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Katharina Nieswandt, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Philosophy


Katharina Nieswandt, Ph.D.
Office: S-S 210  
S Annex,
2145 Mackay
Phone: (514) 848-2424 ext. 2508
Email: katharina.nieswandt@concordia.ca
Website(s): PhilPapers
ORCID
Availability: Published on Moodle.

Areas of Specialization

Metaethics; political theory; philosophy of the social sciences

Education

Postdoc:  Stanford University, Center for Ethics in Society, 2016
Ph.D. (Philosophy):  University of Pittsburgh, 2015
Magister Artium (Philosophy):  Universität Trier, 2009
Diplom (Psychology):  Universität Trier, 2008


Current research projects

Current Topics

Prof. Nieswandt's current research investigates the relation between personal and common good.

Works in Progress

  • The Good Life and the Good State (monograph, under contract)
  • "Revolutionary Virtues?" (presentation, with Ulf Hlobil)


Publications

Articles in Double-Blind Peer-Review Journals

To access the official publication, click on the links below.  Postprints of all papers can be downloaded from PhilPapers.

Katharina Nieswandt (2024): Instrumental Rationality in the Social Sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences: 54(1): 46–68.

Heather Maranges; Maxine Iannuccilli; Katharina Nieswandt; Ulf Hlobil & Kristen Dunfield (2023): Brilliance Beliefs, Not Mindsets Explain Inverse Gender Gaps in Philosophy and Psychology.  Sex Roles: 89: 801–817.

Heather Maranges; Maxine Iannuccilli; Katharina Nieswandt; Ulf Hlobil & Kristen Dunfield (2023): What Determines Feelings of Belonging and Majoring in an Academic Field? Isolating Factors by Comparing Psychology and Philosophy. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences 4: article 100097.

Ulf Hlobil & Katharina Nieswandt (2019): Do the Virtues Make You Happy? Philosophical Inquiries 7(2): 181–202.

Katharina Nieswandt (2019): Beyond Frontier Town: Do Early Modern Theories of Property Apply to Capitalist Economies? Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 22(4): 909923.

Ulf Hlobil & Katharina Nieswandt (2019): Foot without Archilles' Heel. Philosophia 47(5): 1501–1515.

Katharina Nieswandt & Ulf Hlobil (2018):  Virtues for the Imperfect.  The Journal of Value Inquiry 53(4): 605625.

Katharina Nieswandt (2018): What Is Conventionalism about Moral Rights and Duties? Australasian Journal of Philosophy 97(1): 15–28.

Katharina Nieswandt (2017): Anscombe on the Sources of Normativity. The Journal of Value Inquiry 51(1): 141–163.

Katharina Nieswandt (2016): Do Rights Exist by Convention or by Nature? Topoi 35(1): 313–325.

Ulf Hlobil and Katharina Nieswandt (2016): On Anscombe’s Philosophical Method. Klēsis: Revue Philosophique 35: 180–198.  REPRINT in: John Haldane (ed.) (forthcoming): The Life and Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe (St. Andrews Studies in Philosophy). Imprint Academic: Exeter, 42–61.

Edited Books

Katharina Nieswandt & Ulf Hlobil (eds.) (2014). G.E.M. Anscombe: Aufsätze. Herausgegeben, übersetzt und mit einer Lektürehilfe von Katharina Nieswandt und Ulf Hlobil.  Nachwort von Anselm W. Müller.  [Papers.  Edited, translated and with a study guide by KN and UH.  With an afterword by AWM.] Suhrkamp, Berlin: 400 pages.

REVIEWS by: Dominik Perler (in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and by Christian Kietzmann (in Philosophische Rundschau).

Articles in Editor-Reviewed Books

To access the official publication, click on the links below.  Postprints of all papers can be downloaded from PhilPapers.

Katharina Nieswandt (2023): Should Intro Ethics Make You a Better Person?  In: Christian Kietzmann (ed.): Teleological Structures in Human Life: Essays for Anselm W. Müller. Routledge, Milton and New York: 113–134.

