, experts, marginalized groups, and conspiration theorists are all striving to grab our attention, and we must always decide which voices to prioritize. In the age of social media, growing polarization, and the like, this is an increasingly difficult task. My research looks at how individuals and institutions can promote good attention norms for ensuring the proper functioning of democratic deliberation.
Can you tell us a bit about your research interests?
My research interests are moral and political philosophy, particularly democratic theory. I am interested in how we should think about the democratic ideal in an age of major social and technological change and mounting global crises. Rising populism, polarization, the rapid development of digital communications technology and AI, climate change, and the like all put pressure on our traditional understanding of what a democratic society should look like and how it should function. These challenges raise not only policy questions and political problems, but deep philosophical ones as well. Why do we value democracy in the first place, what are we meant to do exactly in our role as democratic citizens, and how should our philosophical understanding of these questions inform democratic reform? These are the questions I am most interested in.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I very much enjoy hiking, and I am also an avid reader of non-fiction, especially history, and poetry.