Rahel Jaeggi

Rahel Jaeggi (German: [ˈjɛɡi]; born July 19, 1966) is a Swiss professor of practical philosophy and social philosophy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research areas are in social philosophy, political philosophy, ethics, philosophical anthropology, social ontology, and critical theory. Since February 2018 she has been the head of the Berlin campus of the newly founded International Center for Humanities and Social Change.

Rahel Jaeggi
Jaeggi in 2015
Born	(1966-07-19) July 19, 1966 (age 59) Bern, Switzerland
Occupation(s)	Philosopher, Chair of Practical and Social Philosophy at Humboldt University of Berlin
Relatives	Urs Jaeggi
Education
Alma mater	University of Frankfurt Free University of Berlin
Doctoral advisor	Axel Honneth
Philosophical work
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy Frankfurt school Neopragmatism
Institutions	Humboldt University of Berlin
Main interests	Critical theory
Notable ideas	Critique of forms of life

Biography

Rahel Jaeggi is the daughter of Austrian psychoanalyst and author Eva Jaeggi [de] and Swiss sociologist Urs Jaeggi. Prior to working as a research assistant to Axel Honneth (1996-2001) at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Frankfurt (Chair of Social Philosophy) and at the Institute for Social Research, Jaeggi studied at the Free University of Berlin (1990–1996). She completed her studies with a thesis (Magistra Artium) on the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt. In 1999 she was a visiting scholar at the New School for Social Research, New York. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the concept of alienation (Freiheit und Indifferenz – Versuch einer Rekonstruktion des Entfremdungsbegriffs, 2002). Research and teaching positions brought her to Yale University in New Haven, the New School for Social Research in New York City, and the University of Frankfurt.^[1][2]

She wrote her habilitation thesis on the theme Critique of Forms of Life at the University of Frankfurt.

Since 2009 she has been the chair of practical philosophy and social philosophy at the Humboldt University of Berlin.^[3]

During the academic year of 2015–2016, Jaeggi was Theodor Heuss Visiting Professor in Philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York.^[4] In 2017 and 2018 she co-organized (with The New School's Alice Crary) the Kritische Theorie in Berlin Summer School (Progress, Regression, and Social Change) in Berlin, Germany.^[5]

Together with Daniel Loick, Jaeggi was the main organizer of the international conference "Re-thinking Marx", which took place from 20 to 22 May 2011 at the Humboldt-University of Berlin.^[6][7] During the conference 50 well-known scholars, including the philosopher Étienne Balibar, the sociologist Saskia Sassen, the political scientist Wendy Brown and the social philosopher Axel Honneth discussed topics such as freedom, justice, exploitation and alienation.^[8]

Jaeggi receives funding from the Humanities & Social Change International Foundation ^[9] (established by the businessman and politician of SPD Erck Rickmers) to conduct a research project on the Crisis of Capitalism and Democracy.^[10]

In May 2018, together with Sabine Hark, Kristina Lepold and Thomas Seibert, she hosted the international conference Emancipation, which took place at Technische Universität Berlin.^[11]

In 2023, Jaeggi was elected Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.^[12]

Selected works in English

Books

• Alienation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.
• Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory (with Nancy Fraser). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2018.
• Critique of Forms of Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018.
• Progress and Regression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2025.

Essays

• "What (if Anything) Is Wrong with Capitalism". Working Paper 01/2013 of the DFG–Forschungskolleg Postwachstumsgesellschaften, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, 2013. (Also in: The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Volume 54, Spindel Supplement, 2016.)
• "What is a (good) Institution?" in: Social Philosophy and Critique, Rainer Forst, Martin Hartmann, Rahel Jaeggi and Martin Saar (ed.), 2009.
• "Re-Thinking Ideology" in: New Waves in Political Philosophy, Christopher Zurn, Boujdewijn de Bruijn (ed.), 2008.
• "No Individual Can Do Anything Against It: Adorno's Minima Moralia as a Critique of Forms of Life" in: Dialectic of Freedom, Axel Honneth (ed.), Suhrkamp, 2005.
• "Solidarity and Indifference" in: Solidarity and Care in the European Union, R. Termeulen and R. Houtepen (ed.), Kluwer, 2001.
• "The Market's Price" in: Constellations, volume 8, nº 3, 2001.