Prof. Dr. Eva Helene Odzuck
Chair holder
Prof. Dr. Eva Helene Odzuck holds the Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas (with a focus on theories of democracy) at the University of Regensburg. Prior to this, she held the chair from October 2022 as a substitute professor. From October 2020, she headed the Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas at FAU as a university professor (deputy chair). in 2015/16, Prof Odzuck spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
Prof Odzuck's research focuses systematically on the political and democratic theoretical analysis of emerging technologies (biotechnology, digital technology), historically on the history of ideas and political philosophy of liberalism (Hobbes, Rawls, contractarianism as a whole) and antiquity (Plato).
In December 2023, Prof. Odzuck received the Essay Prize of the Jakob Fugger Centre for Transnational Studies at the University of Augsburg (external link, opens in a new window) together with Prof. Groitl In October 2022, Prof. Odzuck received the FAU Habilitation Prize (external link, opens in a new window), was awarded the Prize for Outstanding Research by Women of (external link, opens in a new window) the FAU Faculty of Philosophy in 2020 and was funded in 2017 as part of the FAU Emerging Talents Initiative (external link, opens in a new window). in 2019, her seminar on ethical policy advice (in cooperation with ZIWIS (external link, opens in a new window), including an excursion to the annual conference of the German Ethics Council) was honoured by FAU's Teaching Innovation Fund (external link, opens in a new window). Prof Odzuck brings democratic theory and political theory approaches to interdisciplinary cooperation, most recently, for example, in the Emerging Fields Initiative "Digital Sovereignty". (external link, opens in a new window) Prof Odzuck is a board member of the European Hobbes Society (external link, opens in a new window), co-editor of the Jahrbuch Politisches Denken (external link, opens in a new window), deputy chair of the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des Politischen Denkens(DGEPD (external link, opens in a new window)) and co-director of the Bayerische Promotionskolleg Politische Theorie. (external link, opens in a new window)
Consultation hour
Consultation hours SS 2026
wednesdays from 9 - 10 am
To make an appointment, please send an email with sufficient time in advance and taking into account the office hours of the secretary's office, stating your request and, if necessary, with the relevant documents (e.g.: draft outline of the term paper) to the chair secretary Mrs Schmid: sekretariat.odzuck(at)ur.de. (opens your email program) You will then be allocated the exact time slot for your meeting by email.
Short CV
Academic stages, degrees, honours & current functions:
12/2023 Essay Prize of the Jakob Fugger Centre for Transnational Studies at the University of Augsburg, together with Prof. Gerlinde Groitl From 10/2023 Managing Director of the Institute of Political Science at the UR; Vice Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Art History, History, and Humanities at the UR From 04/2023 Holder of the Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas at the University of Regensburg 11/2022 Appointment to the Chair of Political Theory at the UR (accepted) 10/2022 Habilitation Prize of the Faculty of Philosophy of the FAU From 10/2022 Substitute for the Chair of Political Theory (specialising in democratic theories) at the University of Regensburg as a university professor 10/2020-09/22 Substitute for the Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas at FAU as University Professor From 4/2022 Senior Academic Councillor at the Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas at FAU 07/ 2021 Habilitation in Political Science: Germline Interventions in the Name of Freedom? A critique of "liberal eugenics" from the perspective of political theory From 2020 Member of the Emerging Fields Initiative "Digital Sovereignty" at FAU 2020 Award for outstanding research by women at the Phil. Faculty of the FAU 2019 Award for the interdisciplinary seminar "Ethics Counselling in