johannes.schmoldt@uni-erfurt.de

 

PhD thesis project (completed): ‘Public Spirit and Judgement: The Aims of Political Education in a Democracy’

 

“You’re in no position to judge that!” – Considering one’s own judgement to be absolute or unique is one of the greatest pitfalls in the formation of political judgement. At the same time, however, it is a widespread tendency. There is a declining willingness to seek common ground in disputes and to set aside divisive issues. In short: there is a lack of civic-mindedness and critical judgement. What role should political education play in this context? This doctoral thesis develops a philosophical foundation for political education and proposes that civic-mindedness and critical judgement be understood once again as fundamental aims of political education. Political education should create spaces in which the development of judgement guided by a sense of community can be practised and reflected upon.

 

Academic career

Since November 2022: Speaker at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in the Science – Politics – Society Department, specialising in science-based policy advice

October 2018 – April 2025: Doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences, University of Erfurt, under Professor Andreas Anter (Chair of Political Education)

October 2013 – September 2022: Scholarship holder in the Journalism Support Programme (JFS) and the doctoral funding programme of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Munich

10/2016 – 09/2018: Master’s degree in Philosophy and Political Science at Dortmund Technical University (Master of Arts)

March 2017 – March 2018: Research assistant at the Chair of Political Science, Institute of Philosophy and Political Science, TU Dortmund (Professor Christoph Schuck)

Oct 2016 – Dec 2016: Research assistant at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute for Cultural Studies Research e.V./Freiburg (biographical project on Arnold Bergstraesser (Fritz Thyssen Foundation) led by Professor Dr Günther Behrmann (Potsdam) and Professor Dr Dieter Oberndörfer (Rostock)

10/2013 – 09/2016: Bachelor’s degree: Economics, Law and Social Sciences and Management at the University of Erfurt (Bachelor of Arts)

Publications

Monographs

Essays

Lectures

  • (with Alexander Bogner) Beyond Model Logic – A Practice-Oriented Approach to Policy Advice Theory, 11th Conference of the Network for Technology Assessment (NTA),
    , 20 November 2024, in-person.
  • Expanded modes of thought in the face of a digital worldlessness. Perspectives with Arendt and beyond Arendt. 29th Academic Congress of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) on the theme ‘Politics in the Polycrisis’, Georg-August University of Göttingen, 27 September 2024, in-person.
  • Political Judgement and the Ethics of Responsibility. Perspectives on political education with Max Weber. 24th Annual Conference of the Society for Political Education and Political Youth and Adult Education (GPJE) on the theme ‘Ethical Foundations of Political Education’, University of Potsdam, 7 June 2024, in-person.
  • Person, Cognition, Emotion. Rhetorical-hermeneutic judgement-forming in democracy. Annual Conference of the Society for Political Education and Political Youth and Adult Education ( GPJE), University of Hildesheim, 3 June 2023, in-person.
  • Digitally (un)sovereign? How much media and information literacy does political education require? Digital Autumn Conference of the German Association for Political Education ( DVPB) on the topic ‘Political Education and the Challenge of “Digital Sovereignty” in the 21st Century’, 17 November 2022. Online.
  • Pre-facticity. On the theory of science concerning uncertain political action in democracy. Postgraduate workshop organised by the German Political Science Association ( DGfP) on the topic of ‘Scientific Knowledge and Democratic Statehood’ as part of the DGfP’s 39th Annual Conference on ‘The Sustainability of Democratic Governance’, Academy for Political Education, Tutzing, 8 July 2022. In-person.
  • ‘Challenge and Response’: On the transfer of the history of political ideas and political education. Conference of the Political Science and Political Education Section of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) on the theme ‘Beyond Boundaries: Political Education from an Interdisciplinary and International Perspective’, 5 February 2022. Online.
  • Controversy, yes please! Reflections from the history of ideas on the rhetorical promotion of political judgement. Autumn conference of the German Association for Political Education (DVPB) from 25–26 November 2021 at Friedrich Schiller University Jena on the theme ‘Democracy(ies) Under Attack and Political Education’, 25–26 November 2021. In-person.
  • Political judgement as the ability to manage conflict. On the potential of the ‘expanded mode of thinking’ in political education. 28th Congress of the German Political Science Association on the theme ‘We Have a Choice! Politics in Times of Uncertainty and Autocratisation’, Panel: ‘Democratic Conflict Management. The Role of Political Education in Uncertain Times’,
    15 September 2021. Online.
  • Pragmatism and Political Science. On the relevance of the democratic educational mandate from the perspective of the history of ideas and the discipline. First conference of the German Pragmatism Network on the theme “Living Democracy? The Future of Democracy”, 28 May 2021 (online).
  • The Knowledge of Judgement. Political Action and Decision-Making at the Intersection of Experience and Evidence. Spring Conference of the Political Sociology Section of the German Sociological Association ( DGS). 17 July 2020. Online.
  • The Ability to Speak as a Learning Objective? On the Rhetorical Dimension of Political Judgement within the Framework of Democracy Education in Political Science Teaching. Fifth Annual Conference of the Working Group on University Teaching within the German Political Science Association (DVPW), 18 February 2020, Berlin. In-person.
  • ‘Hard Boards, Thick Walls’: The Little Bohr ABC of Democracy. 5th Erfurt Science Slam. 20 November 2019, www.youtube.com/watch. In person.
  • Rhetoric as the language of politics, or: ‘The struggle over the ‘hot’ issues’ as a problem in political science. Postgraduate conference as part of the 37th Annual Conference of the German Political Science Association (DGfP), Academy for Political Education, Tutzing, 12 July 2019. In-person.
  • Normative, diverse, forgotten? – Ideas of the Freiburg School. Research colloquium organised by the professorship for Political Theory and History of Ideas at Chemnitz University of Technology, 27 June 2017. In person.

