Christian Helmut Wenzel

Distinguished Professor, National Taiwan University
PhD in mathematics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
PhD (Dr. phil.) in philosophy, University of Wuppertal, Germany

wenzelchristian@yahoo.com
National Taiwan University, Department of Philosophy, 10617 Taipei, Taiwan.

     Born and raised in Germany, Christian Wenzel pursued studies of mathematics, physics, philosophy, and fine arts at the universities of Würzburg, Bonn, and Wuppertal in Germany and, in the United States, at the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1990 he received his PhD in mathematics, with a dissertation in algebraic geometry, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA). From 1990 to 1991, he was Visiting Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, and in Madras, India. While being an Assistant Professor in mathematics at the University of Wuppertal from 1991 to 1998, he at the same time pursued his studies in philosophy. During this time, Wenzel also spent a period as a Visiting Professor at L'École Normale Supérieure, Paris, in 1995. In 1999 he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Wuppertal with a dissertation on Kant. For the following two years he was an Alexander von Humboldt scholar, first at Harvard University and Boston University from 1999 to 2000, and then at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2000 to 2001. In the Fall of 2001, Dr. Dr. Wenzel joined National Chi Nan University, Taiwan, as Associate Professor. Since Spring 2002 he is also Adjunct Professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Germany, where he gives a course every summer. In 2004 he was awarded the Outstanding Research Reward by the National Science Council of Taiwan, and in 2005 he was promoted to Full Professor. The academic year of 2005/6 he spent at Stanford, and since February 2009 he is Professor at National Taiwan University, Department of Philosophy, 1 Roosevelt Road, Sec. 4, Taipei 10617, Taiwan. In 2009 he received Taiwan's Ministry of Education Research Award.

     Christian Wenzel's fields of research are Kant, philosophy of language, epistemology, aesthetics, phenomenology, Chinese philosophy, and philosophy of mathematics. He has lectured in four different languages on mathematics and philosophy in England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, India, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Canada, and the USA. He plays the piano and enjoys reading literature. He is familiar with Latin and Ancient Greek and fluent in German, English, French, and Chinese.

Publications

Books

3. An Introduction to Kant's Aesthetics: Core Concepts and Problems. Foreword by Henry Allison. Blackwell Publishers 2005. Amazon. Reviews: in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, in The British Journal of Aesthetics, in Philosophical Books.

3a. An Introduction to Kant's Aesthetics appeared in Chinese translation 《康德美學》, 李淳玲 Esther Lee Chun Ling (transl.), Taipei, Linking Publishing 2011.  

2. Das Problem der Subjektiven Allgemeingültigkeit des Geschmacksurteils bei Kant. (The Problem of Subjective Universality of the Judgement of Taste in Kant), Kantstudien-Ergänzungshefte, vol. 137, Walter de Gruyter 2000, pp. VIII + 208. Amazon. Reviews: in The British Journal of Aesthetics, in Kant-Studien, in Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Etranger.

1. Classification of All Parabolic Subgroup-Schemes of a Semi-Simple Linear Algebraic Group over an Algebraically Closed Field. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dissertation 1990.

Articles in Philosophy

27. 'Urteil' (Judgment) in Neues Handbuch philosophischer Grundbegriffe (New Handbook of Basic Concepts in Philosophy), 3 volumes, Petra Kolmer, Armin G. Wildfeuer (eds), Verlag Karl Alber 2011, pp. 2284-2296.

26. ‘On Wittgenstein on Certainty’, in Epistemology: Contexts, Values, Disagreement. Papers of the 34th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 19, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2011, pp. 320-322.

25. 'Isolation and Involvement: Wilhelm von Humboldt, François Jullien, and More', Philosophy East and West, vol. 60, no. 4 (October 2010), pp. 458-475.

24. 'Aesthetics and Morality in Kant and Confucius: A Second Step' in Cultivating Personhood: Kant and Asian Philosophy. Stephen Palmquiest (ed.), Walter de Gruyter Verlag 2010, pp. 321-332.

23. 'How Pictorial is Chinese? And Does it Matter?', in Image and Imaging in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts. Papers of the 33rd International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 18, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2010, pp. 317-319.

22. 'On Wittgenstein's Notion of Meaning Blindness: Its Subjective, Objective, and Aesthetic Aspects', Philosophical Investigations, vol. 33, no. 3 (July 2010), pp. 201-219.

21. 'Frege, the Complex Numbers, and the Identity of Indiscernibles,' Logique et Analyse, vol. 53, no. 209 (March 2010), pp. 51-60.

20. 'Sprachphilosophische Bedenken zur Rede von kulturellen Universalien', Erwägen, Wissen, Ethik, vol. 20, no. 3 (2009), pp. 395-396. 

19. 'Chinese Ways of Words', in Comparative and Intercultural Philosophy, Proceedings of the IIT (Institut International de Philosophie) Conference (Entretiens) Seoul 2008. Hans Lenk (ed.), Berlin: LIT Verlag 2009, pp. 119-126.

18. 'Bedeutungserlebnis and Lebensgefühl in Kant and Wittgenstein: Responsibility and the Future', in Language and World. Papers of the 32nd International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 17, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2009, pp. 451-453.

17. 'Kant’s Aesthetics: Overview and Recent Literature', Philosophy Compass Blackwell 4/3 (2009), pp. 380-406. 

16. 'Transcendental Philosopy and Mind-Body Reductionism', in Reductionism and Elimination. Philosophy and the Sciences. Papers of the 31st International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 16, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2008, pp. 390-392.

15. 'Wittgenstein and Kant on Judgments of Taste: Situations versus Faculties', Philosophy of the Information Society. Papers of the 30th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 15, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2007, pp. 239-241.

14. 'Chinese Language, Chinese Mind?', in Culture. Proceedings of the 29th International Wittgenstein Symposium 2006, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Austria. New Series vol. 3, Ontos Verlag 2007, pp. 295-314.

13. 'Gemeinsinn und das Schöne als Symbol des Sittlichen' (Common Sense and Beauty as Symbol of Morality), in Die Vollendung der Transzendentalphilosophie in Kants „Kritik der Urteilskraft“. Reinhard Hiltscher, Stefan Klingner, David Süß (eds.), Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2006, pp. 125-139.

12. 'Beauty in Kant and Confucius. A First Step', Journal of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 33, no. 1 (March 2006), pp. 95-107.

12a. 'Beauty in Kant and Confucius' appeared in Chinese translation in Kant and Confucianism. International Chinese Philosophy Series, vol.1. Beijing: Renmin University Press 2009. 

11. 'Spielen nach Kant die Kategorien schon bei der Wahrnehmung eine Rolle? Peter Rohs und John McDowell' (Do the Categories Play a Role Already in Perception According to Kant? Peter Rohs and John McDowell), Kant-Studien, vol. 96, no. 4 (December 2005), pp. 407-426.

10. 'Meaning and Time: History and the Fregean Third Realm', Time and History. Papers of the 28th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 13, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2005, pp. 333-335.

9. 'Where after all are the Meanings? A Defense of Internalism. Searle versus Putnam', in Experience and Analysis. Papers of the 27th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 12, Kirchberg am Wechsel, 2004, pp. 408-409.    

8. 'Kripke's Contingent A Priori: The Meter-Stick Example', in Aufklärung durch Kritik: Festschrift für Manfred Baum zum 65. Geburtstag. Dieter Hüning, Karin Michel, Andreas Thomas (eds.), Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2004, pp. 477-480.

7. 'Knowledge, Belief, and the A Priori', in Knowledge and Belief. Papers of the 26th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 11, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2003, pp. 369-370.

6. 'Ethics and Zhuangzi: Awareness, Freedom, and Autonomy', Journal of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 30, no. 1 (March 2003), pp. 115-126.

5. 'Aesthetic Aspects on Persons in Kant, Schiller, and Wittgenstein', in Persons. An Interdisciplinary Approach. Papers of the 25th International Wittgenstein Symposium, vol. 10, Kirchberg am Wechsel 2002, pp. 282-283.

5a. 'Aesthetic Aspects' also appeared in The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy, vol. 9, Philosophical Anthropology, pp. 35-39, Stephen Voss (ed.), Philosophical Society of Turkey, Ankara 2006.

4. 'Beauty, Genius, and Mathematics: Why did Kant Change his Mind?' History of Philosophy Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 4 (October 2001), pp. 415-432.

4a. 'Beauty, Genius, and Mathematics' appeared in Chinese translation in 世界哲學 , no. 1 (2004) . See for simplified characters (original) and non-simplified characters.

3. 'Kann aus dem Urteil über das Angenehme ein Geschmacksurteil ähnlich wie aus dem Wahrnehmungsurteil ein Erfahrungsurteil werden?' (Can a Judgment About the Agreeable Become a Judgment of Taste, As a Judgment of Perception Can Become a Judgment of Experience?), Kant und die Berliner Aufklärung. Akten des IX. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses, vol. 3, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - New York  2001, pp. 468-476.

2. 'Kant Finds Nothing Ugly?', The British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 39, no. 4 (October 1999), pp. 416-422.

1. 'The Jump of a Frog. An Interpretation of a Haiku by Basho', Komparative Philosophie. Begegnungen zwischen östlichen und westlichen Denkwegen. R. Elberfeld, J. Kreuzer, J. Minford, G. Wohlfart (eds.), München: Fink Verlag 1998, pp. 271-280.

Articles in Mathematics

4. 'On the Chow Ring of a Flag', Mathematische Nachrichten, vols, 188, 187, (1997), pp. 293-310.

3. 'On the Structure of Non-Reduced Parabolic Subgroup-Schemes', Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics, vol. 56.1, 1994, pp. 291-297.

2. 'Rationality of G/P for a Non-Reduced Parabolic Subgroup Scheme P', Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 117, no. 4, (April 1993), pp. 899-904.

1. 'Classification of All Parabolic Subgroup Schemes of a Reductive Linear Algebraic Group over an Algebraically Closed Field', Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 337, no. 1, (May 1993), pp. 211-218.

Reviews

12. The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom, Robert R. Clewis, Cambridge University Press 2009, 258 pp. The Review of Metaphysics, vol. 64, no.1, September 2010, pp. 135-137.

11. The Ethics of Confucius and Aristotle. Mirrors of Virtue, Jiyuan Yu, Routledge 2007, 276 pp. Philosophy East and West, vol.60, no. 2, April 2010, pp. 303-306. 

10. Ethics Vindicated. Kant's Transcendental Legitimation of Moral Discourse, Ermanno Bencivenga, Oxford University Press 2007, 193 pp. Mind, vol. 118, no. 471, July 2009, pp. 811-815.

9. The Impossible Nude. Chinese Art and Western Aesthetics, François Jullien, The University of Chicago Press 2007, 136 pp. Philosophy East and West, vol. 59, no. 2, April 2009, pp. 240-243.

8. Philosophical Perspectives on Art, Stephen Davies, Oxford University Press 2007, 279 pp. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2008.07.25.

7. Kant and the Historical Turn. Philosophy as Critical Interpretation, Karl Ameriks, Oxford University Press 2006, 335 pp. Mind, vol. 117, no. 467, July 2008, pp. 669-674.

6. Thinking about Knowing, Jay Rosenberg, Oxford University Press, 2002, viii + 257 pp. European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 14, no. 3, December 2006, pp. 453-456.

5. On Clear and Confused Ideas: An Essay about Substance Concepts, Ruth Garrett Millikan, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. xiii + 258. European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 12, no. 1, 2004, pp. 157-161.

4. Kant's Theory of A Priori Knowledge, Robert Greenberg, Penn State Press, 2001, 278 p. Philosophy in Review, vol. 22, no. 3, June 2002, pp. 188-190.

3. Philosophy of Art: A Contemporary Introduction, Noël Carroll, Routledge 1999, pp. IX + 273.  British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 42, no. 2, April 2002, pp. 211-214.

2. Kant's Theory of Taste, A Reading of the Critique of Aesthetic Judgment, Henry E. Allison, Cambridge University Press 2001, pp. XVI + 424. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2002.01.01.

1. Ästhetische Erfahrung und Moralisches Urteil: Eine Rehabilitation, Joseph Früchtl, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp 1996, 516p. Sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur Rundschau, 1998 no.2, pp. 99-102.

Wenzel's Hometown: Würzburg