Stephan A Kaufer John Williamson Nevin Memorial Professor of Philosophy, Program Chair of Scientific & Philosophical Studies of Mind

Education

Yale College, BA (1991)

Stanford University, PhD (1999)

Research

My primary research interest is Heidegger. I have looked mostly at his early work, up to and slightly beyond Being and Time, trying to make sense of his views on logic, his existential conception of the self, and his interpretation of Kant.  I have also written on the development and demise of 19th century logic in the neo-Kantian tradition.  Currently, I am writing a series of papers on various topics on Division Two of Being and Time.  And Anthony Chemero and I are co-writing a book on phenomenology and cognitive science, to be published by Polity Press.

More About Professor Kaufer

Grants & Awards

  • CPC Mellon Sabbatical Fellowship, 2006
  • Fellowship in the Humanities, Stanford University, 1998-1999
  • Centennial Teaching Assistant Award, Stanford University, 1998
  • Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, Stanford University, 1997-1998
  • University Fellowship, Stanford University, 1993-1997

Publications

  • “Temporality as the Ontological Sense of Care,” Cambridge Companion to Being and Time, Mark Wrathall ed., Cambridge U P, 2013, pp. 338-359.
  • "Heidegger on Existentiality, Constancy, and the Self,” Inquiry 55:5, 2012, pp. 454-472.
  • “Heidegger on Hegel on Time,” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 43:2, 2012, pp. 131-142.
  • “Heidegger on Mineness and Memory,” Annales Philosophici 1:2, 2011.
  • "Heidegger's Interpretation of Kant," Interpreting Heidegger: Critical Essays, Daniel Dahlstrom ed., Cambridge, 2011, pp. 174-196.
  • "Post-Kantian Logical Radicalism,” Routledge Companion to Nineteenth Century Philosophy, Dean Moyar ed., Routledge, 2010, pp. 809-836.
  • "The Nothing and the Ontological Difference in Heidegger’s What is Metaphysics?,” Inquiry 48:6, 2005, pp. 482-506.
  • “Hegel to Frege: Concepts and Conceptual Content in 19th Century Logic,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 22:3, 2005, pp. 259-280.
  • “Logic,” The Blackwell Companion to Heidegger, Hubert Dreyfus and Mark Wrathall eds., Blackwell, 2005, pp. 141-155.
  • “Schemata, Hammers, Time. Heidegger’s Two Derivations of Logic,” Topoi 22:1, 2003, pp. 79-91.
  • “Systematicity and Temporality in Being and Time,” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 33: 2, 2002, pp. 167-187.
  • “On Heidegger on Logic,” Continental Philosophy Review 34: 4, 2001, pp. 455-476.
  • Phenomenology: An Introduction, co-authored with Anthony Chemero, Polity Press, under contract, expected publication 2014.
  • “Jaspers, Limit-Situations, and the Methodological Function of Authenticity,” forthcoming in Heidegger, Authenticity and the Self: Themes from Division Two of Being and Time, Denis McManus ed., Routledge.

Reviews

  • “Review of Mark Wrathall: Heidegger and Unconcealment: Truth, Language, and History,” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews07.02.
  • “Review of Michael Roubach: Being and Number in Heidegger’s Thought,” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews09.20.
  • “Review of Richard Tieszen: Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics,” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews03.11.
  • “Review of William Egginton and Mike Sandbothe (eds.): The Pragmatic Turn in Philosophy. Contemporary Engagements between Analytic and Continental Thought,” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews11.12.
  • "Review of Herman Philipse's Heidegger's Philosophy of Being,International Studies in Philosophy36:1, 2004, pp. 245-248.
  • “Review of Trish Glazebrook’s Heidegger’s Philosophy of Science,” The Philosophical Review110:4, 2001, pp. 626-629.

Presentations

  • “Authenticity and the Surrogate Problem in Division 2,” American Society for Existential Phenomenology, Berkeley (March 2013)
  • “Jaspers and Heidegger on Limit Situations,” Essex Autonomy Project, London (March 2011) 
  • “Heidegger on Memory and Historicalness,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2010)
  • “Mineness and Memory,” American Society for Existential Phenomenology, Oxford (June 2010)
  • “Temporality and Apperception,” American Society for Existential Phenomenology, Barnard College (March 2009) 
  • “Why is Death Ownmost?,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2008)
  • “Heidegger on Hegel on Time: Section 82 of Being and Time,” Society for Existential Phenomenology, Harvard (March 2008)
  • “What Does it Mean to Say that Temporality is the Meaning of Care?,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2007) 
  • “Heidegger on Dasein’s Constancy,” Society for Existential Phenomenology, Berkeley (January 2007) 
  • “World-forming and Givenness,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2006) 
  • “The Nothing and the Ontological Difference in Heidegger’s What is Metaphysics?,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2004) 
  • “Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger on Transcendental Logic,” International Society for Phenomenological Studies, Asilomar (July 2003) 
  • “The Kantian Interpretation of Originary Temporality,” Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Forest Grove (November 2000) 
  • "Temporal Agency and Existential Wholeness," Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago (April 2000) 
  • "Knowing What We're Doing," Philosophy Department colloquium, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster (March 1999) 
  • "Heidegger and Carnap on Physical Language," Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Berkeley (March 1999)
  • "How Time Organizes Experience," Philosophy Department Colloquium, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (January 1999) 
  • "The Historical Context of Heidegger's Critique of Logic," Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Los Angeles (March 1998)

Course Information

Philosophy Courses

PHI213: 17th and 18th Century Philosophy: A survey of main currents in Western philosophy from Descartes through Kant, emphasizing how the figures replaced the intellectual foundations of the medieval world with assumptions heavily influenced by the Scientific Revolution. 

PHI217: Existentialism: Existentialism is a label for a loose grouping of writers who investigate the personal and individual nature of one's relation to the world and to others. These writers focus especially on questions about truth, commitment, responsibility, freedom and death. This class surveys some main texts in the existentialist tradition, with readings from Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche and Kundera.

PHI218: Nietzsche: In-depth study of Nietzsche's thought through close reading of his major writings. There is a focus on literary and philosophical aspects of his writings.

PHI317: Kant and German Idealism: Close examination of the two most important and influential views of the German idealist tradition: Kant's critical philosophy and Hegel's historicist reaction to it.

PHI319: 20th Century Continental Philosophy: Close examination of the key texts of phenomenology and hermeneutics. We will study writings from Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas and others. 

Foundations Courses

FND106: Art/Life: This class looks at a range of views on the nature of art, imitation, representation, and reality. There will be readings from Homer, Plato, Nietzsche, and others.