Democracy" by the FAU Teaching Innovation Fund 2017 Funding as part of the FAU's Emerging Talents Initiative From 2017 Temporary Academic Counsellor, Institute of Political Science, Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas, FAU 2015/16 University of California, Berkeley, Visiting Research Scholar, Center for European Studies (PostDoc, collaboration with Prof Kinch Hoekstra, 1 year) 2015 Postdoctoral fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service for a research project at UC Berkeley 2015 Awarded by VG Wort (dissertation) 2014 Doctorate: Dr phil., Political Science, FAU: Thomas Hobbes' body-based liberalism. Predicate: summa cum laude 2010 Princeton University, Research Visit, 4 weeks 2009 First State Examination LAGS, FAU, grade: with distinction (1.38) 2008-2017 Assistant professor, Institute of Political Science, Chair of Political Philosophy, Theory and History of Ideas, FAU 2008 Magister Artium (M.A.), Political Science, Philosophy, Theatre and Media Studies, FAU: Political Education in Plato. Grade: very good (1.00) | ||
| (*1981, married, 3 children) |
| Management functions outside the university: | ||
|---|---|---|
From 2021 2. Chairwoman of the German Society for the Study of Political Thought (DGEPD) From 2020 Co-Director of the Bavarian Doctoral Programme in Political Theory From 2019 Co-editor of the journal Politisches Denken From 2016 Member of the Executive Committee of the European Hobbes Society |
CV Prof. Dr Eva Helene Odzuck
| Service to the Profession / Reviewer for the following international journals, among others: | ||
|---|---|---|
- American Political Science Review |
Publications
Monographs:
Odzuck, Eva: Germline Interventions in the Name of Freedom? Eine Kritik "liberaler Eugenik" aus Perspektive der Politischen Theorie, manuscript of the habilitation thesis (monograph, submitted 11/2020, accepted 07/2021), awarded the habilitation prize of the Faculty of Philosophy of the FAU in 10/2022, currently being revised for publication.
Odzuck, Eva (2016): Thomas Hobbes' body-based liberalism. A critical analysis of Leviathan. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot (Beiträge zur Politischen Wissenschaft, vol. 184; also diss., FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, 2014), awarded by VG Wort and honoured with the Prize for Outstanding Research by Women of the Faculty of Philosophy at FAU.
Reviewed by:
- Klaus Kremb, review of: Eva Helene Odzuck: Thomas Hobbes' body-based liberalism. Berlin: 2016, in: Portal für Politikwissenschaft, http://pw-portal.de/rezension/39664-thomas-hobbes-koerperbasierter-liberalismus_48319.
- Detmar Döring, review of: Eva Helene Odzuck: Thomas Hobbes' Body-Based Liberalism. Berlin: 2016, in: Online-Rezensionen des Jahrbuchs für Liberalismus-Forschunges, https://www.recensio.net/rezensionen/zeitschriften/jahrbuch-zur-liberalismus-forschung/2016/1/ReviewMonograph54440155.
- Elodie Djordjevic: 3.7 Eva Helene Odzuck, Thomas Hobbes' body-based liberalism, Berlin: Duncker und Humblot, 2016, 316 pages, in: Bulletin D'Études Hobbesiennes I (XXIX), Archives de Philosophie, cahier 2018/2, tome 81, Été, p. 405-448; 429-30.
- Dietrich Schotte, in: Bulletin Hobbes XXX, Bibliographie critique internationale des études hobbesiennes pour l'année 2016, p. 10-12.
- Till Kinzel, in: Informationsmittel (IFB): digitales Rezensionsorgan für Bibliothek und Wissenschaft; http://informationsmittel-fuer-bibliotheken.de/showfile.php?id=9130.
- Dirk Brantl, "Recent Trends in German Hobbes Scholarship", in: Hobbes Studies 32 (2019) 92-115, https://brill.com/view/journals/hobs/32/1/article-p92_92.xml?lang=en
Articles in peer-reviewed journals:
Odzuck, Eva (2024): The puzzle of the sovereign's smile and the inner complexity of Hobbes's theory of authorisation (external link, opens in a new window), in: History of European Ideas.
Odzuck, Eva (2022): Digital campaigning as a policy of democracy: Applying deliberative theories of democracies to parties, in: Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 32, 507-530 (external link, opens in a new window), Special Issue Politische Theorie der Digitalen Konstellation, ed. by Daniel Staemmler, Sebastian Berg, Thorsten Thiel.
