Jan-Paul Sandmann

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Government, specializing in political theory.

Inspired by the writings of Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, and Susan Sontag, I am interested in how cultural criticism expresses visions of a more humane and vibrant social world. My dissertation project, tentatively titled Crisis of Creativity: A Return to the Promise of Culture, offers an intellectual history of the three thinkers’ shared aspiration to elevate culture to the heart of people’s lives. Drawing upon this history, I provide my own account of art’s potential at a time when the promise of culture appears to have lost much of its appeal or relevance.

Before I became interested in questions about the relationship between art and politics, I sought to explain in what way a theory of democratic legitimacy could and should, incorporate voting practices as one of its justificatory elements. I continue to have interests in democratic theory and the philosophy of social science, and would happily supervise undergraduate theses in this area.

At Harvard, I am a Graduate Affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and have assisted in teaching a course on the German philosophical tradition from Nietzsche to Habermas, as well as undergraduate and graduate-level classes in moral and political philosophy.

I hold a B.Sc. in Government and Economics and an M.Sc. in Philosophy of the Social Sciences, both from the London School of Economics. During the course of my studies, I have received scholarships from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Theodor H Ashford Graduate Fellowship, and the Society of Friends of Bayreuth.