Civil disobedience and protests at universities - academic freedom under pressure? ("Ziviler Ungehorsam und Proteste an Universitäten - Wissenschaftsfreiheit unter Druck?")
- „On the legal assessment of academic blockades" - Professor Dr. Tim Wihl („Zur juristischen Bewertung akademischer Blockaden“ )
- „Whose freedom, which science? An attempt at mapping" - Professor Dr. Frieder Vogelman („Wessen Freiheit, welche Wissenschaft? Ein Kartierungsversuch“)
6/22/2023, 6 p.m. Academy for European Human Rights Protection, Library [The event will be in german language]
As part of the lecture series "Let's talk about academic freedom", the Academy for European Human Rights Protection and the Institute for the Law of Peace will host their fourth lecture on the evening of 6/22 under the topic "Civil disobedience and protests at universities - academic freedom under pressure?". Professor Dr. Frieder Vogelmann (Chair of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Freiburg) will give a lecture from a philosophical perspective on "Whose Freedom, Which Science? - A Mapping Attempt". Dr. Tim Wihl (Acting Professor of Public Law and Modern Legal History, University of Erfurt) will follow with a paper on "On the Legal Assessment of Academic Blockades."
Although and because the freedom of science is constitutionally guaranteed in Art. 5 para. 3 GG without any limits, it is regularly confronted with protests. Knowledge, science, and knowledge creation have always been subject to social traction and debate. In the feature pages of newspapers as well as at universities, the debate has gained momentum in recent years.
What legitimacy can disruptive actions and civil protests have at universities? Do they lead to an erosion of academic freedom or are they, in turn, a valuable contribution to the unleashing of discourse in the form of constitutionally guaranteed opportunities for protest? At the site of science itself, our lecture series aims to shed light on the foundations, epistemes, and ethos of science, and to engage the conversation about the freedom of science. On 6/22, we will address the legitimacy of civil forms of protest in the space of science and the social anchoring of knowledge creation.
Speakers
Professor Dr. Frieder Vogelmann is a philosopher specializing in epistemology and philosophy of science at the University of Freiburg. In his research he focuses on the basic concepts of political epistemology and its social theoretical basis. In doing so, he establishes a dialogue between insights of critical theory and approaches of analytical philosophy as well as political theory. His 2022 book "The Effectiveness of Knowledge. A Political Epistemology" is dedicated to the question of the relationship between truth and knowledge on the one hand and politics and society on the other. In doing so, he reformulates the concept of knowledge, taking truth and efficacy into account, and shows what far-reaching consequences this has for current debates about untruths in politics, possible forms of social critique, and reflection on philosophy and its history. Professor Dr. Frieder Vogelmann received his doctorate and habilitation from the University of Frankfurt.
Dr. Tim Wihl is a substitute professor at the University of Erfurt, specializing in public law, modern legal history, political theory, and constitutional theory. His research focuses on constitutional foundations in a contestable democracy. His publications include articles on police law, the law of assembly, constitutional liberalism, and abrogation rights. Most recently, he published on "Demo as Revolt" in the Journal of Political Theory under the theme "The Dissolution of the Liberal Consensus." Dr. Tim Wihl studied political science and law and was a research assistant at HU Berlin from 2009 to 2018 under Professor Dr. Christoph Möllers as well as Professor Dr. Susanne Baer.
Download the flyer of the event here.