Beate Roessler is a professor of ethics at the University of Amsterdam and chair of the Capacity group Philosophy and Public Affairs.

From 2003-2010 she was Socrates-Professor for the Foundations of Humanism at Leiden University. Before, she taught philosophy at the Free University, Berlin, Germany, and at the University of Bremen, Germany.  

She studied philosophy at Tübingen, London, Oxford, and Berlin and completed her Ph.D. in 1988 at the Free University Berlin (on theories of meaning in analytic philosophy and hermeneutics). She finished her habilitation in 2001 at the University of Bremen (on the value of privacy).

In 2003/2004 she was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin; in November (2011) she was a fellow at the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Value and Ethics, Sydney. In 2015 in November and December she was a research fellow at Melbourne University, Law School. In the spring of 2017, she was a visiting professor at New York University.

In September/October 2023, she has been teaching as the Bok Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

In 2016, she was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities at Göttingen, Germany. In 2022, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Recently, she's been elected to the Academia Europea.

She is a founding member of the Amsterdam Platform for Privacy Research (APPR) and the Platform for the Ethics and Politics of Technology (PEPT). 

She is in the team of the ongoing NWO funded project: Political Microtargeting: Safeguarding Public Values. She is a member of the consortium of the Gravitation Project Public Values in the Algorithmic Society.

Since 2009, she has been a co-editor of the European Journal of Philosophy, and she is a co-editor of the recently founded Privacy Studies Journal.

Her board memberships include the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt/Germany.

Beate Roessler teaches Bachelor and Master courses in ethics and social philosophy.

Her research fields include theories of freedom and autonomy, theories of privacy, ethical and political questions of the digital society, the ethics of technology, justice and equality, ethics and the good life, and feminist theories.

Some publications:

Forthcoming: On Being Human in the Digital World, edited with Valerie Steeves (Ottawa), Cambridge University Press 2024 (with contributions by H. Nissenbaum, F. Pasquale, J. Millar, J. Cohen and others)

Recently published: the Stanford Encyclopedia Article on Privacy

Autonomy. An essay on the Life Well-Lived, Cambridge: Polity 2021 (German Autonomie. Ein Versuch über das gelungene Leben, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2017; Dutch 2018 with Boom Publishers)

"Online Manipulation. Hidden Influences in a Digital World", co-authored with Daniel Susser and Helen Nissenbaum 

"Privacy as a Human Right", in: Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 2017, 2

"Wie wir uns regieren. Soziale Dimensionen des Privaten in der Post-Snowden Ära", in: WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Jg 13, Heft1, 2016. S. 103-119 

Social Dimensions of Privacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited with Dorota Mokrosinska, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015

"Are Private Data Tradable Goods", in: Social Dimensions of Privacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited with Dorota Mokrosinska, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015

"What is there to lose? Privacy in offline and online friendships" Eurozine Febr 2015

"Autonomy, Self-Knowledge, and Oppression", in: Oshana, M. (ed.), Personal Autonomy and Social Oppression, London: Routledge, 2014

"Desperately seeking Women" Eurozine Febr 2014

"Kantian Autonomy and its social Preconditions: On Axel Honneth's Das Recht der Freiheit", in:  Krisis. Tijdschrift voor Aktuele Filosofie, 2013 issue 1

"Privacy and Social Interaction", co-authored with Dorota Mokrosinska, in: Philosophy & Social Criticism October 2013 39: 771-791

Der Wert des Privaten, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2001; English translation The Value of Privacy 2005 with Polity Press, Cambridge

Publications

Books (edited)

• Social Dimensions of Privacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited with Dorota Mokrosinska, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2015.
• Handbuch der politischen Philosophie und Sozialphilosophie , herausgegeben mit Stefan Gosepath und Wilfried Hinsch, Berlin, de Gruyter 2008.
• Von Person zu Person. Zur Moralität persönlicher Beziehungen, herausgegeben mit Axel Honneth, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp 2008.
• Privacies. Philosophical Evaluations, Stanford University Press, 2004.
• Autonomy. Problems and Limits (Special Issue of the Philosophical Explorations), Vol V, Nr. 3 October 2002.
• Quotierung und Gerechtigkeit. Eine moralphilosophische Kontroverse, Frankfurt: Campus 1993.

