Jan Philipp Reemtsma
Unboxing Truth
Attempts to establish a correlation between true statements and some observer-independent truth, between truths in the plural and truth in the singular, have routinely failed. And yet we continue to be driven by a desire to seek out and unveil the ultimate truth that stabilizes the many contingent truths. Once we strip down truths to the one naked truth, we expect to find beauty. But could it be our very longing that casts truth in a light of beauty?
Jan Philipp Reemtsma studied German literature and philosophy in Hamburg and also received his doctorate there. In 1981 Reemtsma created the Arno Schmidt Foundation to preserve, disseminate, and study the work of writer Arno Schmidt and has been on its board of directors since then. In 1984 he launched the Hamburg Foundation for the Advancement of Research and Culture. In the same year, he established the Hamburg Institute for Social Research (Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung), which he directed until 2015. From 1996 until 2007 he was Professor of Contemporary German Literature at the University of Hamburg. In 2008 he was the Johannes Gutenberg Professor at the University of Mainz, and in 2009 Schiller Professor at the University of Jena. Recent publications include: “Wie hätte ich mich verhalten?“ und andere nicht nur deutsche Fragen (2001); Das unaufhebbare Nichtbescheidwissen der Mehrheit (2005); Folter im Rechtstaat? (2005); Das Scheinproblem “Willensfreiheit”. Ein Plädoyer für das Ende einer überflüssigen Debatte (2008); Vertrauen und Gewalt. Versuch über eine besondere Konstellation der Moderne (2008, engl. Trust and Violence: An Essay on a Modern Relationship, 2012); Was heißt: einen literarischen Text interpretieren? Voraussetzungen und Implikationen des Redens über Literatur (2016) and Schriften zur Literatur. Gesamtwerk (3 vols., 2016).