German philosophy scholar wins prestigious award to pursue research at McGill University
The Canada Council is pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 John Diefenbaker Award – Professor Günter Zöller of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Munich, Germany. The award enables Professor Zöller to carry out a major research project at Montreal’s McGill University on the socio-political legacy of German idealism.
Professor Zöller is a highly respected philosophy scholar with an international reputation for his research on the historical significance and contemporary relevance of the philosophical movement called “German Idealism.” The movement was begun in the late 18th century by Immanuel Kant and developed further by such philosophers as Fichte and Hegel. It was chiefly concerned with the role and reach of reason in human intellectual and social life focusing on the essential function of freedom and self-determination in the constitution of the self.
According to his nominator, Natalie Stoljar, chair of McGill’s Department of Philosophy, this project will be “a valuable contribution to a long-standing tradition in Canada of studies in German Idealism. His presence in Montreal will give international exposure to this tradition as well as promote international connections for interested colleagues and students.”
About Professor Zöller
Professor Zöller is a leading German scholar with an extensive international reputation and long-established academic ties to North America and the Montreal academic community in particular. After his studies in Germany, France and the United States, he taught philosophy at the University of Iowa, where he was promoted to full professor and departmental chair (1996). While at Iowa, he held visiting positions at Princeton, Harvard and Oxford. In 1999, he returned to his native Germany to take up his present position in Munich. Between 2000 and 2002, he served as the equivalent of associate dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and chair of the department of philosophy. He has served on many committees and is widely published with two sole-authored books, some 27 edited volumes, more than 20 translations and over 230 articles. Despite these many activities, he has maintained a prominent profile on the international scene and recently conducted a series of seminars in Venice, Italy and was a visiting professor at Seoul National University, South Korea (2010).