Paul Ziche holds the chair for „History of modern philosophy“ at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Utrecht University. He also holds the position of Director of Utrecht University’s Descartes Centre for the History of the Sciences and Humanities.

His research typically concerns the relationship between philosophy and the sciences, with a focus on the key periods around 1800 and 1900, and including the cultural and institutional contexts of philosophy and the sciences. He is also publishing broadly on topics concerning German Idealism (with a particular focus upon F.W.J. Schelling) and on methodological questions in the historiography of philosophy. For the period around 1900, he has been studying the broader embedding of canonical philosophical texts and arguments into broader contexts (world-view movements, publication cultures, debates in aesthetics).

A recent research project (funded by NWO; for a description see under Research) has studied underexplored aspects of German Idealist thinking, in particular the role of psychology and the importance of Realist positions in the critical debates in the period around 1800. This has also led to contributions to debates in aesthetics. 

In numerous editions, mainly in the context of the critical edition of Schelling's works, he has contributed to making the philosophical debates in the period of German Idealism accessible, with a particular focus upon the interplay between philosophy and the natural sciences in this period. Recently, he has also contributed to translations of key works of F.W.J. Schelling into Dutch: His texts on Freedom, and on the Ages of the World.

He is involved in the project of preparing a new edition of the (German-language) standard handbook in the history of philosophy (Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie) and is interested in methodological questions in the historiography of philosophy, which includes an interest in comparative philosophy that he substantiates by regular exchange activities together with colleagues in Japan.

Paul Ziche obtained his PhD and his “Habilitation” at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He worked as an assistant professor in the History of Technology, Science and Medicine at Jena University from 1996-2000, then as an editor of the works of Schelling at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities at Munich and as teacher at Munich University, before taking up the chair at Utrecht in 2008. At Utrecht, he has also been taking up managerial tasks as Head of Department, Director of Research, and Director of the School of our Department.