Prof Ken Gemes
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Overview
Overview
Biography
Ken Gemes received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. He came to Birkbeck in 2000 having taught for ten years at Yale University. He is currently also a Professor at the New College of the Humanities. Thus he has one foot in an institution founded on socialist principles a little less than two centuries ago, the other in an institution belonging in a world of cut-throat capitalism founded a little over two years ago.
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Research
Research
Research overview
Ken’s interests range from technical issues concerning logical content and confirmation to Nietzsche’s account of how philosophy is merely the last manifestation of the ascetic ideal.
He is currently working on papers on (i) Nietzsche’s account of the notion of the self, I and consciousness; (ii) Nietzsche account of nihilism and the affirmation of life; and (iii) Nietzsche’s values. His general approach is to read Nietzsche as a psychologist and Kulturkritiker. This is in no way to underplay the importance of Nietzsche’s normative concerns, but to locate those concerns somewhat outside the concerns of more traditional ethicists. Beyond the value of examining the thought of an out-an-out genius, studying Nietzsche allows us to see how philosophy might be directly related to our actual lives.
Ken is also working on a Bayesian account of confirmation that is more fine-grained than that which simplify identifies confirmation with increase in probability. This is part of a wider project that argues that key notions such as confirmation and partial truth cannot be explicated adequately through use of the standard notion of logical consequence.
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Teaching
Teaching modules
- The Philosophy of Nietzsche (SSPL142H7)
- The Biology of Evil (Level 7, 15 credits) (SSPL150H7)
- Research in Theoretical Philosophy (SSPL157S7)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Gemes, Ken (2019) The biology of evil: Nietzsche on Entartung and Verjüdung (Degeneration and Jewification). The Journal of Nietzsche Studies ISSN 0968-8005. (In Press)
- Gemes, Ken (2010) Editor's introduction: the first 25 years. Mind & Language 25 (1), pp. 1-2. ISSN 0268-1064.
- Gemes, Ken (2010) A vindication of a refutation of global scepticism, a refutation of global perceptual scepticism and a refutation of global existential scepticism. Analysis 70 (1), pp. 63-71. ISSN 0003-2638.
- Gemes, Ken (2009) A refutation of global scepticism. Analysis 69 (2), pp. 218-219. ISSN 0003-2638.
- Gemes, Ken (2009) Janaway on perspectivism. European Journal of Philosophy 17 (1), pp. 101-112. ISSN 0966-8373.
- Gemes, Ken (2009) Freud and Nietzsche on sublimation. The Journal of Nietzsche Studies 38, pp. 38-59. ISSN 0968-8005.
- Gemes, Ken (2008) Nihilism and the affirmation of life: a review of and dialogue with Bernard Reginster. European Journal of Philosophy 16 (3), pp. 459-471. ISSN 0966-8373.
- Gemes, Ken (2006) Content & Watkins's account of natural axiomatizations. Dialectica 60 (1), pp. 85-92. ISSN 0012-2017.
- Gemes, Ken (2005) Hypothetico-deductivism: incomplete but not hopeless. Erkenntnis 63 (1), pp. 139-147. ISSN 0165-0106.
- Gemes, Ken (2001) Post-modernism's use and abuse of Nietzsche. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62 (2), pp. 337-360. ISSN 0031-8205.
- Gemes, Ken (1998) Hypothetico-deductivism: the current state of play; the criterion of empirical significance: endgame. Erkenntnis 49 (1), pp. 1-20. ISSN 0165-0106.
- Gemes, Ken (1997) A New Theory of Content II: Model Theory and Some Alternatives. Journal of Philosophical Logic 26 (4), pp. 449-476. ISSN 0022-3611.
- Gemes, Ken (1994) Explanation, unification, and content. Nous 28, pp. 225-240. ISSN 0029-4624.
- Gemes, Ken (1992) Nietzsche's Critique of Truth. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (1), pp. 47-65. ISSN 0031-8205.
Book
- Gemes, Ken and Richardson, J., eds. (2013) The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199534647.
- Gemes, Ken and May, S., eds. (2009) Nietzsche on freedom and autonomy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199231560.
Book Section
- Gemes, K.B. (2017) Nietzsche: this time it's personal. In: Hetherington, S. (ed.) What Makes a Philosopher Great?. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 9781138936164.
- Gemes, Ken and Le Patourel, I (2015) Nietzsche on consciousness, unity, and the self. In: Constancio, J and Mayer Branco, M.J. and Ryan, B. (eds.) Nietzsche and the Problem of Subjectivity. Nietzsche Today. De Gruyter. pp. 596-628. ISBN 9783110408201.
- Gemes, Ken and Sykes, C. (2014) Nietzsche’s illusion. In: Came, D. (ed.) Nietzsche on Art and Life. Oxford University Press. pp. 80-106. ISBN 9780199545964.
- Gemes, Ken (2013) Life's perspectives. In: Gemes, Ken and Richardson, J. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 553-575. ISBN 9780199534647.
- von Tevenar, Godrun (2013) Zarathustra, that malicious dionysian. In: Gemes, Ken and Richardson, J. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook on Nietzsche. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199534647.
- Gemes, Ken (2012) Life-denial versus life-affirmation: Schopenhauer and Nietzsche on pessimism and asceticism. In: Vandenabeele, B. (ed.) A Companion to Schopenhauer. Hoboken, U.S.: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 280-299. ISBN 9781405171038.
- Gemes, Ken and Sykes, C. (2010) Nietzsche. In: Moyar, D. (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Nineteenth Century Philosophy. Routledge Philosophy Companions. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 377-402. ISBN 9780415404501.
- Gemes, Ken (2009) Nietzsche on free will, autonomy and the sovereign individual. In: Gemes, Ken and May, S. (eds.) Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 33-50. ISBN 9780199231560.
- May, Simon (2009) Nihilism and the free self. In: Gemes, Ken and May, Simon (eds.) Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199231560.
- Gemes, Ken (2006) We remain of necessity stranger to ourselves: the key message of Nietzsche's genealogy. In: Acampora, C.D. (ed.) Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals: Critical Essays. Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 191-208. ISBN 9780742542631.
- Gemes, Ken (1998) Logical content and empirical significance. In: Weingartner, Paul and Schurz, Gerhard and Dorn, Georg (eds.) The Role of Pragmatics in Contemporary Philosophy: Proceedings of the 20th International Wittgenstein Symposium, 10-16 August 1997, Kirchberg am Wechsel (Austria). Vienna: Verlag Halder-Pichler-Tempsky. ISBN 1022-3398.