Dennis J. Schmidt
Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy, comparative Literature, and German
209 Sparks
(814) 865-1919
Education
Ph.D., Boston College, 1982
B.A., Bucknell University, 1974
Professional Bio
Rather than describe my work as inter- or multi-disciplinary, I would prefer to describe it as not respecting disciplinary differences. By that I mean that I find the questions that animate me to have been developed and explored in various literatures, theoretical approaches, and art forms. To that end, I find myself writing about painting (Twombly and Klee most recently), music, poetry (above all, Celan, Rilke, Trakl, and Hölderlin), and tragedy (Sophocles and Aeschylus). Likewise, my theoretical concerns span a range of figures and traditions (Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Benjamin, Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida, and others). Finally, I work mostly in four languages (Ancient Greek, German, French, and English).
Areas of specialization
- Post-Kantian Philosophy
- Hermeneutic theory
- Ancient Greek Philosophy and Literature
- Aesthetic theory
- Contemporary literary theory and criticism
- Translation theory and practice
Publications
Edited and revised translation, with a new foreword. SUNY Press, 2010.
Fordham UP, 2008. Co-edited with Shannon Sullivan.
(Indiana University Press, 2001)
J.C.B. Mohr Verlag, 2000. Co-edited with Günter Figal
MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusettsm, 1988
a translation of Naturrecht und menschliche Würde by Ernst Bloch, MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986.