Books (monographs)

• Autonomie. Ein Versuch über das gelungene Leben, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2017; Dutch translation Autonomie. Een essay over het vervulde leven, 2018 (Boom); English translation Autonomy. An Essay on the Life Well-Lived, 2021 (Polity Press).
• Der Wert des Privaten, Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2001; English translation The Value of Privacy, 2005 (Polity Press).
• Die Theorie des Verstehens in Sprachanalyse und Hermeneutik. Untersuchungen am Beispiel M. Dummetts und F.D.E. Schleiermachers, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1990.

Articles (last 10 years)

2022

• “Intervista a Beate Roessler: per un’autonomia narrative”, in: S. Pierosa, Per Un’Autonomia Narrativa: Etica, Storia, Educazione, 2022.
• “Der Überwachung entgegenkommen. Paradoxien der Privatheit im Internet”, in: Normative Paradoxien, edited by Axel Honneth et al., Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2022, pp. 239-254.

2021

• “Mark of the Human: On the Concept of the Digital Human Being”, European Data Protection Law Review, 7(2), 2021.
• “Was bedeutet es, in der digitalen Gesellschaft zu leben? Zur digitalen Transformation des Menschen”, in: Magazin Privatheit & Digitalisierung: Abschlussmagazin des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs, 2021.

2020

• “De maat der natuur: over morele ordes en naturalistische drogredeneringen”, De Nederlandse Boekengids, 5(6), 2020, 47-49.
• “Gleichheit, Gerechtigkeit, Differenz: Warum sollte Ungleiches gleichwertig sein?“ in: Geschlechter-Verwirrungen, edited by Barbara Rendtorff e.a., Frankfurt: Campus 2020.
• “Een herwaardering van de democratie”, in: Na de quarantaine, Uitgeverij Balans, 2020.
• “Fashioning Our Selves: Freedom and Subject Formation in the Digital Society” to be published in the Festschrift for Axel Honneth, edited by Titus Stahl e.a., Routledge 2020.
• “Fashioning Our Selves? On Understanding and Criticizing the Digitized Society”, In Debating Critical Theory: Engagements with Axel Honneth, edited by J. Christ, K. Leopold, D. Loick, & T. Stahl (Essex Studies in Contemporary Critical Theory), Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, pp. 205-224.
• “Solidarität unter Frauen?“, in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, 68(4), 2021, pp. 495-513.
• „Technologie, Autonomie und Manipulation“, in: Digital Humanity. Jahrestagung der Societas Ethica in Kooperation mit der Evangelischen Akademie Tutzing, 27.–30. Juni 2019, hg von Arne Mazeschke, epd Dokumentation Nr. 24-25, 9. Juni 2020, p 35-50.

2019

• “Allen, Anita”, in: Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy, edited by M. Sellers, & S. Kirste, Dordrecht: Springer, 2019.
• “Gemanipuleerde metamorfosen? Over de digitalisering van de mens” in: NLBG 2019 Januari
• Daniel Susser, Beate Roessler, & Helen Nissenbaum, “Online Manipulation: Hidden Influences in a Digital World.” Georgetown Law Technology Review 4(1), p. 1-45, 2019.
• Daniel Susser, Beate Roessler, & Helen Nissenbaum, “Technology, autonomy, and manipulation.” Internet Policy Review 8(2), p. 1-22, 2019.

2018

• “Autonomie im Konflikt. Bemerkungen zum Problem der Einheit der Person im Handeln“, in: Negativität: Kunst, Recht, Politik, edited by Thomas Khurana et al., Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2018.
• “Privatheit, Autonomie, Recht“, in: Autonomie im Recht - geschlechtertheoretisch vermessen, edited by Susanne Baehr, Ute Sacksofsky, Nomos (Schriften zur Gleichstellung), 2018.
• “Three Dimensions of Privacy”, in: The Handbook of Privacy Studies. An Interdisciplinary Introduction, edited by Bart van der Sloot, & Aviva de Groot, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018; Dutch translation 2018 (in Filosofie en Praktijk 39(4)).
• “Wie wir uns regieren. Soziale Dimensionen des Privaten in der Post-Snowden Ära“, in: Kultur der Privatheit in der Netzgesellschaft, edited by Gernot Böhme & Ute Gahlings, Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag, p 29-48, 2018 (previously published in WestEnd).

2017

• "Privacy as a Human Right", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. cxvii, Part 2 March 2017.
• "Feministische Politik für Menschen", Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, DZPhil 2017; 65(6): 1126–1132.