Odzuck, Eva (2021): Liberal eugenics with Rawls? A critique based on the complex theory of basic goods in the theory of justice, in: Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie, 8(2), (external link, opens in a new window) Special Issue on John Rawls, ed. by Elif Özmen, 175-208.
Odzuck, Eva / Chadwick, Alexandra (2020): Feminist Interpretations of Hobbes. Introduction, in: Hobbes Studies 2020, 33 (1), 1-4 (external link, opens in a new window).
Odzuck, Eva (2020): Personalised election campaign or public will formation? Digital Political Micro-Targeting as a Directional Decision of Democracy, in: Zeitschrift für Politik, 2/2020, 153-184 (external link, opens in a new window).
Odzuck, Eva (2019): War by Other Means? Incentives for Power-Seekers in Thomas Hobbes's Political Philosophy, in: The Review of Politics, 81 (1), 21-46 (external link, opens in a new window).
Odzuck, Eva (2017): I confessed to write not all to all. Diversified Communication in Thomas Hobbes's Political Philosophy, in: Hobbes Studies 2017, 30 (2), 123-155 (external link, opens in a new window).
Publication of books and journals (published, in publication or contractual agreement):
Clemens Kauffmann: An Introduction to Leo Strauss (external link, opens in a new window). Edited and translated by Eva Helene Odzuck and Samuel G. Zeitlin. New York: Suny Press. (forthcoming)
Political Thought. Yearbook 2025-26 (external link, opens in a new window). Edited with Manfred Brocker, Jan-Werner Müller, Julian Nida-Rümelin, Sarah Rebecca Strömel. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Political Thought. Yearbook 2024. (external link, opens in a new window) edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Raker. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Political Thought. Yearbook 2023 (external link, opens in a new window). edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Raker. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Glasze, Georg / Odzuck, Eva / Staples, Ronald (eds.) (2022): Digital Sovereignty. Bielefeld: Transcript; link to full text (external link, opens in a new window)
Reviewed by:
- Freidel, Morten, Die weiträumige Abschottung des Internets, FAZ, 17.04.2023, https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/politische-buecher/geschichte-vieler-enttaeuschter-hoffnungen-18827773.html
- Kuhn, Johannes, What does digital sovereignty mean?, 13.02.2023, Deutschlandfunk, https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/georg-glasze-u-a-hg-was-heisst-digitale-souveraenitaet-dlf-171da14f-100.html
Political thinking. Yearbook 2022 (external link, opens in a new window), edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Raker. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Political thinking. Yearbook 2021 (external link, opens in a new window). edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Schwarz. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Political thinking. Yearbook 2020. (external link, opens in a new window)edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Schwarz. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Feminist Perspectives on Thomas Hobbes. Special Issue. Guest Editors: Eva Odzuck & Alexandra Chadwick. Hobbes Studies 2020, 33 (1). (external link, opens in a new window)
Political Thought. Yearbook 2019 (external link, opens in a new window), edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Schwarz. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Political thinking. Yearbook 2018 (external link, opens in a new window). edited with H.-C. Kraus, F.-L. Kroll, P. Nitschke, M. Schwarz. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Contributions to scientific publications and other contributions (English/German; published, submitted or in preparation by contractual agreement) [*peer reviewed] :
Prof. Dr Eva Helene Odzuck / Prof. Dr Daniel Eggers / Dr Sarah Rebecca Strömel (2025): Special Issue "Public Reason and Rawlsian Citizens: Of Truth, Virtues, and Vices in the Digital Age", in: The Review of Politics, 87 (3).
Prof. Dr Eva Helene Odzuck (2024): "Half-Ironic, Respectless, and Without Fear": On Carl Schmitt's Literary Strategies in His Der Leviathan in der Staatslehre des Thomas Hobbes (1938), in: Kronos. Philosophical Journal, 13.
Odzuck Eva (2024): The Challenge of Democracy in the Digital Age. The diagnostic potential of radical democratic theory and the need for a new typology of democratic theories, in: Nida-Rümelin, Julian / Oldenbourg, Andreas (eds.): Normative Konstituenzien der Demokratie. De Gruyter, 31-54.
