Stefan Rohrhirsch

• Modern Political Theory and Philosophy
• Social Philosophy
• Critical Theory
• Decolonial Theory
• Biopolitics
• Political Economy and Ecology

Doctoral project: Critique of Ecological Reason
The so-called 'Anthropocene' marks a contradictory movement: While on the one hand it proclaims 'man' as the most influential atmospheric, biospheric and geological factor on earth, its multiple ecological crises simultaneously expose the narrative of comprehensive human domination of nature as a cruel illusion. Rather than placing humans at the head of 'nature', the countless signs of disintegration demonstrate the profoundly political character of this 'natural order' and thus point to the urgent need to rethink social relations to nature and politics.

Based on the catastrophic consequences of human domination of nature, the doctoral project Critique of Ecological Reason develops a critical analysis of current soecietal relations to nature and their politics. The theoretical frame of reference for this is the concept of biopolitics as the 'government of things' outlined by Michel Foucault, which governs human and non-human populations by modulating their material environments, thereby questioning the classical attributions of political subjects and objects.

The project is organised in three steps. First, a genealogical investigation of this dispositif of Environmentality is undertaken, which systematically traces its emergence in the interaction of ecological knowledge and approaches of neo-liberal political economy. Subsequently, the central political theoretical implications of this governmental rationality are identified and reflected upon. Finally, articulations of the political are explored and discussed that do not reproduce the biopolitical power relations of the environmental dispositif, but rather hold out the prospect of emancipation from current natural relations.

Publications
Journal Articles (peer-reviewed)
• 2026 (forthcoming): "Problematizing Nature: A Foucault Against the Anthropocene", in: Foucault Studies, No. 39, Spring 2026.

Book Chapters
• 2026 (forthcoming), with Tyanif Rico Rodriguez: "The Necro-Ecology of Building and Destroying Worlds in Latin America", in Maystorovich Chulio et al. (Hrsg.): Necropolitics and Mass Violence: Power, Death, and Resistance in Global Perspective, Emerald Publishing.
• 2026 (forthcoming): "Mit Foucault zu einer Kritik der ökologischen Vernunft", in Delitz, Heike/Burmeister, Christoph (Hrsg.): Gebrauchsweisen von Michel Foucault, Campus.

Talks
• "Politicizing Nature: Critical Theory and Radical Democratic Theory on Ecology", Workshop Capitalism – Democracy – Emancipation. Encounters Between Critical Theory and Radical Democratic Theory, Wien, 20.03.2026.
• "Für eine kritische Analyse der Ökologie", Tagung der Nachwuchsgruppe Umweltsoziologie "Hurra, die Welt geht unter!" Zur Transformation und Gestaltung lebenswerter Zukünfte im Zeichen interdependenter Krisen, Dortmund, 26.02.2026.
• "Mit Foucault zu einer Kritik der Ökologie", Tagung Usages de Foucault/Gebrauchsweisen von Foucault, Berlin, 30.11.2024.
• "Biopolitics as Government of Things: Towards a Critique of Ecological Reason", European Consortium for Political Research General Conference 2024, Dublin, 13.08.2024.