2016

• "Feministische Gerechtigkeit", in: Handbuch Gerechtigkeit, edited by Corinna Mieth et al., Metzler, 2016, pp. 92-98.
• "Privacy and/in the Public Sphere", in: Yearbook for Eastern and Western Philosophy, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016, pp. 40-60.
• "Wie wir uns regieren. Soziale Dimensionen des Privaten in der Post-Snowden Ära", in: WestEnd. Neue Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, Jg 13, Heft1, 2016. S. 103-119.

2015

• "Should personal data be a tradable good? On the moral limits of markets in privacy", in: Social Dimensions of Privacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited with Dorota Mokrosinska, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• "Introduction" (with Dorota Mokrosinska) in: Social Dimensions of Privacy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, edited with Dorota Mokrosinska, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• "What is there to lose? Privacy in offline and online friendships" Eurozine (http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2015-02-27-rossler-en.html; also in Lithuanian translation)

2014

• “Academics Against Mass Surveillance”, web page co-authored with van Eijk, N., Zuiderveen Borgesius, F. , Oostveen, M. , et al., U. , van Son, R. , Verkade, F. , Vliek, M. , Alberdingk Thijm, C. , Apt, K. , Böhler, B. , den Boon, A. , Breemen, K. , Breemen, V. , de Goede, M. , van Gompel, S. , Guibault, L. , Helberger, N. , Hins, A. W. , ... Taylor, L., 2014.
• "Autonomy, Self-Knowledge, and Oppression", in: Oshana, M. (ed.), Personal Autonomy and Social Oppression, London: Routledge, 2014.
• "Desperately Seeking Women" in: Eurozine (http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2014-02-28-rossler-en.html), 2014; translation of "Frauen verzweifelt gesucht" (Merkur 2012)
• “Freiheit'in der sozialen und politischen Philosophie”, in: Freiheit (Thermen der Theologie; No. 7), edited by M. Laube, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014, pp. 233-253.
• "Wie frei können wir leben? Über den Freiheitsbegriff in der politischen und sozialen Philosophie", in: Freiheit in Theologie und Philosophie, hg. Martin Laube, Goettingen 2014.

2013

• "Autonom ist man nie allein: Chancen und Grenzen der Selbstbestimmung", in: Ausgabe Magazin 2-2013, Aktion Mensch, Februar 2013
• "Autonomy, Paternalism, and Privacy: Some Remarks on Anita Allen" in: APA Newsletter Philosophy and Law, ed. by Steven Scalet and Christopher Griffin, Vol 13, Fall 2013, Edition in Tribute to Anita L. Allen, 13-17.
• "de openbaring John Rawls", Nieuwsbrief Geesteswetenschappen, Oktober 2013
• "Kantian Autonomy and its social Preconditions: On Axel Honneth's Das Recht der Freiheit", in: Krisis. Tijdschrift voor Aktuele Filosofie, 2013, issue 1.
• "Friends, Connections, and Social Norms of Privacy. Do Social Network Sites Change Our conception of Friendship?", in: Krisis. Tijdschrift voor Aktuele Filosofie, 2013, issue 2.
• "Privacy and Social Interaction", co-authored with Dorota Mokrosinska, in: Philosophy & Social Criticism October 2013 39: 771-791.
• "Self-knowledge through numbers. Over lifelogs, autonomie en identiteit", in: cimedart februari 2013
• "Sind Quoten notwendig – und sind sie gerecht?" DZPhil 61 5/6 3, 2013.

2012

• "Authenticity of Cultures and of Persons", in: Philosophy and Social Criticism, 38(4-5), 2012, 445–455.
• „Autonomie und die Frage nach dem Handeln aus eigenen Gründen“, Deutsches Jahrbuch Philosophie, 4, 934-950.
• "Autonomie und eigene Gruende", in: M. Betzler e.a., eds., Eigene Gruende, Muenchen 2012.
• "Autonomie, Glück und der Sinn des Lebens", in: K. Liessmann, ed., Die Jagd nach dem Glueck, Wien 2012.
• "Frauen verzweifelt gesucht? Über Quoten und Gerechtigkeit", in: Merkur 5 Jg 66 Mai 2012
• "Meaningful Work: Arguments from Autonomy", in: Journal of Political Philosophy 2012 Volume 20, Issue 1, 71-93.
• "Sinnvolle Arbeit und Autonomie", in Deutsche Zeitschrift fuer Philosophie, 2012.
• "Soziale Dimensionen des Privaten" (unter Mitarbeit von Dorota Mokrosinska), in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Sonderheft 46, 2012, p. 101-128.

