معرفی
Simone Mahrenholz is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Arts, where she has been teaching since 2011. Her academic journey includes previous positions at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Europe for Applied Sciences in Berlin. Prior to her academic career, she studied concert piano professionally at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, which significantly informs her philosophical work on music and aesthetics.
- Habilitation (Philosophy), Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
- PhD (Philosophy), Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
- MA (Philosophy and Ancient History), Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
- BA (Philosophy, History), Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
Professor Mahrenholz specializes in the complex relationship between epistemology and aesthetics, with particular expertise in philosophy of music, philosophy of creativity, and the role of arts in knowledge formation. Her work critically examines how non-propositional media like music contribute to cognition and truth-seeking, challenging traditional boundaries between scientific and artistic ways of knowing. She methodologically bridges continental and analytic philosophical traditions, drawing on thinkers from Leibniz and Kant to Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Nelson Goodman. Her research also encompasses media studies, philosophy of film, and the historical development of the analytic-continental divide in 20th-century philosophy.
Her publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on how artistic practices, particularly musical ones, transform perception and cognition. Over the past decade, her work has increasingly explored self-transformation through art, the structural logic of creativity, and the philosophical implications of musical composition. She examines how music functions as a technology of self-transformation and how composers function as contemporary philosophers, revealing deep connections between musical thought and philosophical inquiry.
- Visiting researcher at Department of Philosophy, University of California Berkeley
- Visiting researcher at the Cohn-Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Senior research fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Budapest, Hungary (Collegium Budapest, IAS)
Professor Mahrenholz actively supervises graduate students in philosophy, with research interests spanning epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of music. She founded the UMIH Interdisciplinary Research Cluster 'Death as Transformative Experience' in 2021, bringing together fifteen members from nine disciplines across five institutions. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on Philosophy as Way of Life, Twentieth Century Philosophy: Existentialism, Aesthetics as Epistemology, Phenomenology, and Philosophical Theories of Creativity. Her outreach initiatives include public lectures and symposia that bridge academic philosophy with broader community engagement.
Through her interdisciplinary research cluster and collaborative projects, Professor Mahrenholz has established networks connecting philosophy with musicology, media studies, and cognitive science. Her work demonstrates how philosophical inquiry can be enriched through dialogue with artistic practices, particularly musical composition and performance.
حوزههای پژوهشی
