I earned my PhD in philosophy from the New School for Social Research in 2018, with a dissertation on the concept of property in German Idealism. Along with research stays at Humboldt University, TU Darmstadt, and the University of Frankfurt, I have taught philosophy, critical theory and ethics at various universities in New York and Berlin. I am currently a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter for Prof. Dr. Tilo Wesche at University Oldenburg.
Jacob Blumenfeld

Research Project
My research asks the question, what does it mean to call something “mine” in the world today? What kind of material and moral presuppositions make this claim possible, effective, right or wrong? What conceptual and institutional tools are required to rethink the framework which divides the social world into regions of mine, yours, theirs and ours? My research project for the SFB is on how to think about property as a relation of recognition between free and finite beings, one whose social form is not settled. I am currently working on two book projects: first, a monograph on the normative theory of property from Kant to Hegel, and second, a book exploring the right to expropriate and socialize property, particularly with regards to housing and energy companies.
Activities
Publications
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„What was Socialization? A Look Back“, Blog-Post SFB-Blog (15.01.2023)
Lectures
- "Sozialismus kommt von Sozialisierung" - Kämpfe um Vergesellschaftung und Verstaatlichung in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts, Jacob Blumenfeld with a lecture at the conference „Vergesellschaftung: Strategien für eine demokratische Wirtschaft“. (08.10.2022)
Publications
- 2020: “Expropriation of the Expropriators”, Legal Form, April 2020
- 2020: “Property and Freedom in Kant, Hegel, and Marx” in From Marx to Hegel and Back: The Foundations of Social Critique, ed. V . Fareld and H. Kuch, Bloomsbury
- 2018: “After Marx, the Deluge”, Historical Materialism 26:1, 194-222
- 2018: All Things are Nothing to Me: The Unique Philosophy of Max Stirner, Zero Books
- 2014: “Egoism, Labour, and Possession: A reading of ‘Interiority and Economy,’ Section II of Lévinas’ Totality and Infinity”, British Society for Phenomenology, 45:2
- 2013: The Anarchist Turn (edited, with C. Bottici and S. Critchley), Pluto Press
Teaching
- Critique and Utopia, 2022-23
- Climate Ethics, 2021-22
- Einführung in die Praktische Philosophie, 2020
- Ethics and Politics of Climate Change, 2019-20
- Introduction to Ethics, 2007-2011
- Introduction to Philosophy, 2007-2011
- History of Philosophy, 2009-2011
- 19th Century Philosophy, 2011
- Critical Theory, 2010
- Aesthetics, 2009