Noam Cohen

About

I am a philosopher, working on the themes of selfhood, sociality, and drives, engaging both historical and contemporary philosophy. I explore these themes from multiple angles in phenomenology – particularly in Heidegger and Husserl – and in ancient philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle. While my work spans several domains, the question that motivates my research as a whole is how to maintain an account of our individual selves as autonomous, while acknowledging our relations of dependence on things and forces beyond our immediate control or awareness – such as affectivity, nature, and others. I approach the history of philosophy as a living tradition, rich with ideas that remain vital to contemporary philosophical inquiry.

As a Visiting Researcher at the Section for Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy in the Department of General Psychiatry at Heidelberg University, I am currently working on a project that investigates the lived experience of instincts and drives, and how this experience serves as a foundation for our personal identity. Previously, I was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.

You can reach me by email. Some of my work is available on PhilPeople and Academia.edu.