Prof. Dr. Christoph Henning

Christoph Henning is Professor of Philosophy and Humanism at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht (the Netherlands, Christoph Henning - University of Humanistic Studies). In the summer of 2026 he is a part-time fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies to finalize publications and grant applications and strengthen the collaboration with our partner university in Utrecht, where Hartmut Rosa also holds an honorary doctorate.

Henning received his doctorate in Dresden with a dissertation on the academic reception history of Marx through the disciplines. Following a postdoctoral appointment at Zeppelin University, he wrote his habilitation in St. Gallen on the political philosophy of perfectionism. He has been a fellow at the Max Weber Centre before. His research focuses a) on humanism in political philosophy, particularly in relation to the climate crisis, populism, and the emerging phenomenon of “techno-feudalism,” and b) on the history of Critical Theory and Marxism in Europe.

Christoph Henning is furthermore an associated member of the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 294 "Structural Change of Property".

Renewing the Critique of Ideology

Science and truth, as core concerns of humanism, have come under increasing pressure in the age of populism and digital media. Ideological frameworks now find resonance far more readily. In the context of renewed wars of aggression, the commitment of political communication to truth claims appears to be further eroding: manifest falsehoods have re-entered politics, and the performative assertion of power often displaces reasoned argument and expertise. At the same time, such acts remain parasitic upon beliefs in legitimacy among followers, which mimic established practices of truth production in the media, the judiciary, and academia while simultaneously subverting them.

Against this backdrop, the critique of ideology has regained particular urgency. Yet such critique is not possible without an affirmative reference to claims of truth. From the Enlightenment through Marx, these claims were primarily articulated within the political sciences. The current research project aims to provide a systematic reconstruction of the history of ideology critique and, by examining central ideological formations of the Western world—such as private property or the sacralization of the automobile—to demonstrate how ideologies continue to operate not only at a cognitive level but also through affective and embodied dimensions.

List of publications

Download publications (Forschungsplattform Alexandria)

Academia Christoph Henning

Lectures / presentations

SocUNIBAS Public Lectures

Dieser Podcast wird vom Lehrstuhl Sozialstrukturanalyse (Prof. Dr. Oliver Nachtwey) der Universität Basel betrieben. In Form einer Ringvorlesung kommen die mitunter wichtigsten Stimmen der zeitgenössischen Soziologie zu aktuellen Themen zu Wort. Die aktuelle Vorlesungsreihe wird von Helene Thaa und Mirela Ivanova organisiert und beschäftigt sich mit dem Kapitalismus, seinem Wandel und der Kritik an ihm.

Folge 9: Christoph Henning: "Entfremdung im Kapitalismus: Was Ritalin, "fake news" und brennende Regenwälder damit zu tun haben"