Jürgen Lipps

I got my BA from Rutgers University, where I majored in philosophy and comparative literature with a minor in German studies. My philosophical interests pertain primarily to the philosophy of language, and my work in that area largely deals with traditional problems such as naming, reference, and meaning. I’m particularly interested in conceptual engineering and in trying to understand, on a metaphysical level, what may be going on with words when they appear to shift or change meanings. My background in comparative literature has instilled in me an appreciation for literary theory and continental philosophy. Within these areas, I have been most influenced by and am most drawn towards the works of Werner Hamacher, Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Underlying and perhaps uniting my seemingly opposed interests in both analytic and continental philosophy is a deep appreciation for the history of philosophy and in the works of figures such as Kant and Hume who predate the split between the two traditions and whose influence can be readily observed in both. I also have a fascination with 20th-century German literature, in particular the works of Franz Kafka. Outside of academia, I enjoy travel, hiking, backpacking, and bicycle touring.