2011

• "Autonomie", in: Handbuch Angewandte Ethik, hg. v. R. Stoecker, C. Neuhäuser, M.-L. Raters, Stuttgart: Metzler, 2011.
• "Autonomie en Ambivalentie", K. Schoebroeck & Thomas Nys, eds., De Filosofie van Harry Frankfurt, Amsterdam 2011.

2010

• "Integration der Gesellschaft gefährdet", in: Jan Rehmann, Thomas Wagner eds., Angriff der Leistungsträger? Das Buch zur Sloterdijk-Debatte, Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2010, p. 118-121
• "Over autonomie en rechtvaardigheid", Oratie UvA, Vossiuspers 2010
• "Privatheit und Autonomie. Zum individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Wert des Privaten", in: Die Grenzen des Privaten, hg. v. S. Seubert & P. Niessen, Baden-Baden 2010, p.41-58.
• "Vragen aan Jürgen Habermas", in: Tijdschrift voor Humanistiek nr 42 2010, p.10f

2009

• "Autonomie und Ambivalenz", in: Sozialphilosophie und Kritik, hg. von R. Forst e.a., Frankfurt/M. 2009.
• "De glazen samenleving en de waarde van privacy", in: filosofie & praktijk 2009, 30, 5, p.20-30
• "Einleitung", in: Von Person zu Person. Zur Moralität persönlicher Beziehungen, herausgegeben mit Axel Honneth, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp 2008 (together with Axel Honneth), 1-25.
• "Voor de 80ste Verjaardag van Christa Wolf", LOVER, november 2009

2008

• "Der Wert des Privaten", in: Schweizerische Monatshefte 964, Oktober 2008
• "Privatheit", in: Handbuch der politischen Philosophie und Sozialphilosophie, herausgegeben mit Stefan Gosepath und Wilfried Hinsch, Berlin, de Gruyter 2008.

2007

• “Autonomie als kritisch begrip. Over de noodzaak en begrenzingen”, in: Esther Wit e.a. (red.), De autonome mens. Nieuwe visies op gemeenschappelijkheid, Amsterdam 2007, p. 97-109
• “Der Wert des Privaten: liberale Theorie und Gesellschaftskritik”, in: Mechtild Oechsle & Karin Jur­czyk (eds.), Das Private neu denken, Muenster 2007, 282-301
• “The Value of Privacy”, in: Gerfried Stocker & Christine Schoepf (eds.), Good Bye Privacy. Ars Electronica 2007, Linz 2007, 26-38
• “Work, Recognition, and Emancipation”, in: Bert van den Brink & David Owen (eds.), Recog­nition and Power. Axel Honneth and the Tradition of Critical Social Theory, Cam­bridge 2007, p. 135-164.

2006

• "De Waarde van de Democratie en de Status van het Publiek", in: Krisis 2, 2006.
• "Menschenrechte und Autonomie", in: Nico Scarano, Mauricio Suárez (Hg.), Die Moral der Wechselseitigkeit. Auseinandersetzung mit der Ethik Ernst Tugenhats, Muenchen, Beck 2006, 235-255.
• “New Ways of Thinking about Privacy”, in: Anne Phillips, Bonnie Honig and John Dryzek (eds), Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, Oxford UP 2006, 694-713.
• "Vrouwen en Arbeid. Scenes uit de Maatschappelijke Theorie en Praktijk", in: Krisis 3, 2006.

2005

• “Arbeit und Anerkennung”, in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, 53 2005 Heft 3, 435-457.
• "Het recht op anonimiteit", in: Tijdschrift voor Humanistiek 23, okt. 2005
• "Humanisme en religie", in: Tijdschrift voor Humanistiek 24, dec. 2005, 24-33

2004

• “Gender and Privacy. Critique of the Liberal Tradition”, in: Privacies, ed. by B. Roessler, Stanford UP 2004, 52-72.
• "Introduction", in: Privacies, ed. by B. Roessler, Stanford UP 2004.
• "Speziesismus", in: Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, hg.v. Ritter, J., Gruender, K.F. e.a., Basel; Vol. 9

Additional Information

Various Reviews (of, amongst others, R. Geuss, Privatheit. Eine Genealogie; R. Dworkin, Die Grenzen des Lebens; M. Walzer, Sphaeren der Gerechtigkeit; R.M. Hare, Essays in Ethical Theory; in various papers and journals, e.g. Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Zeit, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, Philosophischer Literaturanzeiger)