Workshops and seminars on political education

  • Perspectives on Pragmatism: Preparation and delivery of a panel discussion, a workshop session as part of the Cusanuswerk’s Summer Academy on the topic ‘How practical! Pragmatism as a theory of knowledge and science’, 31 July 2023, Münster.
  • Democracy as a Way of Life: Pragmatism and Politics. A two-day workshop as part of the Cusanuswerk Summer Academy on the topic ‘How practical! Pragmatism as a theory of knowledge and science’, 27–28 July 2023, Münster.
  • (with Janine Schmoldt and Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting) Judging – Speaking – Acting. Political judgement in a democratic society, 10–12 February 2023, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Banz Monastery, in-person.

Courses

  • Winter semester 2025/2026: Plato’s Republic in the Digital Age. University of Erfurt. (in collaboration with Professor Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting and Dr Janine Schmoldt) (face-to-face.)
  • Winter semester 2021/2022. On Myth and Logos. Plato’s Myths and Parables. University of Erfurt. (in collaboration with Professor Dr Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting). Face-to-face and online (hybrid).
  • Winter semester 2021/2022. Philosophical Foundations of Political Education. University of Erfurt. In-person and online (hybrid)
  • Summer term 2021. Philosophical Foundations of Political Education. University of Erfurt. Online.
  • Summer term 2020. Philosophy and Practice of Rhetoric. University of Erfurt (together with Professor Dr Heinrich Niehues-Pröbsting), digital.
  • Winter semester 2019/2020. Evaluating politics – but how? Theory and practice of judgement-forming.
    University of Erfurt. In-person.
  • Winter semester 2017/2018. Tutorial for the lecture ‘Introduction to Political Science’ (Professor Christoph Schuck/Dr Kathrin Rucktäschel), TU Dortmund, 2 sessions per week. Face-to-face.

Events organised

  • (with Lena Burth, Michael Güpner and Steffen Mingenbach): A series of events organised by the Centre for Political Practices and Orders (C2PO). Topic: “The Limits of Order – How the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging the state.” Talks featuring, amongst others, Wolfgang Streeck, Andrea Römmele, Dirk Jörke, Stephan Rixen and Stefan Kolev. 29 April to 1 July 2021. Online.
  • (with Lisa Hasenbein and Andrea Lindner) Hanns Seidel Foundation Media Expert Forum 2019. Topic: “Innovation, Technology, Politics – Media Literacy: Between Necessity and Overwhelm”. 26–28 August 2019, Berlin. In-person.