Manuel Gebhardt

Manuel Gebhardt holds a PhD from Harvard University (Germanic Languages and Literatures) and a M.A. in Philosophy, Political Theory, and Religious Studies from the University of Bamberg. His dissertation examines the idea of aesthetic education in the face of the ecological crisis: why well-grounded reasons for ecological responsibility so often fail to become durable practices, and how aesthetic experience, attention, and spaces for resonance might help bridge the gap between insight and action.

His research and teaching trace a red thread running from Plato and Meister Eckhart to the ethics and aesthetics of Kant, Schiller, and Fichte, bringing this lineage into conversation with Martin Buber’s dialogical thought, Hannah Arendt, Bruno Latour, and the tradition of Critical Theory (from Horkheimer and Adorno, via Fromm and Marcuse, to Rahel Jaeggi and Hartmut Rosa). A guiding interest is what he calls an approach to pragmatic idealism: taking ideals seriously as orientation points, while remaining skeptical of moralizing shortcuts and overly clean “solutions” to messy political realities. The aim is less to win arguments than to cultivate judgment, perception, and the capacities that make shared responsibility possible – including the role of intuition, habit, and practiced forms of attention.

At BCB, Manuel teaches at the intersection of ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy, with a particular focus on the ecological crisis and forms of alienation. His courses explore how ethical frameworks, political judgment, and aesthetic experience illuminate each other – and how resonance and the “arts of connection” might help public life resist cynicism and “resignative noise.”

Alongside philosophy courses, he regularly teaches German language courses and enjoys the liberal arts moments that emerge when languages become a medium for thinking together.

Contact:
Dr. Manuel Gebhardt
History of Ideas and German Studies
[email protected]