Academic Advising in Philosophy
The subject-specific student advice service is the point of contact for any in-depth questions you may have about your studies. For example: timetabling and scheduling issues, performance, examination requirements and degree programme changes.
Subject-specific study advisor for the department for philosophy is Dr. Jens Kertscher.
Office for Student Affairs
Questions about your studies that are not related to the content or examination formats offered by the Institute of Philosophy can be directed to the Office for Student Affairs of the Department of History and Social Sciences.
The team at the Office for Student Affairs will assist you with all administrative questions and matters related to your studies.
Further counselling services
- Questions on your application process and status should be directed exclusively at the general student service of the TU Darmstadt (opens in new tab).
- Help with technical issues with TuCaN is provided by the TUCaN team (opens in new tab) of the TU. (e-mail)
- Information from Faculty 2 on how to use TuCaN can be found on the homepage of the Office of Student Affairs (Studienbüro) (opens in new tab).
- The Center for Teacher Training (opens in new tab) offers students in our teacher training programmes advice on any specific questions.
Finding your way on our website
In the “Institute of Philosophy” section you will find all important information about the institute.
Special events are announced, contact details & information about the staff are listed & useful information, such as the e-mail distribution list, can be found there.
The “Study” tab lists all the important information needed to study philosophy at TU Darmstadt.
Here you will find an overview of the possible courses of study and information for prospective and current students. The first step towards a doctorate can also be taken here.
Under “Research” you will find a list of current research projects & guest researchers at the Institute of Philosophy.
Useful links
Click here for the course catalog (TUCaN) (opens in new tab).
Click here for the Moodle platform (opens in new tab).
Click here for current events of the department of philosophy (opens in new tab).
Click here for an overview of the public event series of the TU Darmstadt (opens in new tab).
Click here for an overview of the public events of the TU Darmstadt (opens in new tab).
Here you can subscribe to the mailing list of the department of Philosophy (opens in new tab) to receive information and news, for example announcements of special events, lectures, job offers and more.
Here you will find an overview with further links to the programmes of study (opens in new tab).
Tip: familiarize yourself with the respective module handbook.
In the following, we have compiled links that can make your everyday study life a little easier and help you with researching topics and literature. You will also find more general references and literature recommendations on the subject of philosophy and lecture recordings. If you know of any other interesting sites that we should link to here, please let us know.
On the website of the University Didactics Centre (HDA) you will find numerous tips and offers for developing study skills (opens in new tab). These include, for example, learning strategies and help with exam preparation, as well as opportunities for exchange. A self-study course on study techniques (opens in new tab) is very low-threshold. Take a look at these pages, there is a lot to discover there.
Adam F. Patterson has compiled an extensive collection of links to resources on philosophising and studying philosophy (opens in new tab). Here you will find many interesting tips on reading, writing and publishing, academic practices and blogs, albeit mainly from a US perspective.
Note: To use certain licensed electronic resources, your computer must be within the IP range of the TU, i.e. you must be sitting at a computer at the TU/ULB or using the VPN service from home (see the ULB information page on electronic media (opens in new tab) and the HRZ installation guide for setting up VPN access (opens in new tab)).
We recommend the following literature for beginning your studies in philosophy:
Otfried Höffe (Hrsg.): Klassiker der Philosophie, 2 Bände, Beck 2008. (opens in new tab)
Bertrand Russell: The Problems of Philosophy, Dover Publications 1999. (opens in new tab)
Wolfgang Detel: Grundkurs Philosophie. 7 Bände. Reclam 2007. (opens in new tab)
- Database Information System (DBIS) - comprehensive compilation of resources (opens in new tab)
- Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Verlagsseite) (opens in new tab)
- Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm (opens in new tab)
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (opens in new tab)
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (opens in new tab)
Here are some things worth seeing or hearing about philosophy, for example lecture or workshop recordings (of which there are now an unmanageable number on the net):
- Audio and video recordings of lectures and talks at our institute can be found on the OpenLearnWare Portal (opens in new tab) of TU Darmstadt.
- Another extensive and interesting collection of current podcasts, videos and slides on philosophical topics and lectures can be found in the philosophical audio library (opens in new tab) of TU Wien.
- The multi-part video series Ethics in America (opens in new tab) discusses ethical issues in topic-specific discussion rounds and examines moral arguments.