Katharina Nieswandt (2022): Life and Other Basic Rights in Anscombe. In: Roger Teichmann (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe. Oxford University Press, New York: 308323.

Katharina Nieswandt (2021): Basic Income, Automation and Merit. In: Keith Breen and Jean-Philippe Deranty (eds.): Whither Work? The Politics and Ethics of Contemporary Work. Routledge, Milton and New York: 102–119.

Katharina Nieswandt (2019): Authority and Interest in the Theory of Right. In: David Plunkett, Scott Shapiro & Kevin Toh (eds.): Dimensions of Normativity: New Essays on Metaethics and Jurisprudence. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 315–334.

Katharina Nieswandt (2017): Grammatik und Funktion: Peter Geach. In: Martin Hähnel (ed.): Der aristotelische Naturalismus: Ein Handbuch. Metzler: Stuttgart, 163–174. ENGLISH TRANSLATION in: Martin Hähnel (ed.) (2020) Aristotelian Naturalism: A Research Companion. Springer, Dordrecht: 183–193.

Book Reviews

Katharina Nieswandt (2022): Clare Mac Cumhaill & Rachael Wiseman's "Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life." Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie 5(2): 231–235.

Katharina Nieswandt (2019): James Doyle's "No Morality, No Self: Anscombe’s Radical Skepticism." Ethics 130(1): 102–106.

Popular Press

Katharina Nieswandt (2021): Gender Ratio in Philosophy: An Interview with Katharina Nieswandt.  The American Philosophical Association, December 1, 2021.

Katharina Nieswandt (2021): Gender Ratio in Philosophy: An Inferential-Statistical Model of Possible Determinants.  The Canadian Philosophical Association, November 8, 2021.

Katharina Nieswandt (2016): Basic Income after Automation? That's Not How Capitalism Works! The Conversation, October 6, 2016.  (Click here for radio interview.)


Research networks

Groupe de recherche sur la normativité

GRIN, director of axis "Society"

Action Network

Hosted at FAGI, Leipzig, member.


Teaching

Regularly taught classes

Please note that the syllabi below are for information purposes only; they are not necessarily the most recent version.  The version that is binding for enrolled students is available through Moodle.

Introduction to Ethics
Philosophy of Human Rights
Values and Biotechnology
  • Advanced Seminar
  • PHIL 429/529/629
  • Syllabus

Graduate seminar in value theory

  • The topic changes every year and is usually related to Prof. Nieswandt's current research.
  • Most years, the course number is PHIL 430/621 or 440/626.
  • Topics include: "Political Perfectionism," "Property Rights" and "Anscombe's Moral Philosophy."
  • The department's course offerings website lists a description of the current topic.


Supervision

Master and Postdoctorate

Prof. Nieswandt regularly supervises graduate students in Concordia's philosophy master's program as well as postdoctoral fellows hired through GRIN and other funding schemes. (For a list of supervisees, please see her CV.)
  • If you would like to pursue an MA at Concordia, please apply to the program.  Admission and funding allocation happen through the philosophy graduate studies committee, not individual supervisors.  For questions, please contact the program director at philosophy.gpd@concordia.ca.
  • If you would like to carry out a funded postdoctoral project under Prof. Nieswandt's supervision, you can apply to one of the annual GRIN openings.  Appointment happens through the steering committee, not individual supervisors.  In the rare case that Prof. Nieswandt hires a postdoc for one of her own projects, this opening is advertised on PhilJobs.
  • If you submit an application for a postdoc funding scheme for individuals, such as Banting, and you would like Prof. Nieswandt to be your faculty co-applicant, please email your pitch.

Doctorate

Concordia's philosophy department does not offer a doctoral program, and professors do not individually hire doctoral students.  Prof. Nieswandt does not standardly supervise students in Concordia's Humanities PhD program.

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