What would academic paradise look like? First, you need good and interesting company – say, if you’re a political philosopher: Amy Allen, Kenneth Baynes, Seyla Benhabib, James Bohmann, Darrel Moellendorf, Peter Niesen, David Owen, Till van Rahden, Shadir Sadr, and Lea Ypi, with visits from Ayelet Banai, Heinz Drügh, Rainer Forst, Klaus Günther, Axel Honneth, Stefan Gosepath, and Spiros Simitis. Then you need a quiet setting – a nice flat with all the modern conveniences as well as perhaps a park to walk in, a spa to swim in, and a forest to go running in – and an office with a view. Still, you also want to be close enough – but not too close, so as to not get distracted – to a centre of academic excellence and activity (as well as of culture). You would also want someone who can get you any book you like by the next day. And you would like common lunches, stimulating lectures from time to time, a work in progress seminar where your thought is subjected to critical scrutiny, and a little town with some good shops and restaurants. Well, no need to search further: the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften in Bad Homburg has all of the above. I remember fondly the warm welcome and with sadness the departure, and my deep gratitude extends to Ingrid Rudolph, Brend Frye, Maria Lorch, Sabine Sänger, Beate Sutterlüty, and, last but certainly not least, Andreas Reichhardt.

Dr. Fabian Freyenhagen in October 2011

Senior Fellow at the Justitia Amplificata Centre for Advanced Studies,
Summer Semester 2010
rnLecturer in Moral and Political Philosophy
rnUniversity of Essex