Odzuck Eva (2023): Sex and Gender in Pufendorf's International Political Thought: Protecting the Body Politic with Body Politics and with a (Gendered) politics of Self-Esteem, in: Peter Schröder (Ed): Pufendorf's International and Legal Political Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 175-194
Odzuck Eva (2023): What does "liberal" mean here? Begriffsarbeit als Aufgabe der Politischen Theorie am Beispiel der öffentlichen Debatte um Keimbahneingriffe, in: Stein, Tine (ed.): Politische Grundbegriffe. Nomos, 253-284.
Odzuck, Eva / Odzuck Sebastian (2023): Antike politische Philosophie im digitalen Zeitalter, in: Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik (external link, opens in a new window), 2/2023, 18-28
Odzuck, Eva (2022): Self-Determination and Solidarity - Critical Questions to Political Liberalism, in: IRP Impulse. Journal for Catholic religious education at general secondary schools and vocational pupils. Autumn 2022.
Odzuck, Eva (2022): Democratic Digital Sovereignty (external link, opens in a new window), In: Glasze, Georg / Odzuck, Eva / Staples, Ronald (eds.) (2022): Digital Sovereignty. Bielefeld: Transcript, 127-158.
Odzuck, Eva (2021): Early modern theories of law, society, and convention, in: Collins, Stephanie et. al. (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Social Ontology. Oxford: Oxford University Press* (invited contribution, publishing contract with OUP, manuscript submitted).
Odzuck, Eva (2019): Feminist Interpretations of Hobbes's Political Theory, in: Lloyd, S. A. (Ed.): Interpreting Hobbes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 223-241
Odzuck, Eva (2018): Is Genome Editing Unnatural? Nature in Bioethics, the Politics of Bioethics, and the Political Dimension of Nature, in: Braun, Matthias / Schickl, Hannah / Dabrock, Peter (Eds.): Genome Editing. Between Moral Hazard and Legal Uncertainty. Technikzukünfte, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft / Futures of Technology, Science and Society. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 111-128.*
Kauffmann, Clemens / Odzuck, Eva (2017): Where does "good science" lead? Biotechnological development as a directional decision for democracy, in: Spieker, Michael / Manzeschke, Arne (eds.) (2017): Good Science. Theory, ethics and politics. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 105-132.
Odzuck, Eva (2017): Legislating death: A problem in Thomas Hobbes's argument and its relevance for contemporary democracies, in: Courtland, Shane (Ed.): Hobbesian Applied Ethics and Public Policy. London: Routledge, 48-65*
Odzuck, Eva (2017): Reading man is harder than any science. Thomas Hobbes' complex psychology and the one-sidedness of contemporary Hobbes reception, in: Voigt, Rüdiger / Lau, Thomas / Reinhardt, Volker (eds.): Der sterbliche Gott. Thomas Hobbes' doctrine of the omnipotence of Leviathan. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 279-298.
Odzuck, Eva (2017): Trust in Thomas Hobbes's Political Philosophy, in: Kontler, László / Somos, Mark (Eds.): Trust and Happiness in the History of Political Thought. Leiden: Brill, 118-141.*
Odzuck, Eva (2014): Narration and Argument in Politics. The Concept of Fictionality in the Authorisation Theory of Hobbes' Leviathan, in: Hofmann, Wilhelm / Renner, Katja / Teich, Judith (eds.): Narrative Forms of Politics. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 105-121.
Odzuck, Eva (2014): The self-endangerment of liberal democracy in biopolitics. A plea for a double complement to democratic-theoretical diagnoses of crisis, in: Pállinger, Zoltán Tibor (ed.): Das Konzept des (Staats-) Bürgers. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 82-114.
Odzuck, Eva (2013): Life sciences in the democratic constitutional state - The need for democratic-theoretical and democratic-political support, in: Spieker, Michael (ed.) (2013): Good life sciences for the 21st century. Memorandum of the Tutzing Discourse, Tutzing: Academy for Civic Education, 88-93.
