Dr. Steffen Koch

• 2009–2013: B.A. in Philosophy/History, Humboldt University Berlin
• 2013–2014: M.Litt in Philosophy, St. Andrews/Stirling Programme
• 2014–2016: M.A. in Philosophy, Humboldt University Berlin
• 2018–2021: Ph.D. in Philosophy, Ruhr University Bochum, Dissertation: In Defense of Conceptual Engineering
• 2018–2021: Research Associate, Emmy Noether Group “Experimental Philosophy and the Method of Cases: Theoretical Foundations, Responses, and Alternatives”, Ruhr University Bochum
• 2021–2023: Research Associate, Department of Theoretical Philosophy, Bielefeld University
• Since 2023: Academic Councilor (Akademischer Rat) in Theoretical Philosophy, Bielefeld University
• Since Oct 2024: Principal Investigator, DFG Project “The Philosophy of Linguistic Interventions”, Bielefeld University

A full CV is available on my personal website (see below).

My main research areas lie in metaphilosophy, philosophy of language, and experimental philosophy. In my doctoral dissertation, I examined the possibilities and limits of conceptual engineering—a method that, unlike classical conceptual analysis, does not aim to describe or define our existing concepts correctly, but rather to construct new concepts and improve old ones. Currently, I am particularly interested in the cognitive effects of linguistic and conceptual interventions, the implementation problem in conceptual engineering, and several projects in experimental (meta-)semantics.

(forthcoming). "Heavy-duty conceptual engineering" (with Jakob Ohlhorst), Noûs.

(forthcoming). "Ameliorative projects, psychological essentialism, and the power of nouns", Mind & Language.

(forthcoming). “Why does conceptual engineering matter? The argument from nameability” (with Gary Lupyan), Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

(forthcoming). “Folk concepts of race, cross-culturally” (with Leda Beria, Daniel James, Benedict Kenyah-Dampey & Alex Wiegmann), Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

(2024). “The Anti-Conceptual Engineering Argument and the Problem of Implementation”, American Philosophical Quarterly, 61 (1): 73-85.

(2024). “How words matter. A psycholinguistic argument for meaning revision”, Mind & Language, 39 (3): 164-180.

(2023). “Recent Work in the Theory of Conceptual Engineering” (with Guido Löhr and Mark Pinder), Analysis, 83 (3): 589-603.

(2023). “Why conceptual engineers should not worry about topics”, Erkenntnis, 88: 2123–2143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00446-1.

(2022). “Folk intuitions about reference change and the causal theory of reference” (with Alex Wiegmann), Ergo 8 (25). Open access: https://doi.org/10.3998/ergo.2226

(2022). "Chalmers on Virtual Reality: Realism on the Cheap?" Analysis, 82 (4): 766-774. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anac068 

(2022). “Conceptual engineering: A roadmap to practice” (with Manuel Gustavo Isaac & Ryan Neftd), Philosophy Compass, 17 (10): e12879. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12879

(2021). “There is no dilemma for conceptual engineering. Reply to Max Deutsch”, Philosophical Studies, 178(7), 2279-2291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-020-01546-4 

(2021). “Experimental philosophy and the method of cases” (with Joachim Horvath), Philosophy Compass, 16 (1):e12716. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12716 

(2021). “The Externalist Challenge to Conceptual Engineering”, Synthese, 198, 327–348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-02007-6. 

(2021). “Engineering what? On concepts in conceptual engineering”, Synthese, 199, 1955–1975. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-020-02868-w.

Bielefeld University

• Summer 2024: Formale Methoden der Philosophie (ehemals Logik II) [Lecture]
• Summer 2024: Welche begriffe sollten wir haben? Matthieu Queloz, The Ethics of Conceptualization (mit C. Nimtz) [MA seminar]
• Summer 2023: Willensfreiheit und Determinismus [BA seminar, Philosophischer Einstiegskurs]
• ​Winter 2022/2023: Grundkurs Theoretische Philosophie [Lecture]
• Winter 2022/2023: Einführung in die Sprachphilosophie [BA seminar]
• ​Summer 2022: Conceptual Engineering, oder: Können wir unsere Sprache verbessern? [MA Seminar]
• Summer 2022: Was ist experimentelle Philosophie? [BA seminar]
• Winter 2021/2022: Philosophie in einer virtuellen Welt [BA seminar]
• Winter 2021/2022: Schreibkurs: Willensfreiheit [BA seminar]

Ruhr University Bochum 

• Summer 2021: Philosophie in einer virtuellen Welt [BA seminar]
• Summer 2019: Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics [MA seminar, with Dr. Guido Löhr]

University Cologne

• Summer 2018: Saul Kripke, Name und Notwendigkeit [BA seminar]
• Winter 2017/2018: Was ist epistemische Rechtfertigung? [BA seminar]

Further information is available on my homepage.