Wissenschaft auf dem ›post‹-Weg

The prefix ‘post-’ is the most successful invention in the humanities and social sciences since 1945. It is used worldwide in buzzwords such as postmodernism or postcolonialism, as well as in countless other combinations. Apparently, it has become a trend to place oneself in the post-history of a pre-history. However, post-theorists have a fundamental problem: they leave something behind and yet continue to drag it along. They remain stuck in the ambivalence between attachment and departure.

Dieter Thomä’s Post-. Nachruf auf eine Vorsilbe (Suhrkamp 2025) is an obituary for the postisms of our time and at the same time a plea for something different: a presence of mind. We present the book in conversation with the author Dieter Thomä and the cultural historian Philipp Felsch (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). The evening will be chaired by Eva Geulen (ZfL).

Dieter Thomä was Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen from 2000 to 2023. He received his PhD from the University of Freiburg in 1989 with a thesis on the critique of textual history in Martin Heidegger. Thomä has held visiting professorships at the University of California at Davis, Brown University, and Yale University.

Philipp Felsch is Professor of Cultural History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He received his PhD from the University of Zurich in 2006 with a thesis on physiological Alpine travel in the 19th century and subsequently worked at ETH Zurich. His research interests include the history of theory in the second half of the 20th century.

With the kind support of Suhrkamp Verlag.

Admission is free, registration is not necessary.