Numerous articles on moral and political issues in: Die Zeit, Frankfurter Rundschau, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, NRC Handelsblad

Interviews given to: WDR, Schweizer Fernsehen, Die Zeit; Bayerischer Rundfunk; Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen/Leipzig; Niedersächsischer Rundfunk Goettingen; Algemeen Dagblad; Oesterreichischer Rundfunk; ZDF KulturZeit; WDR 5; HP/De tijd (dec 2011); Welt der Frau (nov 2011); Australian Broadcasting Company The Philosopher's Zone (nov 2011); Tagesspiegel (2012) De Correspondent; radio-interview met human NL; numerous interviews in 2017 (SDR,WDR, Kulturzeit, Information Philosophie, Hohe Luft Philosophie); Filosofie Magazine; filosofisch Kwintet

Curriculum Vitae: Beate Roessler

Office address:

Universiteit van Amsterdam, Afdeling Wijsbegeerte, Faculteit der Gees­teswetenschappen, Oude Turfmarkt 141-147, 1012 GC Amsterdam, The Ne­ther­lands,

Tel.: +31 20 525 4516

Email: b.roessler@uva.nl

Education

• Habilitation, University of Bremen, Philosophy Department, 14. 6. 2001
• Doctorate Dr. Phil., Free University Berlin, 9. 6. 1988 (Promotor: Ernst Tugendhat)
• "Paedagogicum", Free University of Berlin, 27.6.1986
• Graduate Studies in Philosophy at New College, Oxford, 1984 - 1985 (supervisor: Michael Dummett)
• Graduate Studies in Philosophy at the Free University, Berlin, 1983 -1988
• Studies in Philosophy at King's College, London, 1982 - 1983 (supervisor: Peter Winch)
• "Staatsexamen" in German Literature and Protestant Theology, October 1981, University of Tübingen
• Studies in German Literature, Protestant Theology and Philosophy at the University of Tübingen, 1979 - 1982
• Studies in German Literature and Protestant Theology at the University of Göttingen, 1976 - 1979
• "Abitur" at the Humanistisches Uhland-Gymnasium, Tübingen, May 1976

Appointments

• Chair of Ethics and its History, Depart­ment of Philosophy, University of Amster­­dam; head of the capaciteitsgroep Philosophy and Public Affairs August 2009 -
• Socrates-Professor for Philosophical Anthropology and the Foundations of Hu­ma­nism at the University of Leiden, April 2004 - 2010
• Associate Professor of Philosophy, Depart­ment of Philosophy, University of Amster­­dam, April 1997 - August 2009
• Assistant Professor ("Hochschulassistentin") of Political Theory and the History of Ideas, Department of Political Science, University of Bremen, September 1994 - March 1997
• Assistant Professor ("Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin") of Philosophy at the Free Uni­versity of Berlin, December 1989 - August 1994
• Personal Assistant to the President of the University of Marburg (Prof. Dr. D. Simon), September 1988 - November 1989
• Research Assistant ("Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft") at the Department of German Literature at the University of Tuebingen 1980-1982

Fellowships, Grants and Honors

• Elected Member of the Academia Europaea (2023)
• Elected Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2022)
• Elected Member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2016)
• Best Paper Award at the PLSC Washington June 2018 for the co-authored paper “Online Manipulation” (with Daniel Susser and Helen Nissenbaum)
• Visiting Professor at New York University, January-June 2017
• Visiting Professor at the Melbourne University Law School, November-December 2015
• Research Fellow at the Research Center for Agency, Value and Ethics Macquarie University Sydney, Australia, November 2011
• Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) Berlin, October 2003 – July 2004
• Award of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis for the best academic publication ("Der Wert des Privaten") in 2001
• Fellow at the Institut fuer die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, Vienna, October 1998
• Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Frankfurt/M., Department of Philosophy, December 1994
• Grant of the German Academic Exchange Service 1984 - 1985
• Special Academic Exchange Award of the German National Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), 1982 - 1983
• Scholar of the German National Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), 1981 – 1988

Editorships

• Member of the Editorial Board of the book series Essex Studies in Contemporary Critical Theory (Rowman and Littlefield) (2014-2022)
• Member of the Editorial Committee of the European Journal of Philosophy (2009-)
• Member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal Philosophical Explorations, (2000-2009)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Zeitschrift für Rechtsphilosophie (2010- )
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Zeitschrift für Philosophische Literatur (2013-)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal Privacy Studies Journal (2020-)