All Fellows

Philip Mills

Postdoctoral Fellow

Resident at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

September 2024–August 2025

Research topic at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:

»Poetic Forms of Life and Democracy«

Project outline:

Through an interdisciplinary perspective linking philosophy and poetry, my research aims to explore the potential of the notion of form of life to approach ethical, social, and political concerns of our times. This poetic perspective highlights a creative dimension that has not yet received much attention. How can we create new forms of life? How can we oppose and transform existing ones? By focusing on the way contemporary poets describe and invent new forms of life, I aim to provide better understanding of this creative dimension that brings poetry in relation to ethical and socio political concerns, moving up in scale from individuality to society and democracy. In so doing, my project aims to rethink the relationship between poetry and democracy through the notion of form of life. (Philip Mills)

Research partner:

Philip Mills is a fellow at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften at the invitation of research focus Forschungsschwerpunktes »Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Atlantic World«

Scholarly profile of Philip Mills

Philip Mills studied Philosophy and French Literature at the University of Lausanne. From 2014 to 2019, he completed doctoral studies at Royal Holloway College, University of London. Since completing his dissertation, he has been a postdoctoral researcher in French literature at the University of Lausanne, where he also teaches philosophy. In fall 2022, he was a visiting scholar at Duke University (North Carolina, USA). Mills is the author of numerous articles in which he deals with the border area of literature and philosophy.

Website:
Please find more information about Philip Mills: here.

Contact:
Email: philip.mills@outlook.fr

Main areas of research:

Friedrich Nietzsche; Ludwig Wittgenstein; Philosophy of Language; Philosophy and Literature; Philosophy of Art.

Selected publications:

Poetry, Performativity, and Ordinary Language Philosophy, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2025, online at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78615-0.
»The Seduction of Metaphors in Nietzsche and Cixous«, in: Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, vol 31:1/2 (2023), p. 82-96.
»Parasites, Viruses, and Baisetioles: Poetry as a Viral Language«, in: SubStance, vol.52:2 (2023), p. 38-58.
A Poetic Philosophy of Language: Nietzsche and Wittgenstein’s Expressivism, London: Bloomsbury 2022.
»Subversive Playfullness in Nietzsche and Dada«, in in Paul Kirkland and Michael McNeal (eds.), Joy and Laughter in Nietzsche’s Political Philosophy: Alternative Liberatory Politics, London: Bloomsbury, p. 143-157.

Philip Mills

Scholarly profile of Philip Mills

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