PD Dr. Norman Sieroka

Research area

Norman Sieroka is a Lecturer in philosophy at ETH Zürich and, since 2019, also Full Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Bremen. His focus is on the philosophy of time, natural philosophy (Naturphilosophie), epistemology of the sciences (esp. physics and mathematics), philosophy of mind (esp. phenomenology and the perception of sound and music), and the historiography of philosophy and of the sciences. His historical expertise are the early Greek philosophers (esp. Anaximander), Leibniz and Spinoza in the early modern period, Fichte and Schelling in German Idealism, and Husserl, Weyl, Cassirer, and Whitehead in the early twentieth century.

His book publications include Zeit-Hören: Erfahrungen, Taktungen, Musik (open access, De Gruyter, 2024), Philosophie der Zeit – Grundlagen und Perspektiven (series C.H.Beck Wissen, 2018), Leibniz, Husserl, and the Brain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), Philosophie der Physik – Eine Einführung (series C.H.Beck Wissen, 2014; 2nd edition 2022), Umgebungen: Symbolischer Konstruktivismus im Anschluss an Hermann Weyl und Fritz Medicus (Chronos, 2010) and Quantum Field Theory in a Semiotic Perspective (together with H.G. Dosch and V.F. Müller; Springer, 2005).

A unifying theme in Norman Sieroka's work is "time". He investigates the different forms in which we encounter temporal orders (such as physical time, historical time, time as individually experienced, etc.) and how these different forms relate to one another. Important to him is a general understanding of the repetitive structure of events. In the context of the philosophy of mind, Norman Sieroka deals with fundamental questions of the perception of sequences (esp. in the context of audition and music) and the inner dynamics of time consciousness. This enables a deeper understanding of the general relationship between mental events and physical events. On the metaphysical-epistemological side he investigates the interrelations between time, continuity, and discreteness.

The consideration of philosophical problems from different, often interdisciplinary perspectives, as a characteristic feature of Sieroka's work, is born of a conviction that only such an approach can deliver a deeper understanding of systematic questions. This includes both the reference to recent developments especially in the context of data-driven methods as well as an intensive reference to history in order to track developments and historical variations of concepts and themes. For instance, Sieroka supports the thesis that most areas of physics are shaped more by their longstanding methods and epistemological motives than by their concrete contents.

Norman Sieroka engages in research-based teaching and learning. He has been developing interdisciplinary courses together with colleagues from, for instance, physics, pharmaceutical science and architecture. To facilitate collaborative efforts in education and research he co-developed the "Knowledge Network Online Whiteboard" KNOW.

Find out more about concrete research projects.