Dan Zahavi: Center for Subjectivity Research 2002-2024

Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen was established in 2002 on the basis of a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (Danmarks Grundforskningsfond). Its three founders were a philosopher, a psychiatrist, and a professor of systematic theology.  Since then, it has had more than 80 employees, attracted more than 250 guest researchers, and secured external funding in excess of 140.000.000 DKK. Currently, its staff involves people with a background in philosophy, psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, and criminology. In my talk, I will outline the history of the center, present some of its distinctive features, and discuss how it over the years has facilitated interdisciplinary collaboration.

About Dan Zahavi
Dan Zahavi is Professor of Philosophy and director of the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen. Zahavi’s primary research area is phenomenology and philosophy of mind, and their intersection with empirical disciplines such as psychiatry, psychology, and anthropology. In addition to various scholarly works on the phenomenology of Husserl, Zahavi has mainly written on the nature of selfhood, self-consciousness, intersubjectivity, empathy, and most recently on topics in social ontology. His most important publications include Self-awareness and Alterity (1999/2020), Husserl’s Phenomenology (2003), Subjectivity and Selfhood (2005), The Phenomenological Mind (together with Shaun Gallagher) (2008/2012/2021), Self and Other (2014), Husserl’s Legacy (2017), Phenomenology: The Basics (2019), and Being We (forthcoming in 2025). His work has been translated into more than 30 languages.