2008-2011
Freelance work as writer, creative consultant & photographer. Portfolio see here:
Completion and publication of book "High. Insights on Marijuana" (Dog Ear Publishing, March 2010)
Collaboration on book project with Harvard Psychiatry Prof. Emeritus Lester Grinspoon
2005-2007
Creative Director for the advertising agency BPPA (Bessis Pink Pony Advertising GmBH)
Solo Art Exhibition "Stadtwelten" ("City Worlds") at the private ART GALERY Festl & Maas in Reutlingen 2006.
Group Art Exhibition "Zwischenbilanz" with Photography from New York City at the ART Galery Festl & Maas in Reutlingen 2006.
Research & writing of book “High. Insights on Marijuana”
Freelance work as writer, photographer, and as a guest editor for parapluie.de, an internetzine on literature, cultures and the arts.
2004-2005
Key account manager and creative director for the advertising agency ACOM*WGS AG
Travel and Photography of Bali, Indonesia
2001-2004
Freelance photography jobs, including film festival photography, interior design photography, sports (Ultimate Frisbee), products, portraits, concerts, event photography as well as art photography. Art Photography exhibitions in Stuttgart (Junge Galerie Rotebühlbau), Munich (Lenbach Restaurant & Bar), Sindelfingen, and at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. Other freelance work includes discussion moderation as well as expertise writing for book publisher Klett-Cotta (philosophy/neuroscience).
2000
Completion of Ph.D (magna cum laude)
The subject of the doctoral thesis, entitled „Alien Minds“, is Eliminative Materialism, a radical position in the philosophy of mind defended by Paul and Patricia Churchland. The critical discussion of this position called for the integration of information from diverse fields of knowledge, such as the analytic philosophy of mind, neurobiology, modern cognitive science, the history of science, empirical and social psychology, the philosophy of psychology, and the philosophy of language. Rewarded with a printing stipend by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft)
1997-98
Researched Eliminative Materialism and studied Wittgenstein at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Funded with a research grant by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
1996
M.A. at the University of Tübingen, Supervisor: Gianfranco Soldati and Manfred Frank.
The M.A. thesis written on the functionalism and qualia issue which was debated extensively with William Lycan at Chapel Hill and during Manfred Frank’s doctoral colloquy. Its main goal is to argue that contemporary scientific theories of consciousness do not bridge the “explanatory gap” which arises when we aim to explain the presence of the qualitative aspect of consciousness.
Accepted as a doctorate at the University of Tübingen followed by a 2-year fellowship of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany for highly talented young academics (“Landesgraduiertenförderung Baden-Württemberg”)
1993 - 1994
One-year academic exchange at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Fulbright travel grant
Independent studies with William Lycan on the issue of functionalism and qualia (philosophy of mind)
Further seminars: logics with Keith Simmons, “Theories of Understanding” (the ‘Simulation Theory versus the Theory-Theory’ issue) with Dorit Bar-On & Simon Blackburn, “Neurobiological Accounts of Consciousness” with Stan Munsat, “Epistemology” with Douglas Long, and “The Roots of Analytic Philosophy” with Dorit Bar-On.
1989
Enrolled at the University of Tübingen
Major in Philosophy and minors in German literature and physics, later changed to a major in German linguistics.
Early specialization in the philosophy of mind & language.
Philosophy seminars include studies in the philosophy of science, the history of philosophy, aesthetics, the realism/antirealism debate, the philosophy of Plato, Martin Heidegger, Michael Dummett, Frege, Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam and others.
1988
High school (German "Gymnasium") graduation in Herrenberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany.