Christopher Roser

I work mainly on issues concerning reasons and rationality, and on Ancient Philosophy.

In my recently submitted thesis "The Epistemic Value of Logos. Gorgias, Isocrates, and Plato on the Possibility of Giving Reasons to Others", I analyze the debate between Gorgias, Isocrates and Plato on the question of the nature and epistemic value of argumentation. With this approach, I develop an account of Plato's dialectical argumentation according to which Plato conceives dialectical argumentation as an activity of giving and receiving of reasons. This account enable us to better understand his conception of knowledge (or epistêmê), reasoning, and (logical) validity.

I am recently also working on the conception of responsibility and the problem of free will and its orgin in Antquity, the rationality of trust and hope, and the nature and value of philosophy.

I am a member of the DFG funded Research Training Group Philosophy, Science and the Sciences. I also teach argumentation courses.