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I am an associate professor of philosophy at Binghamton University, State University of New York (SUNY).

I studied philosophy and political science at the Freie Universität Berlin and at the University of Chicago. I hold an M.A. in philosophy as well as an M.A. in political science and completed my Ph.D. in 2005.

I have taught a wide range of courses in political theory and philosophy in Berlin, Frankfurt, Graz, Moscow and at the New School for Social Research in New York. 

My dissertation“Empörung und Fortschritt. Grundlagen einer kritischen Theorie der Gesellschaft” (Indignation and Progress.Foundations of a Critical Theory of Society) was published in 2008 and won the Best First Book Award of the German Political Science Association (DVPW).

The English translation "Indignation and Progress" is forthcoming with Oxford University Press (transl. Ciaran Cronin).

In this book I develop a theory of deontological recognition that emphasizes the importance of indignation for social movements. I defend the general idea of such a critical theory against five other strands of social criticism and hereby also provide the first comprehensive discussion of the crucial differences between the critical theories of Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth.

At the moment I am completing a book project on a theory of legitimate violence.